Binion to Shoulder Any Damages in Suit

An agreement that absolves the city from having to pay any legal damages for approving a controversial 22-home project won approval from the City Council this week.

Developer Jack Binion agreed to take responsibility for any damage awards as a condition of winning approval for his proposed hilltop housing tract.

With a community group having filed a lawsuit against the city and Binion in October to halt the development, however, City Atty. Terry Dixon advised formalizing the agreement with a contract.

In addition, Binion agreed to pay all legal costs to defend the lawsuit, which was filed by the South Laguna Civic Assn.

“They are managing the case,” City Manager Tim Casey said of Binion’s company. “And they are aggressively defending the city’s position in approving the project.”

Casey said that requiring a builder to take full legal responsibility for a project is standard policy. “It’s a good risk-management technique,” he said, since the developer “is the beneficiary of the approval.”

In its lawsuit, the civic group alleges that the project overlooking Pacific Coast Highway would violate state coastal laws and would pose a landslide and flood threat to homes below the tract.

The Binion project went through more than five years of often acrimonious public hearings before finally being approved by the City Council last fall.

The lawsuit is being backed by the neighboring city of Laguna Beach, which has agreed to help pay for the civic association’s legal efforts.