Developer Fined $17,000 for Illegal Grading

The Mission Viejo Co. has been fined $17,000 by the county for illegally grading 170 acres of land in the Aliso Viejo area, a company representative said on Saturday.

Although the company has agreed to pay, spokeswoman Wendy Wetzel said the penalty was the result of a “disagreement” over whether a grading permit was required.

The Mission Viejo Co. believed that because the grading was part of a routine “fire-fuel modification program,” a permit was not needed, Wetzel said. She said that county officials disagreed, pointing out that the company scraped the acreage at the same time it had applied for--but not yet received--a grading permit.

Wetzel described the 170 acres as a narrow strip of grassland that parallels Aliso and Wood Canyons Regional Park.

John W. Sibley, chief deputy director of the County Environmental Management Agency, said that the fines reflect a combination of grading permit fees. “When there is evidence of grading without a permit, the ordinance allows us to double the fees,” he said.

Sibley said that the county has also ordered the Mission Viejo Co. to take other steps, including planting new vegetation, to mitigate the damage caused by the grading.

“The intention is, obviously, to discourage people from illegal grading,” Sibley said.

Wetzel said the Mission Viejo Co. did not believe that any of the acreage cleared was inhabited by the gnatcatcher, the tiny bird whose potential status as an endangered species could serve to block other development in Orange County.

Sibley said that the county reached no judgment concerning the company’s intentions. Company officials, he said, did assert that the grading was necessary to remove weeds that could pose a fire hazard. According to Wetzel, the Mission Viejo Co. agreed to pay the $17,000 in early August.