LAGUNA BEACH : Battle Intensifies Over Bren Project

For a coalition of Laguna Beach city officials and local conservationists, it is a modern-day tale of David versus Goliath.

On one side, billionaire developer Donald L. Bren and the Irvine Co. plan to build a planned residential community of nearly 3,000 homes at the mouth of Laguna Canyon.

On the other, an odd assortment of local residents, artists and city officials are fighting to preserve the rugged terrain in its natural state.

“People don’t realize the formidable opponent that we’re taking on,” said Mark Chamberlain, a Laguna Beach artist. “It’s like a flea climbing up an elephant’s back. . . .”

Opponents of the 2,150-acre Laguna Laurel project have harnessed a wealth of local professional talent into a well-organized political machine. On Saturday, environmentalists are planning a protest march along Laguna Canyon Road that is expected to draw more than 5,000 people.

Northbound traffic toward the San Diego Freeway will be halted from 9 a.m. until noon along the heavily traveled road. The day’s events will include speeches by Indians about the ancient burial grounds located near the proposed housing project.

The Laguna Laurel project has faced opposition since it was first proposed by the Irvine Co. nearly a decade ago. But the battle has grown more heated in recent months as company officials get closer to breaking ground.

The project would be located west of Leisure World and north of Laguna Beach and would feature a 237-acre private golf course. Local residents fear that Laguna Beach would suffer from traffic congestion and storm water runoff resulting from the project.

City Councilwoman Lida Lenney says she hasn’t seen such a spirited campaign since “we tried to elect a black woman to the city council in Alabama” 20 years ago.

The project has already obtained preliminary approval from the County Board of Supervisors. But now that the Irvine Co. is in the final stages of the permit process, the opposition has gotten tougher.

“We’ve been successful in booting it into the election year,” said Harry Huggins, director of Save the Canyons, one of a handful of nonprofit groups working to prevent the development. “Now it’s a campaign issue.”

Meanwhile, the two sides aren’t getting any closer. Irvine Co. officials recently offered to sell the city about 250 acres, roughly one-tenth of the project, for $38 million, an offer which no one in the city appears to be taking seriously.

“We tried to balance their various interests, but (they have) only one position, and that’s no development,” said Irvine Co. spokesman Larry Thomas. “The reality of the world we live in is the land has value. I guess their expectation was that someone would simply give it away.”