LAGUNA NIGUEL : Hillside Plans Clear Another Hurdle

One of the city’s last few undeveloped hillsides is a step away from becoming the site of a 20,000-square-foot mansion complete with a 5,000-square-foot guest house, two tennis courts and two swimming pools.

Despite the number of residents expressing concern about landslide dangers, a potential for construction fire hazards and the loss of an unspoiled area, the Planning Commission approved the landowners’ plan for the 60-acre plot during a special meeting last week.

Commissioners had temporarily shelved the plan Jan. 12 because of public outcry. Opponents had said that decades-old land surveys indicate the possibility of landslide conditions. Planning Manager Robin Putnam said research rebuts those claims.

“We’re very comfortable with the findings and the studies,” said Putnam, who told commissioners that neither archive records nor recent site work have turned up any indication of danger. “There have been studies and studies and studies, and everything looks fine.”

But Thom Taylor, leader of the Niguel West Open Space Coalition, said his group’s opposition to South County developer Barry Hon’s various plans for the hillside are based on concerns that remain despite Putnam’s reassurances.

Taylor said much of the recent research relies on results from site borings, exploratory drillings that gauge soil composition and strength. Those probes have yielded positive results, but Taylor contends that not enough of the land was tested. He also said city staff members have dismissed previous surveys--conducted in the same area but for different proposals--that contain findings that contradict the latest test results.

“I can’t for the life of me figure out why that stuff does not apply now,” said Taylor, an automobile designer.

But Marc Winer, one of three commissioners who voted to approve the plan, said Taylor and other disgruntled neighbors refuse to face facts.

“Every expert we listened to, without exception, walked in and said safety was not a problem,” Winer said. “I might not want this project, but it satisfies every requirement that the project needed to satisfy to go forward.”

Residents also expressed fear that there could be a brush-fire hazard with the construction equipment needed to build a road up the steep side of the hill.

Putnam said a 4,000-gallon water truck with a spray nozzle would accompany the road builders, a measure she said Fire Department officials call an adequate safety measure. After construction is complete, she said, fire would be less of a danger than it is now because of the mandatory fire-hydrant installation, planting of fire-retardant vegetation, and the creation of an access road to the top of the hill.

The house plan is the latest in a string of proposals Hon has made for the hill. In 1986, before the city was incorporated, county officials and the California Coastal Commission approved plans for a 116-condominium project and a 39,000-square-foot office building. The permits for that proposal expired without Hon’s acting on the idea.

Next, the developer sought permission to build 13 custom-designed houses and a commercial center. County officials said in 1989 that that plan would require too much dirt removal. The current proposal came in January, 1991.

Hon still needs City Council approval of a zoning change for the proposal.