Bill Could Prevent Altering of Development Plan by Future City

Sen William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights) has introduced legislation that could prevent future leaders of the proposed city of Laguna Niguel from altering a 5,200-unit development plan within its boundaries.

Under current law, the development could be subject to approval by the new city council if cityhood efforts in Laguna Niguel succeed, even if the county approves the project before an incorporation election.

That is because state law authored by Campbell and approved a year ago allows new cities to overturn county agreements on projects if developers apply for county approval after the first signatures are gathered on incorporation petitions.

Campbell’s top aide said Tuesday that is the result of a loophole in a law intended to provide developers access to irreversible county approval of projects in unincorporated areas. The new legislation would close that loophole by making an exception in the law for two projects by developer Nathan Shapell, one in Orange County and another in Los Angeles County.

Shapell’s project in northern Laguna Niguel near the intersection of Oso Parkway and La Paz Road includes 5,200 residential units on about 630 acres, 115 acres of commercial and light industrial development and 476 acres of open space, county planners said. The Orange County Planning Commission approved that project Tuesday and sent it to the Board of Supervisors for review.

But because Shapell Industries did not file its application with the county until Dec. 29--about three weeks after incorporation advocates gathered their first signatures--any development agreement approved under current law could be subject to approval by the new city.

Campbell could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but top aide Jerry Haleva described his bill as “cleanup legislation” needed to correct problems in last year’s measure. Haleva said Campbell thought last year’s bill would protect Shapell’s project from review by city officials should the area be incorporated.

“These projects were already under way, and the people involved didn’t realize this door wasn’t wide enough to allow them access to (irreversible county approval),” Haleva said. “Since we didn’t catch it in that bill, this bill will allow those projects access to this same equitable procedure.”

Haleva said projects approved before cities incorporate should be allowed to proceed.

“The problem was that once developers went through all the hoops at the county, they’d get started and then, midway through the process, a new city would be formed, and they’d say ‘go back to square one,’ ” Haleva said. “That’s inequitable. It didn’t make any sense.”

Campbell’s legislation hasn’t been well received in Laguna Niguel, according to Patricia Bates, a member of the Laguna Niguel Community Council and a leader in the incorporation drive. She said the bill would unfairly take away land-use review powers of the new city council if the incorporation drive succeeds. She said she opposes the bill even though she supports the Shapell project as approved by the county Planning Commission.

“Whenever you remove the public’s right to the review process, even if that’s going to be endorsing the project, one has to wonder what the agenda is,” Bates said. “That is our problem with it. It usurps a part of the process that’s vital.”

Although Senate committee analysts have said Campbell’s bill would provide a similar exemption for a Dana Point project by the M.H. Sherman Co., interviews with the project’s consultant and incorporation advocates indicate otherwise. Cheri Phelps, a consultant for M.H. Sherman, said the company filed its application with the county on Dec. 3. Mike Eggers, a leading proponent of cityhood for Dana Point, said his group gathered the first signatures on its incorporation petition three days later.

Even under current law, the Sherman project thus would be insulated from city review if it wins county approval before the Dana Point incorporation election, which backers are hoping will be held in November.

Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), whose district includes half of Laguna Niguel and all of Dana Point, said Campbell’s bill appeared to be “equitable.” But Bergeson, who is chairwoman of the Senate Local Government Committee, said she would not determine her position on the bill until she hears committee debate on the issues.

A hearing on the bill was scheduled for Wednesday in Bergeson’s committee but was put off indefinitely at Campbell’s request. Haleva said Campbell was attempting to find a compromise to overcome opposition to the bill.