Bond Vote to Save Canyon Proposed

Laguna Beach city officials and the Irvine Co. announced Friday that they will ask the county Board of Supervisors to add a countywide, $100-million bond measure to the November ballot that would ask voters to finance the purchase of 2,150 acres of land in Laguna Canyon for a county park.

The move is the latest in a series of efforts by Laguna Beach officials to block the Irvine Co.’s plans to build the 3,200-home Laguna Laurel project in pristine Laguna Canyon. At issue is whether the development would cause environmental damage to the lush hills and slopes, resulting in flooding and other problems for Laguna Beach residents.

“Basically, what it boils down to is if they don’t want us to build it, they can figure out a way to buy it,” said Irvine Co. spokesman Gary Hunt. “They have been saying there is an interest beyond Laguna Beach in preserving the canyon. They wanted to let the voters decide, so we said, ‘Let them decide.’ ”

Laguna Beach officials and Irvine Co. representatives said they would look into the possibility of a countywide bond measure after a closed-door meeting with Supervisor Thomas F. Riley at the company’s Newport Center headquarters.

Riley, who voted three years ago to approve the controversial project within his district, said he would ask his fellow supervisors to call for a ballot measure “if certain conditions are met.” The board gave tentative approval to the project three years ago pending completion of an environmental impact report.

“If you had asked me a month ago if this could have happened, I would have said no,” Riley observed. “But when you take all that has happened in that short a period of time, I would say it is very plausible that it could get on the ballot.”

Riley, however, may have difficulty persuading his colleagues on the board to support a countywide bond issue that has little apparent benefit for residents outside the immediate Laguna Beach area.

“It certainly sounds nice from the point of view of those who enjoy the canyon,” said Supervisor Roger R. Stanton. “But I look back to a transportation measure that would have benefited all of the residents of Orange County that failed. I look at the possibility of a jail tax initiative in the future to build a much-needed jail, and while it may not sit well with some folks, I’m sorry to say a proposal to buy Laguna Canyon would probably not fare well, compared to the nuts-and-bolts needs that thus far have not been financed through the ballot box.”

Supervisors Harriett M. Wieder, Gaddi H. Vasquez and Don R. Roth could not be reached for comment Friday.

A bond issue would require a two-thirds “yes” vote to pass. Under the measure, the county would raise property taxes to pay off interest and principal.

County elections officials said Friday that the last countywide bond issue approved by voters was in 1957 for county hospital improvements.

“We’ve had measures that affect certain districts, but to get one passed that will only benefit one small area is unusual, to say the least,” said Bev Warner, a county elections supervisor. “A countywide measure to remedy an area that is maybe 10 miles square, if that? Well if you live in Brea, how would you feel about that?”

Yet, despite criticism, opponents of the Irvine Co. project were optimistic Friday about the prospect of swaying county voters in efforts to preserve one of the last large expanses of open space in Orange County.

“Whether or not they will pay for it is a major issue. That’s why we said we would explore the feasibility of a bond issue,” Laguna Beach City Councilman Robert F. Gentry said. “But the only indication I get is the 7,500 people who joined us at the canyon for our march, and at least a third of them were from out of town. That’s what indicates to me that there is a countywide interest in this property and it is not just a Laguna Beach concern.”

Gene Felder, a board member of the Laguna Canyon Conservancy said: “At least we stop it for another year. We probably would have trouble convincing voters in Fullerton and Buena Park, but I welcome at least the chance to have a shot at it.”

Although the two sides have been warring over the project since the early 1980s, the battle has grown more heated over the past several months, as the company approached the final stages of receiving the necessary permits. It is the strong opposition to the project, political observers suggest, that has forced the Irvine Co. to rethink its plan, setting the stage for a series of unusual talks between Laguna Beach officials and company representatives.

Last month, in a move heralded briefly as a solution that would be satisfactory to all sides, Laguna Beach officials urged the city of Irvine to move the project to within its borders.

However, Irvine city officials flatly rejected the proposal.

Opposition to the project has heated up over the past several months. A protest march through Laguna Canyon in November drew some 7,000 or 8,000 marchers. Last month, protesters were gearing up to appear at a county Planning Commission meeting on the development when the Irvine Co. requested a postponement so it could continue negotiations with Laguna Beach.