Development Approval Is Overturned

With both environmentalists and developers claiming victory, a Superior Court judge Thursday overturned the County Board of Supervisors’ approval of the controversial 2,500-home Las Flores development in South County.

In a one-page order, Judge Leonard Goldstein said he was ruling in favor of the local chapter of the National Audubon Society only because he did not believe that traffic impact had been adequately addressed in environmental studies on the development. The Audubon group filed a lawsuit in January against the Santa Margarita Co., the county and the supervisors.

But the ruling caused instant confusion about work already under way at the scrub-filled site, home to the California gnatcatcher, because a different judge earlier this week rejected the group’s plea to stop the clearing of land. On Thursday afternoon, bulldozers continued to clear vegetation on 380 acres. County officials are expected to decide today whether to stop them.

In addition, the county and company officials say they believe that they can make the necessary changes to the traffic study to satisfy the judge, although it was not clear how or when that would be accomplished.

“We are very pleased with the court’s ruling,” said Diane Gaynor, a spokeswoman for the Santa Margarita Co. “Although the court did find that additional study and findings are required in one limited area, on a very technical basis, the court’s ruling affirmed the validity of the majority of the Las Flores Environmental Impact Report.”

Said county Planning Director Thomas B. Mathews: “It sounds like a fix-it ticket to me.”

However, an attorney for the Audubon Society’s Sea and Sage chapter said it is rare for environmental groups to successfully challenge a planned community approved by the county.

“We win and the approval of the the project is set aside and the EIR is set aside,” attorney Roland Bye said.

Goldstein’s decision comes two days after another Superior Court judge rejected Sea and Sage’s pleas to hold off the bulldozers until after Goldstein’s ruling. On Wednesday, armed with the county permit, Santa Margarita Co. began clearing the property, located between Mission Viejo and Coto de Caza.

The parcel is home to the California gnatcatcher, a songbird that the California Fish and Game Commission is considering as a candidate for the endangered-species list. A hearing on that matter will be Thursday in Newport Beach.

James A. Miller, the county’s grading section chief, said he is convinced that the developer was trying to clear the land as quickly as possible before the hearing.

“There’s no question that that was a factor for them to go as quickly as they could,” he said.

After a series of hastily arranged meetings and phone calls Thursday afternoon among county attorneys, company representatives and other county officials, Mathews said a decision will be made by noon today as to whether the clearing work should be continued.

He said the county feels caught between the two judges’ decisions and wants some time to examine whether it should allow the clearing or not.

“We were named in this lawsuit too. . . . We will be liable for all our actions in that regard, so we want to make sure the actions we take are consistent with the body of information in the court documents,” he said.

The Las Flores development, to be built in a lush area of woods, grasslands and creek beds, was approved in December by the supervisors after an emotional three-hour public hearing.

The Sea and Sage lawsuit contended that county officials violated state law when they approved the development because they did not adequately address environmental issues ranging from wildlife conservation and water quality to traffic and air pollution.