Environmentalists Sue to Block Canyon Development

Charging that the city of Anaheim paid little attention to the preservation of wildlife habitats, a local environmental group has gone to court to block a plan that would allow the construction of nearly 8,000 homes in Gypsum Canyon.

Friends of Tecate Cypress filed the lawsuit Thursday, asking a Superior Court judge to decertify an environmental impact study of the project that the Anaheim City Council approved last month.

The action comes as the County Board of Supervisors prepares its own legal challenge to the environmental analysis of the Irvine Co.’s massive Mountain Park development in an attempt to preserve the land for either a new county jail or landfill. The county’s legal action is expected to be filed today or Monday, officials said.

“We want the city to do its job,” Tecate President Connie Spenger said outside the Orange County Courthouse. “There is simply not enough known about the movements of wildlife in the canyon.”

She also warned that the canyon housing development would not totally preserve a stand of Tecate Cypress trees for which the environmental group is named.

The lawsuit contends that the canyon land is home to the northernmost stand of Tecate cypress trees in the nation and such rare wildlife species as the California gnatcatcher. Spenger also said more study is required to locate “movement corridors” of deer, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes and other animal species that roam the canyon.

News of Thursday’s lawsuit was not altogether surprising to city officials who were warned of impending legal action last week when the Board of Supervisors ordered its attorneys to take action against the city.

“I was satisfied with the environmental impact report,” Councilman Bob D. Simpson said Thursday. “If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have voted for the project.”

The council approved the report at its July 23 meeting and is scheduled to consider approval of the project’s specific plan at its next meeting Tuesday night.

“If there is not quick remedial action in the courts, I expect this (development) could be tied up for a while,” the councilman said.

Irvine Co. spokeswoman Dawn McCormick said the company would stand behind its plan.

“The project and the environmental report were the result of very thorough consideration by the city and the company,” McCormick said. “There was a great deal of emphasis on the study of wildlife.”

In its presentation before the council, Irvine Co. officials said more than 90% of the Tecate cypress ecosystem would be preserved with the new development. They also said significant portions of land bordering the 3,179-acre development would be dedicated for permanent open space.

Long the source of contention between the county and city of Anaheim, the canyon property has been designated as a favored site by county officials for both a new county jail and landfill. Anxious to keep such government uses from the views of its most well-to-do residents, Anaheim officials have fought just as hard to attract the Irvine Co. development.

In addition to the homes, expected to cost between $200,000 and $500,000, the development would include 179 acres of commercial uses, three elementary schools, a middle school, a high school, three neighborhood parks, two community parks and possibly a fire station.