Laguna Niguel Crowd Decries Loss of Land

Drawn by revelations that a Laguna Niguel councilman had signed away their right to 99 acres of potential parkland, a standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 residents packed this city’s tiny council chambers Tuesday night waiting to speak their mind at a public hearing on the controversy.

Others spilled over into the parking lot, where loudspeakers had been set up to accommodate the crowd.

About a dozen residents who told the council they were shocked and saddened by the news accounts of the land deal drew applause and occasional cheers from the audience.

“Ninety-nine acres disappeared, and I say to myself, ‘How can that happen?’ ” said Charles Gorenstein, director of the Laguna Niguel Environmental Coalition, pounding his fist on the speaker’s podium. “Ninety-nine acres! We want 99 acres back.”

Christine Armas, another Laguna Niguel resident, expressed dismay that the controversy has come only a few months after Laguna Niguel became Orange County’s newest city.

“I’m saddened that Laguna Niguel is only 7 months old and already we have a scandal on our hands,” she said.

After a public hearing, the council was expected to retire to a private session to discuss options ranging from trying to halt construction on the site--now known as the Marina Hills subdivision--to calling a blanket moratorium on all construction in the city.

Last week, Laguna Niguel Councilman James F. Krembas acknowledged that he deeded the property to Taylor Woodrow Homes California Ltd., which three months later hired his wife. But Krembas has said he mistakenly thought it was part of another transaction. The deal is being investigated by the Orange County district attorney’s office.

“This is the grossest kind of malpractice,” said Ronald Halperin, 40, a Laguna Niguel lawyer. “He’s elected to be a trustee, if you will, of public lands, and if he didn’t know what he was doing, at the very least he should have taken the documents to the city attorney. I think Mr. Krembas has made himself in one act a lame-duck councilman. I think he’s gone, and I think if the council doesn’t take some strong action, they’ll be gone.”

Dr. Stephen DeSantis and his wife, Maribeth, said they moved to their Laguna Niguel home with their three children because it was within walking distance of the land in question. DeSantis said he did not know the land would become a subdivision until bulldozers arrived.

“Cows were grazing on it one day and, the next day, they were grading it like a strip mine, completely tearing up oak trees and filling in ravines,” DeSantis said.

Taylor Woodrow President Gordon Tippell, flanked by attorneys and company staff, handed out a prepared statement he intended to give later. In it he urged the council to delay any “drastic measures” until “all the facts are known.”

Tippell told the council that his firm is “cooperating fully” with the investigation into the land transfer.

Tippell said his firm had provided other land and public benefits in exchange for the property and that the swap had been approved by the county.

“The approval process for Marina Hills involved literally hundreds of meetings and approval with county staff, public officials and the general public,” he said.

At issue is land bordering Salt Creek Regional Park which Krembas deeded to Taylor Woodrow in early 1988--three months before the firm hired his wife. The property is estimated to be worth $44 million to $70 million.

Civic activists who attended Tuesday’s meeting expressed dismay at revelations of the transfer and concerns over how the growing controversy would reflect on Laguna Niguel. After a hard-fought battle, the burgeoning community became Orange County’s newest city in January.

Dennis Harris, former co-chairman of Citizens for Cityhood, said he has been inundated with calls from fellow residents shocked and dismayed by the land transfer.

The 99 acres in question were originally set aside as open space by another developer, AVCO-Bredero Niguel, in a deed given to the county in 1985.

Two years later, the county passed its rights to the property to the Laguna Niguel Community Services District, which administered parks and public lands for the area before Laguna Niguel incorporated as a city. Krembas, then a member of the district, signed away the public’s right to the property in a deed to Taylor Woodrow dated Feb. 12, 1988. The councilman has said he mistakenly thought it was part of another transaction approved three weeks earlier by the district.

Although expressing concern over the loss of treasured open space and parkland, most of Krembas’ colleagues have been reluctant to criticize his actions. But in an interview before Tuesday’s council meeting, Laguna Niguel Councilman Paul M. Christiansen, who is frequently at odds with Krembas, criticized him and other officials for their lack of remorse.

“I’ve been greatly distressed that to date I have not heard from the county or any elected officials any regret or remorse for the tragic loss of one of the largest park tracts in Southern California,” Christiansen said. “It’s obvious that a very valuable piece of Laguna Niguel’s public treasure chest is lost.”

Taylor Woodrow’s Tippell has said that the county granted the company permission to build homes on the 99 acres in exchange for other land and public benefits. Taylor Woodrow bought a large tract of land, including the 99 acres set aside for parkland, from AVCO in July, 1985. Tippell acknowledged that the 99 acres had been “irrevocably” offered as open space, according to records released earlier this week by the county.

But later that same year, Taylor Woodrow submitted plans showing homes on large portions of the open space. The Orange County Planning Commission approved the plans Nov. 19, 1985.

It is unclear whether the commission was aware that the land had been promised as open space because the written staff report generally presented to the commission on such matters could not be immediately located. County officials said they hope to find and release the report later this week.