LAGUNA NIGUEL : Ridgeline Protection Decision Is Delayed

After an emotional public hearing marked by property owners’ threats of lawsuits, the City Council voted to postpone for 30 days a decision on a proposed ridgeline protection ordinance.

The proposal, which is intended to protect undeveloped ridgelines throughout the city, has provoked the wrath of hilltop property owners, who have been told by city officials that they may not be able to build upon their lots. The neighborhoods of Bear Brand Ranch and Monarch Point could be especially affected.

As it is now written, the proposed ordinance would ban development within 300 feet of ridgelines that are in “view of scenic highways,” such as Pacific Coast Highway or Crown Valley Parkway. It also would place some restrictions on development within 500 feet of such ridgelines.

In Bear Brand Ranch alone, 40 to 50 lots worth up to $40 million could be affected if the ordinance is passed, developer Robert O’Hill told the council Tuesday night. City officials have warned that Laguna Niguel could be sued if the properties are rendered undevelopable by the proposed ordinance.

Some residents said the move to preserve the ridgelines, at first well received, now has generated bad blood in the community.

“You have the most insidious type of initiative here,” said Monarch Point resident Cassie De Young. “There is no question that it’s unconstitutional.”

The city staff had recommended that the council allow officials 30 days to explore what City Manager Tim Casey called the “extraordinarily complex” fiscal and legal impact of the proposed ordinance. The council’s options are limited because the proposed law was drafted as an initiative, signed by residents, and now must be either approved as is by the council or voted on by the community.

Council members said they have been inundated by calls from worried constituents.

“I’ve kept a very copious count and I think we’ve counted 49 threats since I started answering my phone on Thursday,” Councilman Paul Christiansen said. Councilman Thomas W. Wilson added: “This issue has definitely escalated to a level above and beyond our young city’s expectations.”

Mayor Patricia Bates, who owns a lot in Monarch Point, and Councilman James Krembas abstained from the 3-0 vote to postpone a decision.

During almost two hours of public testimony, 21 people spoke against the ordinance and only one in its defense. Some who criticized the proposal were petition signers who now say they did not understand the implications of the initiative.

Calling the proposed ordinance a potential “catastrophe,” Bear Brand Ranch lot owner Fred Burbank said it would “wipe out the rights of the people who own these lots.”

“To even give this the legitimacy of study is absurd,” Burbank said. “It should be flushed early.”

Richard Taylor, chairman of committee backing the ordinance, said the group expected “heavy-duty opposition” against the initiative, but not from individual lot owners. While conceding that he does not understand all the legal aspects of the ordinance, Taylor said it was not intended to halt construction by individual parcel owners.

“My heart bleeds for these folks,” he said after the meeting. “If I had been in Bear Brand Ranch and . . . it was going to affect me, I’d be the loudest voice there.”

A separate ridgeline-protection and hillside-development ordinance has been prepared by a city consultant and is being considered now by city planners. That proposal has different setback requirements and would allow officials to consider each development proposal individually.

However, Taylor, who considers such allowances to be “loopholes,” predicts that the intention of the initiative eventually will be clarified and residents will again rally behind it.

“I think the people will realize what the intent is,” he said. “We don’t want to condemn anything. We want to protect the ridgelines.”