SAN CLEMENTE : City Opposes Nearby Development Plan

City Council members took a stand Wednesday against a proposed 87-home hillside development in neighboring San Juan Capistrano that threatens the views of residents in northern San Clemente.

In a two-page letter to San Juan Capistrano Mayor Gil Jones, San Clemente officials appealed to a sense of “community” in stopping the 100-acre development as proposed since they have no ultimate authority over the project.

“We hope that you will consider the effects of this project upon San Clemente’s natural resources and quality of life as if they were your own,” officials wrote in the letter.

San Clemente officials contend that the project, proposed by Irvine-based Concorde Development, will ruin views for residents living within a 1,100-acre section of the city and violate ridgeline protection policies found in the general plans of both cities. San Clemente took formal steps in 1982 to protect its remaining ridgelines.

San Clemente officials said they are especially worried about proposed grading on the top 100 feet of the 700-foot-high ridgeline, which they feel would give it an “unnaturally flat appearance.” Under the proposal, the homes will be built along the hillsides below the ridgeline.

“The city of San Juan Capistrano’s reputation and tradition for preserving its natural resources, particularly ridgelines, is widespread,” San Clemente officials wrote in the letter. “Therefore, it was to our dismay to learn of the Concorde Development project.”

San Clemente officials are also sending a 13-page letter to San Juan Capistrano planners detailing what they say are faults in an environmental impact report analyzing the proposal.

Concorde Development officials say they have taken steps to ensure that none of the homes will be seen from north San Clemente neighborhoods. All landscaping will also be kept on the San Juan Capistrano side of the hill, preserving the more natural hillside state for San Clemente residents, officials said.

“It’s been extremely costly to us to do this,” said Dennis Gage, managing general partner. “By no means are we trying to do anything detrimental to anybody.” Except for the main ridge peak, cuts to the top of the ridge would only be about 35 feet deep in most spots, he said.

The San Juan Capistrano Planning Commission is scheduled to review the development proposal Tuesday. The San Juan Capistrano City Council is expected to take a final vote on the proposal in late January or February.