MISSION VIEJO : City Council to Hear Appeal on Ridgeline

The fate of the city’s last undeveloped ridgeline may be decided at tonight’s City Council meeting, when the council hears an appeal brought by one of its own members.

The Planning Commission approved the controversial plan to build 719 homes on Naciente Ridge last month, but an appeal was filed May 25 by Councilman William S. Craycraft, who said he was worried about a geological survey that indicated potential landslide areas on the 421-acre site.

“I don’t think (filing the appeal) is any big deal,” he said. “I just want to be certain there are no problems” with slope stability.

The first public hearing on the proposed development in April drew 300 people, and officials say they expect heavy attendance at tonight’s meeting.

The project is being proposed by the Mission Viejo Co., which has offered to build several athletic parks for the city’s many youth sports organizations and to donate more than 200 acres of open space in return for the right to develop the ridgeline. Company officials estimate the value of the land gift and the parks at about $10 million.

But homeowners living near the project site, which runs almost three miles parallel to Olympiad Road, say the trade-off is poor compensation for the loss of the city’s last ridgeline.

The Planning Commission approved the development last month, saying that its benefits to the community outweigh the ecological impact.

Debate over the project is also being clouded by an agreement reached between the Mission Viejo Co. and Councilman Robert A. Curtis. That proposal suggested that approvals for Naciente Ridge development and a large-scale hotel/commercial complex off Crown Valley Parkway be linked to several concessions from the developer.