SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : 455-Unit Housing Project Clears Hurdle
A Santa Ana-based developer seeking to turn the former Forster Canyon dump site into a golf course and 455-unit housing project cleared a major hurdle this week.
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve the environmental impact report for the 148-acre project, which Dick Bobertz, the city’s land-use manager, described as “one of the most significant residential projects to come before us in a number of years.”
The project, called San Juan Meadows, is slated to be built on one of the last large landholdings in the city--on a hilltop above Interstate 5 and the existing San Juan Hills Country Club.
The developer, San Juan Creek Associates, also won council approval of an amendment to the city’s General Plan that allows 180 units of “affordable” senior housing to substitute for a mandated public facility on an eight-acre parcel of the project. However, the amendment squeaked by on a 3-2 vote, with council members Jerry Harris and Jeff Vasquez dissenting.
Harris, who called the parcel “probably the most visible in the community,” said the proposal is a “far cry from what I had envisioned for that property.”
“I had always envisioned we would do something with that landfill as a statement of the ruralness of the community,” Harris said. He added that he would like to see the elimination of any type of attached housing before the developer returns for further approvals.
The project has already undergone several revisions since its first appearance before the council last October. As originally envisioned, San Juan Creek Associates had proposed 237 detached homes and 168 townhouses encircling a nine-hole golf course and driving range.
The developer this week unveiled a plan for 275 single-family houses, both attached and detached, in gate-guarded clusters and 180 units of senior housing surrounding a 33.5-acre golf course, driving range, putting green and clubhouse. Prices were projected at $400,000 for the detached housing, $250,000 for the townhouses and $80,000 for the senior housing.
The project also includes more than 60 acres of open space with walkways, bicycle paths and equestrian trails linking up with the city’s trail system.
The developer is expected to bring the project back to the council next month for possible approval of a tentative tract map.
Before any construction can begin, one major obstacle--the old county dump site--will have to be closed and cleared by the proper state, county and federal regulatory agencies, City Manager Stephen B. Julian said.
The county has agreed to pay the estimated $5 million to $7 million to close off the dump site and put in place the necessary monitoring equipment in exchange for ownership of the golf course and driving range, Julian said.
