No New Housing Units Approved

This is in response to Paul T. Willems’ letter (Sept. 18) regarding growth management. His letter expressed support for the recently adopted Growth Management Plan element of the county general plan, yet highlighted concerns regarding the compatibility of the adopted development agreements with the new plan.

Because of the significant issues raised in his letter regarding both the recently approved GMP element of the general plan and adopted development agreements, I referred the letter to county staff for review prior to providing this response.

There has been a considerable amount of misunderstanding regarding the development agreements approved by the board since the first of this year. First, the development agreements did not “approve” any new housing units in the south county. The development agreements simply recognize previously approved land-use plans, including some areas that had already received all necessary approvals for site grading and home construction.

Second, all the development agreements adopted by the board included requirements to finance new roadways and public facilities which are in excess of that which can be legally obtained through conventional land-use regulations.

The principal concern expressed in Willems’ letter is that the development agreements conflict with the recently adopted GMP element. You should be pleased to know that the obligations set forth in the individual development agreements are compatible, and in some cases exceed, the requirements of the GMP element.

THOMAS F. RILEY

Orange County Supervisor, 5th District