Planned 318-Home Project Prompts Meeting

A controversial development proposal that has drawn opposition from residents of this rural area for years will be the topic of a public meeting tonight.

Known as Saddleback Meadows, the project would build 318 homes on 222 acres near Santiago Canyon and Live Oak Canyon roads. An earlier proposal had called for a 700-unit mobile home park on the site.

Many Trabuco Canyon residents said they think the latest development plan would still have too high a density for the environmentally sensitive area.

The single-family homes now proposed would “still take up about the same amount of space,” said Marie Walsh, a Hidden Ridge resident representing homeowners opposed to the development.

“It still doesn’t adhere to specific plan zoning established by the county,” she said, “and hasn’t properly addressed environmental issues.”

Representatives of the project’s management company said they have worked to create architecture and landscaping that would blend into the environment.

“We’ve taken a hard look at the surrounding site and natural resources and tried to design something that works with the physical characteristics of the site,” said Pike Oliver, a principal partner with TPG Management Inc. in Newport Beach.

Oliver said that more than 50% of the site would be left as open space.

The property is owned by California Quartet Ltd., a partnership in which Aradi Inc. of Los Angeles holds a majority interest.

County planners will meet with Trabuco Canyon-area residents at 7:30 p.m. at Portola Hills Elementary School, 19422 Saddleback Ranch Road, Walsh said.