ORANGE : Villa Santiago Plan Is Finally Defeated

After more than four years of battling a proposal to develop the former Santiago Golf Course, residents won a resounding victory this week when the City Council unanimously rejected a plan to build a housing tract on the site.

The defeat of the Burnett-Ehline Development Co. project marks the third time in less than a decade that residents have successfully stopped development of the 37 acres along Santiago Creek, the last large tract of open space in central Orange.

This time, a coalition of organizations hopes to raise funds that will allow them to purchase the land and preserve it as a park.

“The system works,” said Ralph Masek, president of the Santiago Creek Homeowners Assn. and one of the leaders of the movement to “Save Santiago Creek.”

“People have told me, ‘Ralph, you can’t fight City Hall.’ But the voters can and citizens can, if they want to,” he said. “City Hall is there for the citizens, not for the developers.”

A crowd of more than 300 people who packed City Council chambers for the public hearing Tuesday cheered when the council voted 4 to 0 to deny the project, a decision that followed months of public protest and lobbying on the issue. Mayor Don E. Smith was absent.

Residents have long opposed the project, Villa Santiago, because it would rezone the area to allow denser development and would fill in the creek bed, eliminating what has been called an important flood wash.

The proposal, which would have consisted of 160 single-family residences along Santiago Creek between Cambridge Street and Tustin Avenue and a seven-acre commercial plaza, began as a 471-unit apartment complex. After several revisions, the plan was given preliminary approval in February.

Councilman William G. Steiner, who had voted to approve the project in February, said he changed his vote because he saw a deadlock between the developer and the community.

“I didn’t think there was any further opportunity for negotiation or compromise, given the (public’s) intensity of feeling on the issue,” Steiner said.

Some supporters of the Burnett-Ehline plan said they backed the project because they did not believe the council would allow the land to remain as a greenbelt and they felt Villa Santiago was the best alternative offered the city, resident Joan North said.

Now, she added, there is no one to take responsibility for removing 22 abandoned homes on Rosewood Avenue, which was among improvements promised in the Burnett-Ehline plan.

“Who’s going to take care of the flood canal? Who’s going to demolish those abandoned homes? Who’s going to do it?” North asked.

So far, Burnett-Ehline has announced no future plans for the property, but supporters of Save Santiago Creek hope that someday they will be able to purchase the land and turn it into a “passive park.”

Howard DeCruyenaere, president of the Santiago Creek Greenway Alliance, said funds to purchase the property could be raised through grants, bonds and private fund-raising. However, DeCruyenaere said that some state grants require cooperation from the city and he felt that it was unclear whether the city would participate in a partnership to buy the land.

DeCruyenaere said he hopes this week’s victory will spark a movement to create a greenway along Santiago Creek stretching from Irvine Lake to the Santa Ana River.