LAGUNA NIGUEL : Hon Project Faces Another Hurdle

Critics of developer Barry Hon’s plan to build atop one of the city’s few vacant hills filed an appeal Monday to overturn the Planning Commission’s approval of the project.

The seven-page appeal argues that a public hearing and information from project opponents would expose flaws in the environmental impact report prepared for the site. The appeal also argues that the hillside is unstable.

The appeal, written by nearby resident Maurice Ancharoff, states that the findings presented to the Planning Commission were based on insufficient fieldwork, misleading information about replanting the hillside and too little consideration of the area’s landslide history.

“They’re sitting on a looming disaster,” said Ancharoff, who has a master’s degree in biology and has taught geology.

Commissioners voted 3 to 2 last month to approve Hon’s plans, with the dissenters citing the landslide and safety issues. The project would put a 20,000-square-foot house, a 5,000-square-foot guest house, two tennis courts and a pair of swimming pools on the 60-acre hillside parcel, which is bordered by Pacific Island Drive on the south and Crown Valley Parkway on the east.

The appeal will send the Planning Commission’s decision before the City Council, news that drew a weary sigh Monday morning from city senior planner Robin Putnam. “I haven’t seen that yet,” Putnam said of the appeal. “That’s not good news. That means more work.”

Putnam said that while she encourages citizen input in the planning process, she believes that resistance to this development is misplaced, as is criticism of the two-inch-thick environmental impact report.

“It’s an excellent (report), an excellent job was done on it,” Putnam said. “No one could expect a more thorough job on a single-home project.”

Putnam addressed citizen concerns one by one at the lengthy commission meeting where approval was granted to the Hon project. She said Monday that recent research and also past studies of the site prove those concerns to be groundless.

Since his first proposal in 1986, Hon’s efforts to build on the land have been fought at every turn by residents citing safety, environmental and aesthetic problems with the project. Hon responded by repeatedly revamping. The original plan for 116 condominiums and an office building was changed to 13 custom homes and a commercial center in 1989, and then finally the current proposal.

Nearby resident Thom Taylor said he believes that city officials have approved the newest version of the development because they feel indebted to Hon after so many failed efforts to build on the land.

“But I think this appeal is going to awaken the city’s residents,” said Taylor, whose organized resident group collected project-opposing petitions with more than 2,000 signatures. “I’ve tried to be nice and friendly with the city staff, but now I can’t hold back. Fighting projects like this is why we became a city in the first place.”

The City Council will hear the appeal Feb. 22, City Manager Tim Casey said. The meeting had already been scheduled to review the final step in the city approval process, a zoning change.

The property is still zoned for 116 condominiums, a leftover from the developer’s dated plans that were approved before Laguna Niguel incorporated but never acted upon.