EL TORO : Group Will Oppose Shopping Center

Fears that a proposed shopping center would create a traffic nightmare at a chronically congested intersection will be raised Nov. 13 before the Orange County Planning Commission.

Members of the Saddleback Area Coordinating Council will argue that the eight-acre plot at Lake Forest Drive and Muirlands Boulevard can better serve El Toro as a community center than a retail and office complex, said Ron Greek, president of the citizen’s advisory group, which reports to the county on development issues.

QBM Cos. of Costa Mesa is asking county planners for a zoning change that would allow it to build 85,000 square feet of restaurants, office space and retail shops.

“This plan will put the intersection into an absolute state of failure,” Greek said. “It will take (waiting) two or three lights to get through the signal if this plan goes through.”

The plot is owned by Southern California Edison but QBM won the option for developing the area last year with an $8.8-million offer.

But the deal hinges on a zoning change request before the County Planning Commission next week.

Currently zoned for manufacturing use, QBM needs the land designated “community commercial” to open the door for profitable retail shop rentals.

Don Willet, a public affairs consultant for QBM, said shopping center traffic would be generated only “after the morning crunch is over with. I don’t believe we will be adding any new traffic.”

Harry Persaud, head of traffic studies for the county, said he will support the project but only if QBM makes additional improvements to their plans. The traffic chief said more turn lanes leading into the shopping center are needed, along with an extra traffic signal.

“The intersection is currently congested,” Persaud admitted, but the county-proposed improvements “would provide an acceptable level of traffic service for this area.”

Besides traffic, coordinating council members have an additional motive for opposing the project, said Willet: their desire to see a community center built on the property.

Council members say the Edison land is their last stand.

“There is no other site in El Toro that can be used for a community center,” said Saddleback council member Marcia Rudolph.

The Saddleback Area Coordinating Council and other members of the community maintain that county redevelopment funds could be used to buy the Edison property.

But a multimillion-dollar community center financed by redevelopment funds is unrealistic, said Robert Pusavat, manager of county Housing and Community Development.

With only about $500,000 to spread across 14 redevelopment areas in the county, the HCD “just doesn’t have the money” to buy the Edison site, Pusavat said.

“This is a great example of why we need cityhood,” said Greg Deskin, a member of the El Toro Redevelopment Citizens Committee. “There is no money sitting in a bank account waiting for us to go for a community center. If we became a city, we would have the ability to generate income for these kind of needs.”