On Backcountry Development, an 11th-Hour Push for Permits

Builders on a backcountry development are obtaining permits for almost 300 residential units just days before a special election in San Clemente that could limit the number of homes they could build each year.

Beverly Knowles, the city’s permit clerk, said Friday that she could give the developers all of the permits that day “if I could get the paper work done. . . . They’re all in order--all the departments have given their OK.”

Knowles said the builders had requested 299 permits for buildings on Western Savings & Loan Assn.’s Rancho San Clemente development.

“It’s a business decision,” said Steve Maloney, division manager of Western Savings in Costa Mesa. “That’s an awful lot of permits to pull at one time. Those builders probably spent $1 million in freeway, school, sewer and park fees to get those permits now. But they’re far better off with those permits in hand if Measure B passes next week.”

Measure B is a citizens initiative that would limit construction in the backcountry to 500 units a year. A measure sponsored by a majority of the City Council that would reaffirm existing growth-control provisions is also on the ballot.