Poway voters continued to express strong opposition to Measure H, with 68.84% voting no and 31.16% in favor, in results announced Monday evening.

A simple majority of 50% plus one is required for approval of the measure, which would allow development of a 30,500-square-foot recreational fitness club with outdoor fitness uses at The Farm residential community.

The Life Time Fitness Center is 10 times the size of the original 2,953-square-foot fitness center that was proposed when The Farm was approved by Poway voters in 2020. The city is requiring another vote to approve a specific plan amendment that allows an increase in the proposed fitness center’s square footage.

In reaction to Measure H’s early results, Green Valley Civic Association President Steven Stone said the association’s members had expressed many concerns about a large commercial fitness facility in a residential neighborhood.

“We’re pleased to see voters throughout Poway overwhelmingly agree with those views,” Stone wrote in a statement. “We look forward to welcoming a fitness center that is more in keeping with the vision set forth in the original specific plan approved by voters.”

Steph Griffin, senior development manager for Minnesota-based Life Time, Inc. which proposed the project, said all the votes have not yet been counted but it appears current results are “not going in our favor.”

“Life Time was prepared to deliver a wonderful community health and wellness asset that operated in seamless harmony as a member of Poway and all that makes it so unique and special,” Griffin wrote in an emailed statement. “Therefore, we are extremely disappointed in the outcome on Measure H but remain steadfast in our 32-plus year history and commitment to help people live healthy, happy lives across North America.”

Griffin had said before the vote that the fitness center at the The Farm, which could have included a fitness facility, swimming pools, tennis and pickleball courts along with dance classes and senior activities, would have been a $30 million investment and generate about $70,000 to $90,000 in annual property tax revenue for the city.

The Farm Managing Partner Kevin McNamara, who oversees The Farm project in collaboration with home builder Lennar Corp., said he is “evaluating what to do next.” There are no backup plans for the proposed fitness center property on Espola Road between Valle Verde Road and Cloudcroft Drive, he said.

“I came up with a great plan and a great club,” McNamara said of Life Time’s proposed fitness center. “It would have been a wonderful amenity for Poway and it got shot down.”

McNamara said late last week that he has to wait until the end of January to gain access to the land proposed as the site of a fitness center as well as a planned butterfly farm and social area with 10,000 square feet of restaurant and commercial space. He said Lennar is still using those properties as a staging area for construction of their 160 homes, which are just being completed.

He said he may consider placing the fitness center property on the market to see if someone would “step up to buy it.”

“If no one has an offer I’ll come up with something feasible,” he said, adding that a potential buyer may be interested in developing something larger than a 3,000-square-foot project that the city’s specific plan allows.

“I didn’t go into this planning on losing,” McNamara said in a telephone interview. “Life Time is still under contract and they’re discussing their options. We’ll see what they decide to do.”