Casino Owner’s Hilltop Housing Project Approved

Despite a group of homeowners’ last-ditch effort to block a hilltop development by offering to buy the land, the City Council approved the controversial project late Tuesday night.

Michael Beanan, vice president of the South Laguna Civic Assn., had urged the council not to approve the plan before that group had a chance to negotiate with the owner, Jack Binion, for the land. He said the group would sue if the city went ahead.

But Councilman Thomas W. Wilson said: “This is a well-planned project. Demands have been placed on the applicant that have gone far beyond [what was] required in the past.”

The plan to build 22 luxury homes overlooking the ocean near the junction of Crown Valley Parkway and Pacific Coast Highway has been battled for five years because homeowners below the slope in South Laguna fear the development would create a flood hazard for them.

They produced a videotape that showed back yards devastated by last year’s torrential rains. Any construction above would make the situation worse, they claim.

“If the slopes fail, the results could be disastrous for residents living below,” resident Ron Harris told the council Tuesday.

A technical expert hired by the homeowners warned the City Council that the steep hillside above Pacific Coast Highway should be tested for stability.

“It’s a simple survey,” said Dennis Hannan of Hannan Geotechnical Inc. in Irvine. “The problem is, no analysis has ever been done on this soil.”

Philip Bettencourt, planning manager for the project, said considerable work went into designing drainage systems for it, and $100,000 was offered to Laguna Beach for any additional flood mitigation.

But Beanan said that at least $3 million would be needed to solve drainage problems.

“We’ve played by all the rules,” Bettencourt said. “We’ve listened to our detractors. . . . Please don’t move the goal posts on us.” Binion’s consultants and the homeowners group held several meetings over the past month to see if a last-minute resolution could be reached. “There was no settlement, no closure, no plan B,” Bettencourt said.

Some five years after filing the first application, Binion finally won approval from the city Planning Commission earlier this year. The homeowners appealed to the council.

Mayor Mark Goodman and council members Wilson and Janet Godfrey voted for the project. Councilman Eddie Rose opposed it, and Councilwoman Patricia C. Bates abstained.

Until Tuesday night, Bates had refused to say how she would vote--if she could. Bates had been waiting to hear from the Fair Political Practices Commission about her eligibility to vote on the project, because it is near her own home. An hour before the meeting, she received word from the commission that she could vote on the matter without conflict of interest.