MISSION VIEJO : District, Residents Reach Accord on Lot

Capistrano Unified School District officials expect to forge ahead with construction of a parking lot at Capistrano Valley High School after finalizing a tentative settlement reached with residents who had obtained an injunction to stop work on the lot.

Residents of the Village San Juan housing complex first complained about the project after a grove of eucalyptus trees was torn out during grading. The Village San Juan Homeowners’ Assn. then obtained a temporary injunction against the school district, claiming it had been improperly notified of the lot’s construction.

Capistrano Valley High School is on Via Escolar in Mission Viejo but its neighbor, the Village San Juan housing complex, is just over the city border in San Juan Capistrano.

District officials had placed a notice of the project in a newspaper not available in San Juan Capistrano and did not inform the homeowners association about the project. However, a sign placed at the project site met notification guidelines set by the state, according to school district spokeswoman Jacqueline Cerra.

As part of the out-of-court settlement, school district officials have pledged to re-landscape the hillside lot and install gates, fencing and speed bumps. The injunction will remain in effect until next week, when both sides hope to reach a final settlement, Cerra said. Construction will resume after the settlement is signed.

Although student parking has never been a problem in Village San Juan, residents said, students have parked in neighborhoods in Mission Viejo and along Via Escolar when the main school parking lot is filled.