RUSH TO BUILD HOMES SLOWS : ALLOTMENTS AVAILABLE AS T.O. PLANNERS PREPARE TO RATE PROJECTS.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

As the city approaches ``buildout,'' competition among developers trying to build homes has slowed.

The Planning Commission will sit down tonight to assign point ratings to five previously approved projects totaling 128 homes - 18 spots short of the 146 allotments available this year.

``That's been the case the last couple of years. The competition is not exactly fierce, but we're mandated to do this,'' commission chairman Forrest Frields said.

The city allows a maximum of 600 allotments each year. The others already have been assigned to other projects that received them through developer agreements or other formal avenues.

So why bother assigning points to projects that already have been approved through a system that was designed to curb growth during the hopping real estate market of the 1980s?

``We still want to know the quality of the developments coming before us on an absolute scale,'' Frields said.

Point assignments are based on a variety of criteria, including their compliance with such standards and policies as architectural design, open space and zoning.

The five developments competing for allotments are:

Kaufman and Broad's 70 single-family detached homes on the southwest corner of Ventu Park Road and Newbury Road.

Kaufman and Broad's 27 single-family detached homes on the northwest corner of Ramona Drive and Haigh Road.

Comedy Broadcasting's 13 single-family detached homes on the west side of Westlake Boulevard south of Avenida de los Arboles.

Robert Sarno's five single-family detached homes on the south terminus of Theresa Drive at Cindy Avenue.

Colmer Development Co.'s 13 single-family detached homes on the south side of Kimber Drive at the south terminus of South Dewey Avenue, about 600 feet west of Wendy Drive.