Builder to Look Again at Homes Next to Abbey
Faced with opposition from more than 50 placard-waving Catholic prep school boys and 10 white-robed priests, a development company Tuesday withdrew its opposition to doing an environmental impact report on its plan to grade 94 acres of pristine land next to a Trabuco Canyon abbey.
“We’re at a fork in the road in the process,” a company spokesman told the Orange County Planning Commission before withdrawing an appeal of the county’s determination that a new report is required.
“One path would lead to litigation, the other to compromise. We believe there is a workable plan and we’d like to be able to work on it,” said Frank R. Elfend, a land use consultant representing developer Aradi Inc. of Los Angeles.
Elfend said the company will meet representatives of St. Michael’s Abbey and community groups to create a development plan that everyone can live with.
A spokesman for the abbey expressed skepticism, as did some residents. “I don’t know how much compromise is possible,” said Father Vincent Gilmore, spiritual director of the abbey whose monks and seminarians oppose the development.
Aradi--which owns 233 acres of hillside land known as Saddleback Meadows next to the abbey--wants to build at least 297 homes.
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