COUNTYWIDE : 8,100-Home Project Gets Hearing Today
What could be the final public hearing on a proposed 8,100-home planned community will take place before the Board of Supervisors today.
The supervisors will decide whether to approve a preliminary plan for the sprawling project east of Mission Viejo, covering more than 2,000 acres owned by the Santa Margarita Co.
Tied into preliminary plans for the development is a proposal to extend Antonio Parkway to give current and future residents an alternative to Marguerite Parkway and the San Diego Freeway.
Despite the size of the project, it has drawn relatively little opposition. When there has been a public hearing on the proposed Ladera community, local environmentalist Pete DiSimone has been there, but few others have joined in the fight.
“There are people out there who care . . . but they don’t have time,” DiSimone said.
He contends that the ecosystem will be overtaxed by the thousands of homes, along with schools, shopping centers and fire stations.
But Diane Gaynor of the Santa Margarita Co., whose company fought off DiSimone during the approval process for the 2,500-home Las Flores project, says company planners have created a well-designed community.
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