Mission Viejo Sued Over Approval of Business Park : Preservation: The Audubon Society alleges that the project could damage wildlife habitats in the Aliso Creek Corridor. The Mission Viejo Co. is also named as a defendant.

The local chapter of the Audubon Society sued Mission Viejo on Friday in an attempt to halt a planned business park that environmentalists allege could blight the scenic Aliso Creek area and damage wildlife habitats there.

In a Superior Court lawsuit, the Sea and Sage Audubon Society and local resident Ray Chandos contend that Mission Viejo ignored procedural requirements in state law and relied on an inadequate environmental impact report when the City Council voted May 28 to approve development of the proposed 210-acre business park.

The society seeks court orders setting aside the rezoning ordinance and development agreement for the project and halting work.

Mission Viejo’s mayor and city attorney could not be reached for comment, and City Manager Fred Sorsabal declined to discuss the suit, saying he had not seen it.

The Mission Viejo Co., which owns the land, was also named as a defendant. Company spokeswoman Jo Schetter said she could not comment without seeing the suit.

The legal tangle focuses on a parcel of grassland, woodland, chaparral and coastal sage between Aliso Creek and El Toro roads in the northern part of Mission Viejo.

The Audubon Society contends that Mission Viejo’s impact report, adopted in October, 1990, along with the city’s general plan, is intended only for general use and not for specific projects, such as the proposed business park.

Yet, no other impact report was prepared or circulated “for public review,” the lawsuit says.

The impact report is insufficient for the proposal because it fails to discuss the “potentially significant” impact that industrial drainage might have on the water quality of Aliso Creek, the lawsuit alleges.

The report also fails to address possible harm to “sensitive biological species and their habitats,” recreational use of the Aliso Creek Corridor and the “aesthetics” of the area, the suit says.

The society contends that the business park proposal conflicts with the goals of the conservation and open space elements of the city’s general plan, because it would interrupt the Aliso Creek Corridor with streets and buildings, require widespread grading and destroy vegetation that provides animal habitat.

The Audubon Society also complains that the city failed to comply with many state-mandated procedural requirements when it adopted the rezoning ordinance, development agreement, general plan amendments and other changes for the business park.

Among them is a purported failure to allow sufficient public review and comment.