Developer Wants to Begin Despite Protest Over Trees

A developer will ask the county Planning Commission this week for permission to begin bulldozing land in a south Orange County back-country area, despite protests from an environmentalist over plans to destroy some native trees.

The Hon Development Co. wants to build on 1,643 acres of canyons and rolling hills south of Santiago Canyon Road and east of the Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro.

The company’s vice president, Michael Mohler, said the acreage has about 5,000 trees--mostly coastal live oaks, sycamores and eucalyptus, plus many scrub oaks and smaller shrubs. Half are in a 262-acre tract that has been designated as permanent open space, he said. Of the rest, more than 600 will be relocated to other parts of the property and about 1,800 will be destroyed.

Mohler said six oaks are believed to be more than 300 years old. Three would be left alone, two would be moved and one would be destroyed.

Alden Kelley, who until earlier this month worked for the Hon company as a consultant in tree preservation, said he quit because he “didn’t believe the company would live up to its commitment” to properly preserve the trees that are to be relocated.

“My slightly dramatic resignation might launch Hon into protecting the environment and saving not just the small trees that are easy to relocate, but the older and bigger ones too,” Kelley said.

At a meeting last week of the Saddleback Area Coordinating Council, where the project was discussed, Sherry Meddick of Silverado Canyon complained that the bulldozing might block creek beds.

Mohler said the answers to all such concerns are contained in an environmental impact report approved some months ago.

The project, named Foothill Ranch, would include 3,900 units, of which 85% would be single-family homes. There also would be a public library, fire station and $40 million in roads.

Mohler said the Foothill Ranch property originally spread over 2,743 acres, of which the company has deeded 1,100 acres to the county as a regional park.

Planning Commissioner Douglas Leavenworth said the commission recently gave preliminary approval to the development, but asked for answers to “some highly technical questions” about identification and location of trees that would be affected.

At the commission meeting Tuesday, representatives of the development company will submit an updated resource management plan answering those questions. The company also proposes to hire an independent specialist to monitor the environmental aspects of the development, especially tree transplanting.

If the commission approves the plan, grading may begin.

Ron Greek, chairman of the Saddleback Area Coordinating Council, said his group has been very much in favor of the Hon development and will recommend approval. He said the council also will strongly recommend that the idea of using an environmental specialist to monitor projects should be considered not only for Foothill Ranch but for all future back-country developments.

But Virginia Chester, president of the Sea and Sage Chapter of the American Audubon Society, said that leveling natural terrain and destroying trees “always has a depressing effect on the environment.”

“It’s something that is happening not only in Orange County but all over Southern California,” she said. “This one (the Foothill Ranch) happens to be a bigger project than most, and as usual, the county seems to do what the developers want.”

Chester dismissed the Hon resource management plan as “just a lot of words and talk” and said that “a realistic approach would be for a developer to look at the land and plan to build on the hills and around the gullies without leveling the landscape with bulldozers.”

The whole approach to development “these days is distressing and just makes you wince,” she added.