Second Look at Laguna Niguel Project

* I apologize to my Laguna Beach neighbors for my derogatory remarks that I made toward them concerning the Binion Estates Development during our Laguna Niguel City Council meeting on June 6. I was ill-advised and misled by Councilwoman Patricia C. Bates and Mayor Mark Goodman into believing they were a bunch of rich, liberal crackpots that are against all development, which they are not.

I have learned that they are well-educated, reasonable people just like we are. They stick together so they are heard. I believe there are serious issues that threaten them if Mr. Jack Binion and Mr. Philip Bettencourt get approval from Mayor Goodman and Councilwoman Bates to build 22 giant houses.

Many surprising things have opened my eyes to what is really going on:

(1) Seeing the movie of the damage brought by the runoff from Laguna Sur, Laguna Beach really does have a reason to complain to our City Council. Their houses and back yards will be ruined by the runoff.

(2) Seeing the campaign contribution statements regarding Mayor Mark Goodman listing one $1,000 contribution after another from Phil Bettencourt and other employees of Mr. Binion’s, I finally understood the reason why he was so cavalier in glossing over their urgent concerns with nasty personal attacks against them.

(3) I do not find fault with Binion and Bettencourt for trying to make a buck; however, lining the pockets of Laguna Niguel’s mayor so he will rubber-stamp his approval for such an ill-conceived tract is not the proper way to do it.

If Mayor Goodman is somehow able to force the approval of Binion’s Estates, in the end, it will be Laguna Niguel that has to spend our hard-earned tax dollars on the expensive lawsuit to defend his backer’s project long after the houses are built and Mayor Goodman is on to other projects.

The Binion Estates Development must go back to our Planning Department for a redesign that consists of smaller houses.

TINA MacFARLAND

Laguna Niguel

* The public deserves more information than Mr. Bettencourt presented in his recent letter.

He overlooks too easily the thousands of unpaid hours citizens of Laguna Beach and Laguna Niguel have had to dedicate to ensure a sensitive, appropriate and legal project on Laguna Niguel’s last remaining coastal ridgeline.

If Mr. Binion had submitted a project that didn’t cause hydrologists to predict flooding and damage to homes in Laguna Beach, and didn’t wipe out a priceless plant community which only exists in six places in the world, perhaps the process would have gone quickly. The Department of Fish and Game states: “Southern maritime chaparral is considered one of the rarest communities in California. We have no rarer rank in our system.” It’s the public that loses, forever, if a project is built destroying one of Laguna Niguel’s finest wilderness resources.

Bravo to council members [Janet] Godfrey and [Eddie] Rose, who are standing strong against such degradation as presented in the current 22-lot Binion proposal.

J. WALLACE

Laguna Beach