Steve Schoenbaum

Silver Lakes General Manager Steven Schoenbaum did not return several calls Thursday.

"We're seeing early baby boomers who choose the area for its appealing quality of life," said Steve Schoenbaum, general manager of the Silver Lakes Association, which oversees development of the unincorporated community.

"Our growth is steady," he said."Since 2001, the number of single-family home permits has risen from 42 to 186 annually totaling 529 in five years.We have 2,989 single-family parcels and 199 condo units."

Schoenbaum said 650 lots, averaging 7,500 square feet, remain vacant.Construction work is under way on virtually every street, with 176 new homes going up and 48 awaiting environmental review by the county.

Homes at Silver Lakes range from 1,800 square feet to 4,786 square feet, with prices averaging $310,000.A gated community with 134 homes fronting a golf course is planned along the south shore of one of the two lakes.

"Our residents include lawyers, doctors, truck drivers, police officers and city employees," Schoenbaum said."Many come from Orange County, selling their homes there to live near our lakes and golf course."

The north lake, 17 feet deep, covers 165 acres, and the 12-foot-deep south lake extends across 112 acres."We grow bass, blue gill, crappie and catfish in ponds on the golf course, and harvest them annually to stock the lakes," Schoenbaum explained.

Steven Schoenbaum

General Manager

Steve Schoenbaum, general manager at the Silver Lakes Country Club, said, "Most people have not seen this much water in this short a period of time up here.I've been here four years and I haven't seen anything like this.

"Some of the people in our office have been here 10 and 12 years, and they've never seen anything this hard and this quick, with that amount of wind behind it."

Schoenbaum said considerable damage was caused on the golf course, including a snapped flagpole, a flooded clubhouse and as many as 50 downed trees.

Additionally, a High Desert Junior Golf tournament was disrupted, with players abandoning bags and carts on the fairways.Some players were ushered into surrounding homes for shelter.
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The tournament was suspended indefinitely, and Schoenbaum said the 27-hole golf course will be closed until checks for damage are completed.