MISSION VIEJO : Ridge Plan Pits Open Space Against Sports

Open-space advocates clashed with youth sports supporters into the morning Tuesday at a meeting in which the Mission Viejo Co. offered to build $10 million in sports facilities in exchange for approval to build 719 homes.

After closing the hearing shortly before 2 a.m., the Planning Commission postponed discussing the issue until a May 16 special meeting at City Hall.

The 421-acre project would deed more than 200 acres of open space to the city. The Mission Viejo Co. has pledged to build three sports parks on 22 acres at a cost of $10 million.

In return, the company would build homes on a three-mile stretch along Olympiad Boulevard between Alicia and Oso parkways, the city’s last undeveloped ridge.

“To ruin that ridge as we see it today is a shame for the whole area,” said Stuart Kline, a resident of the 1,900-home Casta del Sol retirement community. The Mission Viejo Co. “is not giving us anything. They’re helping themselves as they go along.”

Forrest Hunt, an official of the North Mission Viejo Little League, said the city desperately needs new facilities.

“We need more fields,” he said. “Our kids can’t vote right now, but our voices can be heard.”

City planners also produced a preliminary study that maintains construction could take place at least 200 feet from the bluff, known as Naciente Ridge, a move that would cut 240 homes from the project. The study contradicts the environment impact report’s assertion that if homes are built farther down the ridge, the hilltops would still need to be graded.

“We would need to grade to the top to stabilize the peak if homes are built lower down,” said Wayne Peterson, company director of planning.