County Should Do Wilderness Job Right, Quit Calling People Eco-Freaks

Re “Suit Seeks to Halt Wilderness Area Plan” (Jan. 4): I was dismayed at the reported attitude of Orange County’s chief administrative officer in the matter of Audubon-Chandos seeking to overturn county approval of the Las Flores project. Apparently he believes that the environmental impact report process has become “a vehicle for environmentalists to mire development projects in time-consuming red tape.”

This is hardly the purpose of the EIR process. The EIR is intended to help satisfy the policies and goals of the California Environmental Quality Act. This act was enacted two decades ago to assure residents of an environment that at all times is healthful and pleasing to the senses and intellect of man.

It recognized that there is a relationship between the maintenance of high-quality ecological systems and the general welfare of the people, and it affirmed that every person has a responsibility to contribute to the preservation and enhancement of the environment.

I applaud the Sea and Sage Audubon-Ray Chandos action against the Orange County Board of Supervisors and the Santa Margarita Co. As The Times’ reported, there were several causes for Sea and Sage Audubon and Chandos to resort to legal action.

One issue raised at the hearings concerned the development’s projected impact on traffic conditions. It is estimated that the Las Flores project will generate an additional 30,000 auto trips per day that the surrounding road system will need to accommodate. In spite of this, the EIR, as approved by the supervisors, failed to specify how such problems would be addressed.

I am tired of watching our elected officials approve real estate development that inevitably results in increasing traffic congestion and pollution. I say solve these problems first. Assure us that a healthy and pleasing environment is maintained. Then, and only then, approve further development.

It’s time to give the EIR process the serious consideration that our Legislature intended, and not to view it as another piece of “red tape,” temporarily and inconveniently blocking real estate developers from bulldozing away our agricultural lands, our natural open spaces, our wildlife habitats to pave the way for congested roadways and housing at the low, “affordable” price of just $249,999.99!

JOHN R. BRADLEY, Irvine