LAGUNA NIGUEL : Plan Panel to Vote on Disputed Project

The Laguna Niguel Planning Commission will vote today after taking its final look at a controversial commercial development, complete with fitness center and six-screen movie theater, proposed for a 12.7-acre lot near City Hall.

The 375,000-square-foot project, targeted for the northwest corner of La Paz and Aliso Creek roads, is slated to be developed in four phases over 18 years. In addition to the theater and health club, the first phase of the project would include three restaurants and a four-story office building.

Before construction could start, the City Council would have to rezone a portion of the land.

The Chamber of Commerce and hundreds of residents and business owners are backing the development, which some say would attract needed tax dollars to Laguna Niguel.

However, residents in the nearby Lake Chateau community, who packed the last hearing on the development in August, say the theater and fitness center would create noise, traffic, parking and air pollution problems.

“This is a center that will wake up at 5:30 in the morning and that will go to sleep at 1 in the morning,” resident Steven Pomerantz said. “This is a bad project.”

Mitchell Brown, a vice president at Birtcher Niguel, the company developing the project, said the bulk of theater-goers do not attend movies late in the evening and that the busiest time for health clubs is between 5 and 7 p.m.

“We’ve put our project together very carefully,” he said. “We think the mix of uses are very compatible. We feel the city in this area needs the additional recreation and social activities, such as the restaurants, health clubs and theater, in addition to the employment opportunities the project provides.”

The Planning Commission meeting will begin at 5 p.m.