MISSION VIEJO : Residents Defending Last Ridge

In this 25-year-old planned community, known by the advertising catch phrase “The California Promise,” the Mission Viejo Co. traditionally faced few snags for development approvals from county officials.

But the first large-scale development proposal since Mission Viejo became a city in 1988 has spurred residents to battle the city’s sole developer for control of their last frontier.

At tonight’s Planning Commission meeting, the three-mile stretch of hills along the city’s eastern edge known as Naciente Ridge is proposed for a 719-home project along Olympiad Road between Alicia and Oso parkways.

The last major developable area in the city, the 422-acre ridgeline also is the final large-scale project on Mission Viejo Co. holdings within city limits. Company officials said the city would be about 98% complete if the project is approved.

For residents of neighborhoods bordering the area, mainly the 17-year old Casta del Sol tract, the project has violated not only the idea of “California Promise” but promises by realtors that the pristine ridge would remain undeveloped.

“We feel betrayed,” said Bob Landgraff, 39, organizer of Save Our Last Ridge, a grass-roots group protesting the project.

“The ‘California Promise’ of a beautiful, safe life always talked about open space,” added resident Phil Himel, 69. “Now we can’t keep up with the growth.”

Save Our Last Ridge organizers said they are banking on their political clout as voters.

“There are 3,092 voters in Casta del Sol and they represent a pretty good-size bloc for the city,” said Virginia Cankar, head of the Casta Del Sol Republican Club. “And that’s a veiled threat.”

Those numbers are fueling the group’s plans to campaign in the November election against council members and challengers who support the housing project.

The president of the neighborhood’s Democrat club, Carlos Ojuez, 40, also has joined the campaign effort.

“We are all going to fight against anybody running (for city office) who is supporting this project,” he said. “We all agree on that.”

Mission Viejo Co. spokesman Wendy Wetzel pointed out that development of the ridgeline should not have come as a surprise to Casta del Sol residents.

The company has listed the Naciente Ridge as a development area since the late 1960s, and all Casta del Sol residents have signed a statement that outlined development planned for the ridge, Wetzel said.

Detractors, she said, should wait until the plan is unveiled at tonight’s Planning Commission meeting before making up their minds.

“We would hope that any reasonable person would listen to our presentation to find out what is in the plan before they take formal action to oppose it,” she said. “I think they will find that it is not the trade-off that many had in mind. People who think they are losing the entire view are mistaken.”

What the city as a whole would gain, she said, is 203 acres of open space.

Along with the open space, which would include nature areas and a network of hiking trails, the Mission Viejo Co. has pledged to build three parks for youth baseball and soccer players on 22 acres--a value of some $10 million, company officials say.

“They’d be crazy not to support it,” Wetzel said of the city’s youth sports organizations. “There are thousands of children who will be benefited by the parks. All of the parents of the children have stakes in this. It’s just not between us and Casta del Sol.”