LAGUNA NIGUEL : Infant City Ready to Set Priorities

In its first year of incorporation, this infant city’s top priorities will be emergency services, traffic, infrastructure and land use, said Mayor Pat Bates.

“We will be setting up citizens’ input groups, such as a traffic committee, a planning committee and an environmental review committee,” Bates said.

Bates said the first item to be sought from the new committees will be emergency services recommendations so that city needs are assessed before a contract for police services is settled with the County Sheriff’s Department.

The committees will also deal with traffic safety issues, as will the City Council, Bates said.

“We may ask for a revision of designation of some streets,” Bates said. “The idea of Golden Lantern becoming a super street has caused some concern. We want to make sure those street improvements will not have adverse impacts.”

Included in traffic issues is completion of several streets tied to agreements previously made between the county and developers, Bates said. Among those are Niguel Road and Alicia Parkway, especially the leg of Alicia Parkway behind the Chet Holifield Federal Building, also known as the Ziggurat.

“That’s an essential roadway for us and gets top priority,” Bates said.

A new commercial center is part of the revised plan for the Ziggurat and will be a topic for 1990, particularly concerning potential environmental impacts, Bates said.

“That’s a major project for us and we’ll give it very close scrutiny,” Bates said. “Environmental review has always been a priority for us but now, instead of just making recommendations, we have the authority to set some standards.”

The council will immediately start looking at development and growth management issues as the city starts on the 30-month process of developing its general plan, Bates said.