Supervisors Uphold Trabuco Canyon Limit

Although new homes may mean plenty of new customers for new shopping centers, the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday upheld a 6-year-old decision that only one commercial development will be allowed at the entrance to Trabuco Canyon.

“It is my contention that the integrity of the Board of Supervisors and the planning process is on the line,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Bruce Nestande, whose district includes the area east of El Toro.

Supervisors affirmed their previous decision in rejecting a request by property owners for a zone change to allow construction of a gas station and shopping center. Contending that the property owners knew of the county’s restriction on commercial development, Nestande said, “it is not our obligation to adopt zone changes to accommodate these development plans.”

Coincidentally, Portola Hills--one of the housing developments that would be served by a shopping center--was challenged in court Wednesday by two leaders of an association of current residents of Trabuco, Modjeska and Silverado canyons.

A lawsuit asked that the supervisors’ December action, allowing an increase in the number of housing units originally approved for Portola Hills, be overturned for not taking into account the impact on the environment.

The Portola Hills development will be built near the junction of El Toro Road and Live Oak Canyon Road, which serves as the entrance to Trabuco Canyon and nearby O’Neill Regional Park. It was that junction that was the subject of the supervisors’ action Wednesday.

A 12-acre parcel on the northeast corner of the junction has been zoned for commercial development for several years. Now there is only a bar and grill, a longtime Orange County landmark known as Cook’s Corner. But a representative of the owner said the land is for sale. In August of 1980, supervisors ruled that there could be only one commercial development at the intersection.

However, the Live Oak Ltd. Co., owner of the property on the southeast corner of the junction, contended that when supervisors approved increased density for the new housing developments, they meant that the intersection could support two shopping centers. With that reasoning, Live Oak Ltd. asked that its property be zoned for commercial use rather than its current zoning for agricultural use.

At Nestande’s urging, the supervisors ordered the county Environmental Management Agency and the Planning Commission to return to the board with a determination of whether the site with the bar and grill can support commercial development and which of the two property owners should be awarded commercial zoning.

Nestande did not quarrel with the Live Oak firm’s feasibility study but noted that residents have expressed strong opposition to nearby residential developments approved by the board in the past year.

He said the board “with few exceptions scaled down development as we approach the canyons and foothills of the Cleveland National Forest.”

Nestande said the site was “at a very critical scenic intersection . . . which serves as an entry into the beautiful canyon and foothills of Orange County. To dramatically alter and commercialize this entry would be tragic.”

Nestande also suggested that zoning changes might be issued only for a limited period of time, saying that “one person ought not to be allowed to sit on an entitlement forever.”

Bruce Conn, a leader of the Rural Canyons Conservation Fund, whose members include residents of Trabuco, Modjeska and Silverado canyons, expressed strong objections to a planned gas station as part of the development proposed by the Live Oak company.

“I don’t think a gas station or the backside of a gas station is the appropriate entry to the area,” Conn said. A developer should “use some sensitivity beyond market forces” in determining what to put on the site, he said.

Conn and Ray Chandos, another leader of the group, filed the lawsuit against the Portola Hills development.