MISSION VIEJO : City Settles Its Suit Against Laguna Hills

A year-old lawsuit filed by the city against neighboring Laguna Hills over the development of a 48-acre parcel was settled Monday night.

In separate meetings, the city councils in both municipalities agreed on a settlement that will allow plans for an auto mall to move forward and give Laguna Hills a voice in the development process. The Mission Viejo Co., which owns the parcel, has also agreed to drop a lawsuit against Laguna Hills.

“This agreement satisfies the legitimate concerns of Laguna Hills,” said Mayor L. Allan Songstad. “It is a typical settlement where everyone got some of what they wanted.”

The dispute centered on potential traffic and congestion from the proposed auto mall on the nearby Nellie Gail Ranch neighborhood, a pricey Laguna Hills development. Laguna Hills officials felt Mission Viejo was ignoring the residential community in assessing plans for the auto mall.

Laguna Hills attempted to stall the development by blocking construction of a bridge that was needed to connect the property with Cabot Road near Pacific Park. The bridge extended over railroad tracks onto Laguna Hills’ side of the border and city officials appealed to the Public Utilities Commission, which issues permits for railroad overpasses, to reject the request.

Mission Viejo and the Mission Viejo Co. responded by filing lawsuits in Superior Court against Laguna Hills for improperly impeding the development of the 48-acre site. A trial in the land dispute was scheduled to begin next week.

The settlement calls for the Mission Viejo Co. to pay for installation of traffic signals, landscaping and roadway improvement along Cabot Road. It also limits the combined amount of space for buildings there to 290,000 square feet. Traffic will be kept below 17,000 trips per day.

In return, Laguna Hills will not contest the bridge construction and will allow a range of uses in addition to the auto mall, including office, retail and commercial businesses.