San Clemente Faces Balancing Act

The waves of growth that have swamped so many Orange County communities in the past three decades are pressing in on the seaside city of San Clemente. The question is how San Clemente will handle them.

Most residents and public officials agree that the growth, which could double the city’s present population of 31,000 within the next decade or so, should be managed to avoid the city’s being overwhelmed and robbed of its ability to provide adequate services. They also want to preserve a quality environment.

So it’s not how to control growth, but rather how to manage growth that challenges city officials and many residents, especially those living in the back country, the mostly undeveloped ranch land east of Interstate 5.

On Feb. 25, city voters will go to the polls to decide which of two initiatives will best bring about the orderly growth everyone seeks. One of the measures was placed on the ballot by residents who gathered the signatures of 19% of the city’s voters. It would, if passed, limit the construction of new living units in the backcountry to 500 a year. The other, which basically is an outline of the city’s General Plan, was put on the ballot by the City Council to counteract the other so-called managed-growth initiative.

Unlike some of the county communities in the boom years of the 50s, when growth generally was topsy-turvy and poorly planned--if at all--San Clemente is well prepared for new development. Whichever ballot measure passes, the city should be able to avoid the effects of ill-planned development because it imposed an 18-month moratorium in 1981 on all back- country building while it revised its General Plan.

The council lowered density limits, toughened hillside development and grading standards and added requirements for developers to provide whatever new public works, such as roads, sewers and parks, their proposed projects would need. That was done to protect the city from having to bear the financial impact of growth and to protect the existing infrastructure from being overloaded.

San Clemente officials are looking to growth to solve future budget problems. And they are counting on the revised General Plan to keep that growth in manageable--and environmentally acceptable--proportions. That’s a tough balancing act. Still, the city’s ballot initiative could result in many more new homes and residents than the alternative one.

Placing specific limits on development is not new. It was first done in California in the Bay Area community of Petaluma in the early ‘70s and again in San Juan Capistrano in 1976. San Juan Capistrano, however, has never had to invoke its 400-home limit.

It would be wrong for a community to enact construction ceilings to keep minorities or the poor out of town, or to avoid accepting its fair share of residents. Neither Petaluma nor San Juan Capistrano did that. We don’t think that’s the intent in San Clemente, now. Still, care must be taken that all Orange County communities in the south county’s last frontier of growth do not enact arbitrary limits and shut out those seeking to live in the suburbs.

San Clemente should grow, but not beyond its ability to accommodate that growth without sacrificing the quality of life for all its residents, present and future. All communities have the right to make that determination. San Clemente residents shouldn’t miss that opportunity Feb. 25.