LAGUNA NIGUEL : Planners Delay Decision on Project

At the end of a lengthy hearing before a standing-room-only audience, planning commissioners this week postponed a decision on a proposal to build a dream house on one of the last undeveloped hillsides in the city.

The project, proposed by South County developer Barry Hon and his wife, Valerie, met with relentless protest from residents Tuesday night who pointed out the possibility of a devastating landslide because of development of the hill.

By midnight, the planning commissioners decided that they were not ready to vote on the project and instead postponed the matter to Jan. 28 to allow the Hons and city planning staff to tackle some unresolved issues.

“After hearing the comments of the residents . . . I don’t know from the (environmental impact report) if the problem (of landslides) will be exacerbated by this project,” Commissioner James Olmstead said. “The EIR does not address it adequately.”

During the hearing, the commission focused on a three-inch-thick report on the environmental effects of building the house on the hill, which is steep and difficult to access. The hill is near Pacific Island Drive and Crown Valley Parkway.

The project includes plans for a 20,000-square-foot home with a separate guest house, two tennis courts, two swimming pools and long driveway supported by a retaining wall reaching a height of 23 feet.

Many of the 50 or so residents at the meeting expressed concern that the project could add to the hill’s runoff, thus contributing to the slippage.

“I have become more and more frightened of anything put there,” said Edith Hollowell, who lives within eyeshot of the hill.

Some of the residents living in hills close to the Hon property circulated photographs to commissioners showing how their houses were slipping down the hill or catching runoff from property above their homes.

Other residents complained that a worrisome fire hazard would be created by construction crews and trucks working among heavy vegetation.

Olmstead and two other commissioners have questioned whether the potential runoff and slippage on the hill, combined with the fire hazard and difficult access, would render the property undevelopable.

The Hons have made no secret of their desire to gain necessary city approval and permits for their project and then sell the 60-acre property.

Tuesday’s hearing was only the latest chapter in a lengthy history of attempts to build on the hill.

In 1986, before the city’s incorporation, the county and the California Coastal Commission gave Barry Hon approval to build 116 stacked condominiums and a 39,000-square-foot office building on the property. Barry Hon did not act on those approvals.

He subsequently proposed to build 13 custom houses and a commercial center. In 1989, the county said the project would require too much removal of dirt and asked for a revision. In January, 1991, Barry Hon shrunk the project down to its current concept.

Gerald Buck, executive vice president of Hon Development, said: “I never thought I would be here this evening. . . . I don’t know what else we can do other than build only one dwelling unit.”

The Jan. 28 hearing will begin at 6 p.m. in the City Council chambers at 25201 Paseo de Alicia.