Business Zone Near Cook’s Corner OKd

The Orange County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday granted a zone change to allow development of a shopping center across the street from historic Cook’s Corner tavern.

The action means that both corners of the junction of Live Oak Canyon and Santiago Canyon roads have commercial zoning, contrary to a 1980 supervisors’ resolution that was strongly reaffirmed as recently as January.

The old resolution calls for commercial development on only one corner of the junction to preserve the rural nature of the area. Whether that resolution will remain in force will not be known until later this year, supervisors said.

Integrity ‘on the Line’

Supervisor Bruce Nestande, in arguing for the one-development limit, said on Jan. 13 that “the integrity of the Board of Supervisors and the planning process is on the line.” Nestande resigned two weeks later.

A group called Live Oak Ltd. won the zone change Wednesday from the designation “general agriculture” to “neighborhood commercial,” clearing the way for its proposed gas station and stores.

Construction is expected to begin in about two years on the first phase of a 54,000-square-foot development on the 8.5-acre site at the southeast corner of the junction, which serves as a gateway to Live Oak and Trabuco canyons and O’Neill Regional Park.

Largely Undeveloped Land

On the northeast corner is a plot that has been zoned for commercial development since 1981. Aside from the tavern, which is a former army mess hall moved to the property 40 years ago, the land has not been developed.

Supervisors last year raised the possibility of yanking the commercial zoning from the northeast corner, owned by Alex and Novella Morales, because no development had taken place.

But Cecil C. Wright, an attorney for the Morales family, said his clients want to keep their property with its present zoning and believe that the explosive growth in the area in recent years means both corners can have commercial developments.

“I think the board is going to rescind that 1980 resolution,” Wright predicted. “It’s outdated, it’s a different set of circumstances.”

He said the resignation of Nestande, who represented the district and authored the proclamation of support for the old resolution only two weeks before he stepped down, meant the situation had changed.

Wright said the supervisors’ action Wednesday “is an implied rescission” of the 1980 resolution.

But Roger R. Stanton, board chairman and guardian of Nestande’s district until a replacement is named by the governor, disputed Wright’s interpretation. Stanton noted that the board will decide whether to change the zoning on the Morales property later this year after county planners complete a study of the entire foothill and Trabuco area, not just the Cook’s Corner intersection.

Still, Stanton refused to predict whether the board would bar development on both corners.

“If the resolution goes, it could only go in light of some significant differences in the conditions seven years later,” he said.

W. Dean Brown, representing Live Oak Ltd., told the supervisors that the firm’s studies showed that both corners could easily support development. He said that in 1980, 1,600 housing units were proposed for the area. Approval now has been issued for 7,000 units.

But Sherry Medick, president of the Rural Canyons Residents Assn. and spokeswoman for the Rural Canyons Conservation Fund as well, said those groups would oppose two commercial developments.

“In 1980, we were promised there would be only one commercial usage,” Medick said. She unsuccessfully urged supervisors to delay approval of the Live Oak zone change until after the county study of the area is completed.

Medick also said the Live Oak project was “environmentally insensitive,” requiring grading of hills and inflicting a shopping center on what is designated by the county as a scenic road.

“Because this project is commercial does not give it the right to avoid aesthetic concerns,” she said.