LAGUNA NIGUEL : Council to Consider Birtcher Center Plan

The City Council will consider an appeal tonight from homeowners seeking to block a commercial development project at La Paz and Aliso Creek roads.

Although unanimously approved by the Planning Commission on Oct. 15, the proposed Birtcher Center project has drawn strong opposition from many of the homeowners who live in the Lake Chateau community across the street from the now-vacant construction site.

The proposed center would include two restaurants, a health club, a movie theater and an office building.

“We are trying to create something that brings life to the area,” said Mitch Brown, vice president of Birtcher Niguel, which owns the land.

The Lake Chateau Homeowners Assn. filed an appeal asking the City Council to reject the project or require a scaled-down version.

Project critics said the project’s environmental reviews inadequately assessed noise and exhaust pollution, as well as traffic congestion.

The homeowners proposed that the cinema and health center be deleted from the project, but Birtcher Niguel rejected that idea, Brown said.

The council can either send the project back to city staff for additional consultation with the landowners or deny the appeal and grant final approval.

In advance of the Birtcher hearing, a special meeting to swear in Mark Goodman and Janet Godfrey will be held at 6 p.m. in the Council Chambers at 27801 La Paz Road. The regular council meeting will begin at 7 p.m.

Goodman, senior transportation adviser to Orange County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, and Godfrey, a special education teacher, will join the council tonight. Each won council seats in the Nov. 3 election.

In one of their first duties as council members, Goodman and Godfrey must review a 1,000-page history of the Birtcher Center proposal before voting tonight.

“They got it” last week, said City Clerk Juanita Zarilla. “They were shocked by it.”