ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Mistake Meant Less Open Space
It may be, as Orange County officials insist, only a simple mistake on the part of the title insurance company on which all parties relied. But that mistake has resulted in 21 homes being built on 3.35 acres near Trabuco Canyon originally intended for public open space.
What’s more, the scenario is identical to one that surfaced earlier this year in a Laguna Niguel development, except for the fact that the latest error was corrected in a straightforward manner and involves a much smaller piece of land. The Laguna Niguel matter, involving 96 acres on which a developer built 100 homes, is tied up in court.
On the surface, the error involving Robinson Ranch, near Trabuco Canyon, is far less serious. The developer, William Lyon Co., actually had exceeded its requirement for setting aside open space. Officials say the county would have granted the firm clear title to the acreage in question had there been a request.
The matter slipped by because the now-defunct title company, Ticor, mistakenly reported to the county, the developer and the engineering firm involved that Lyon had clear title to the land.
The engineering firm reported the error last August and the County Board of Supervisors this week unanimously voted to relinquish the county’s claim to the land. Now that the homes are built--and some sold--that may have been the best the board could do under the circumstances. But, added together, the mistakes in Laguna Niguel and on Robinson Ranch make amply clear that Orange County must adopt new procedures to guard against such errors in the future.
Wherever the fault lies, county planning will be only as reliable as its review process.
The Orange County Grand Jury already has made sound recommendations: tightening county review of land transfers and development maps.
One county administrator suggests that the county might require title reports earlier in the process so that errors would be more likely to be caught. That seems the least the county could do to protect the public.
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