Rancho Mission Viejo Clears Last Legal Snag

A settlement in a lawsuit by environmentalists seeking to block development of Rancho Mission Viejo was approved Tuesday by the Orange County Board of Supervisors, clearing the final legal challenge to develop 14,000 homes over two decades on the last remaining large swath of private land in the county.

The settlement reduces development in key wildlife habitat areas and increases open space for wildlife. The number of homes, 14,000, stays the same as under an earlier plan, but development acreage is reduced 25%, both sides said. In the previous plan, the homes were spread out in a patchwork; under the settlement, they are more concentrated.

The sprawling ranch has been owned by the O’Neill, Avery and Moiso families of south Orange County since 1882, and ranch officials hailed the agreement. “We consider this an important milestone in the history of both the ranch family and our neighbors in south Orange County,” said Richard Broming, senior vice president of entitlement and environmental relations for Rancho Mission Viejo.

The agreement was signed by the county, Rancho Mission Viejo and the environmental groups, including Laguna Greenbelt Inc., the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sea and Sage chapter of the Audubon Society, the Sierra Club and the Endangered Habitats League.

Protected areas now total 17,000 acres, including 12,000 acres in the San Mateo watershed, which provides drinking water to Camp Pendleton, and several acres of coastal sage-scrub that is home to a threatened bird species, the California gnatcatcher. It also includes protections for the endangered arroyo toad.

Dan Silver, executive director of the Endangered Habitats League, called the agreement a good compromise that adds 2,000 acres of open space to the previous development plan.

“This is arguably the most important wildlife habitat in Southern California,” Silver said. “The agreement allows for economic development, the historic ranching operation and helps protect this magnificent wildlife habitat.”

The plan also preserves ranching and farming operations on the land -- about 400 head of cattle and barley, lemons, avocados and grapefruit, ranch officials said.

Silver and other environmentalists noted the efforts of Tony Moiso, Rancho Mission Viejo’s president and chief executive, who was involved in the 18 months of negotiations over the lawsuit.

“Tony was very committed to this solution,” Silver said. “I do applaud Tony and the family for making this happen.”

County Supervisor Tom Wilson, whose district includes the ranch, said he was happy with the compromise because it met environmental and economic goals.

In June, Rancho Mission Viejo, the county and the city of Mission Viejo settled the city’s lawsuit, which opposed the county’s approval of the project last year. The city had taken issue with how the county planned to deal with increased traffic.

Under that settlement, the county promised to give priority to improving roads that would be most affected by the project, including widening intersections at Oso and Marguerite parkways, and at Crown Valley and Marguerite parkways.

The settlement approved Tuesday also prevents fragmenting habitat areas near the Donna O’Neill Land Conservancy.