Needed: Alternative to Protect the Ridgelines in Laguna Niguel

More than 4,000 registered voters of Laguna Niguel have expressed their desire to see our remaining ridgelines protected from further development.

In its haste to 1) enlighten those of us who signed the ridgeline initiative 2) divert attention to the union in Vegas that apparently contributed to the initiative 3) protect their own interests and 4) demean the backers of the initiatives, the City Council has utterly failed to keep the original intent in mind: Our community wants its ridgelines protected!

So the initiative wasn’t worded well. We see that now. So a lot of innocent people would be gravely affected by the initiative. We now understand that, thank you. So the initiative could wind up potentially bankrupting our new city. We can’t have that now, can we? These are all consequences we don’t want to see come to pass.

But what hasn’t been addressed is an alternative to the ridgeline initiative that is strong, yet fair. Why hasn’t the council made any efforts toward that end? And if they have, why not present it? The council’s name-calling, back-stabbing and threatened lawsuits are unproductive and don’t really address Laguna Niguel’s concerns for the remaining ridgelines.

I think that a fair yet substantive alternative ordinance proposal, with some involvement from those involved with the initiative and the community as a whole, would go a long way toward easing property owners’ concerns. It would also go a long way toward giving those of us against ridgeline development a reason to feel as though our council has heard us.

Wasn’t ridgeline development one of the biggest concerns during the cityhood drive? That was one long year ago! The council mustn’t continue to stall while leaving the door open for developers to finalize more devastating developments. Give us what we have all dreamed of for years: local control and sensible protection of our remaining ridgelines.

THOM TAYLOR

Laguna Niguel