SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Council to Study Hilltop Project

A Santa Ana-based company that hopes to build a golf course and residential development on a 148-acre hilltop parcel that includes the old Forster Canyon dump site will bring its proposal before the City Council on Tuesday.

San Juan Creek Associates wants to build 154 detached homes, 120 townhouses, a 180-unit senior citizen housing project, a nine-hole executive golf course and a driving range on the parcel, which sits on a hill overlooking Interstate 5 near San Juan Creek Road. At the direction of the council last October, the developer decreased the scope of its project from 237 detached homes and 168 townhouses.

For the project to proceed, the council would have to approve an amendment to the city’s General Plan, which requires that an 8-acre portion of the parcel be designated for a public facility somewhere on the property. San Juan Creek Associates will ask the council Tuesday to consider a senior housing project proposed as part of the development to fill the public facility demands, said Dick Bobertz, San Juan Capistrano’s land-use manager.

“They would provide the city the benefit of low- to moderate-income housing through the senior housing project,” Bobertz said. Rather than take final action on that proposal, the council Tuesday will only determine whether it is worthy of further study by staff, Bobertz said.

Before the project wins final approval, the council will also have to approve the construction of the golf course over the old 40-acre landfill, which was closed by the county nearly 16 years ago. The Forster Canyon landfill was leased for use as a dump from 1958 to March, 1976.

If approved by the city, the county and the developer would share the estimated $5-million to $7-million cost of closing the landfill, said Frank R. Bowerman, director and chief engineer of the county’s Integrated Waste Management Department.

“We’re looking for a partner,” Bowerman said. “We would also like to see someone make use of the property. . . . A golf course has the additional factor of creating income.”

The developer will also ask for council approval to create a Mello-Roos tax district to pay for infrastructure improvements in the area, said David Bentz, the city’s director of finance. The council will consider that at a later date, Bentz said.