Planning Panel OKs Pacts on Roads With Developers
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The Orange County Planning Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to enter agreements with four developers that would guarantee the construction of their proposed projects in return for their up-front money to build new roads in south Orange County.
The commission has now approved seven of at least 19 agreements that are expected to come before the county. All of the agreements must receive final approval from the Board of Supervisors, which so far has passed two of the contracts.
The agreements passed by the commission Tuesday are scheduled to be considered by the supervisors Feb. 10.
“It’s certainly a step in the right direction” to relieve traffic in Orange County, said Commissioner Douglas Leavenworth. “It’s a definite improvement . . . you take it one step at a time.”
18,000 Future Homes
The four projects include some of the largest proposed in the county. They represent a total of almost 18,000 future homes.
Two of the projects are connected to the county’s Foothill Circulation Phasing Plan, a 5-year program of new roads in Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez’s 3rd District. The $235-million program would be completely financed by developers through agreements being processed by the county.
The agreement for Rancho Santa Margarita, which the Planning Commission passed Tuesday, calls for the company to contribute almost $83 million to the foothill plan. In return, the county agrees to freeze the zoning for the project site, assuring the company’s plans to build about 12,000 homes.
The other projects passed Tuesday were Dove Canyon with about 1,300 homes; Marina Hills with about 2,300 homes and Bear Brand with about 1,707.
The commission continued to weigh its decision on the Coto de Caza and Foothill Ranch projects.
Marina Hills and Bear Brand are coastal projects not connected to the foothill plan. In return for the freeze on zoning, the county designated specific intersection and road improvements for which the developers will be charged.
The agreements have been criticized by the county’s slow-growth movement, which is sponsoring an initiative that would restrict development in areas that have heavy traffic.
Slow-growth proponents charge that the agreements are intended to circumvent their initiative by protecting the projects from the effects of their plans.
But there was only one slow-growth representative at the Planning Commission hearing Tuesday. Sherry Meddick of the Rural Canyon Conservation Fund said the agreements might be unconstitutional and that the county had not done adequate environmental research before drafting the agreements.
Two groups spoke in favor of individual agreements at the hearing, the Saddleback Area Coordinating Council and the National Audubon Society.
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