ANAHEIM : State Seeks Halt to Canyon Homes Plan

The state filed a lawsuit against the city of Anaheim on Friday in an attempt to derail a massive housing development planned in Coal Canyon, which the California attorney general charges would cut off migration routes for a variety of wildlife species.

In the lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, state officials allege that Anaheim officials violated the California Environmental Quality Act by ignoring recommendations to protect the lush canyon’s resources.

The suit was submitted just in time to meet a Friday deadline--the same day that the statute of limitations ran out. Now, state officials said, they will enter into negotiations with the city to determine whether the matter can be resolved out of court.

“Now that we have filed this complaint, we will certainly be talking about a settlement,” Deputy Atty. Gen. Brian Hembacher said Friday. “There will be a hearing in about 90 days.”

The attorney general’s lawsuit mirrors a similar action filed a day earlier by an environmental coalition led by the Mountain Lion Foundation. Both state officials and environmentalists charge that the 1,550-house development, known as Cypress Canyon, would adversely affect a corridor used by mountain lions and other wildlife.

“The main (species) that would be affected are the mountain lions that move from the northern Santa Ana Mountains to the Chino Hills, using Coal Canyon as a byway,” said Mark Palmer, conservation director for the Sacramento-based Mountain Lion Foundation. “There are only about 24 to 38 mountain lions in the whole area, so they are pretty rare.”

No development at all is both groups’ preferred alternative. But in lieu of that, environmentalists and state officials want Hon Development to redesign its project, drastically reducing its scope.

In addition to 1,550 homes, the 663-acre development also calls for an eight-acre commercial area, a school, a fire station and other public buildings.

“If you keep the canyon bottom and the western ridge clear, then the eastern portion could be developed with up to as many as 500 homes,” Palmer said. “That would be a lot less than what the developer wants, but it would still be a substantial development.”

Hon officials, meanwhile, have angrily denounced the lawsuits as last-minute attempts to block a project that has been in the planning for years. They say the company has already made adjustments to provide new paths into the hills for the animals.