Trabuco Project Nears County OK

The Orange County Planning Commission on Wednesday is expected to approve a plan that calls for the grading of 9 million cubic yards of earth on environmentally sensitive hills in Trabuco Canyon for the construction of 300 homes.

Officials estimate it will take 13 months of grading before construction can begin on the Saddleback Meadows project, a 222-acre development planned for a slide-prone area near Cook’s Corner, east of El Toro Road and on the northern boundary of O’Neill Regional Park.

Approval of the development plan is expected despite the county’s own findings that it will be detrimental to a nearby monastery and an abbey.

The property owners want to build 318 houses on the site, but the county Environmental Management Agency’s planning staff on Monday sent a recommendation to the commission that it adopt an alternative plan that calls for 299 units.

The project, which began as a plan to put 705 mobile homes on the site 20 years ago, is steeped in controversy. Opponents of the development have threatened to bottle it up in court, and three weeks ago a religious group warned county officials it will demand the return of 240 acres it donated in 1974 for O’Neill Regional Park if the project is approved.

Both the Ramakrishna Monastery and St. Michael’s Abbey, whose properties border the proposed development, favor an alternative, later rejected, that would limit development to 100 houses on 30 acres.

The scaled-back plan is also favored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the California Department of Fish and Game and the Foothill/Trabuco Specific Plan Review Board, a citizens’ advisory group formed to help the county develop the area.

Emotions of residents in the area were ignited again recently when the developer, Aradi Inc., was found guilty of making illegal campaign contributions to then-supervisorial candidate Jim Silva in 1994, when he won election to the board.

The Board of Supervisors is expected to have the final say on the project, but Silva declined to comment Monday when asked if he planned to vote on the development.

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In addition, three weeks ago, the monastery’s board of trustees informed county officials that it will sue and ask for the return of land it deeded to Orange County in 1974 for O’Neill Regional Park if authorities approve more than 100 homes for the site. They said that developing the property violated an agreement the monastery had with the county to keep the area pristine.

“We are prepared to take legal steps to enforce the right of [return] in order to regain ownership of the property. This action could lead to a considerable monetary loss as well as unfavorable publicity to Orange County,” said a letter to County Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier dated June 21.

County Planning Director Tom Mathews denied that approving the project will violate the county’s agreement with the monastery. “We will definitely honor the restrictions on the property,” he said Monday.

In an earlier letter to the EMA, the monastery reminded county officials that plans for the 6,500-acre Foothill/Trabuco area call for it to remain rural.

“The proposed development would have a considerable impact on the monks who live here as well as the many people who visit the monastery seeking peace and an escape from the very thing that is being proposed for this development--environmental destruction,” said the March 13 letter.

It is estimated that the grading for the proposed Saddleback Meadows project would require moving more than 500,000 truckloads of dirt.

However, county officials noted the development would be surrounded by the Portola Hills and Foothill Ranch planned communities to the west and the Hidden Ridge residential development to the south. All are outside the Foothill/Trabuco area.

County planners recommended an alternative despite their own findings that their compromise plan is “incompatible” with O’Neill Regional Park, the monastery and the abbey.

“It is important to note that no development can occur on the site without unavoidable adverse impacts,” said a June 5 report by the planners to the Planning Commission.

Mathews said that the compromise worked out by his staff “balances what the owner wants and what we need to buffer property [monastery and abbey] and accomplish public infrastructure requirements, like widening El Toro Road, and mitigate environmental concerns.”

However, opponents of the project, including attorney Verlyn N. Jensen, who is representing the abbey, charged that county officials approved the 300 homes so Aradi can recoup the enormous expense of grading the area and turn a profit.

“The grading costs will be phenomenal. Some county officials have told us privately the developer needs to build at least 300 homes to make money on the project,” Jensen said.

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Mathews said authorities “don’t really know what [Aradi] needs to break even,” but acknowledged that a “100-unit project is probably economically not viable.”

Commission member Tom Moody said he preferred that Aradi build 100 houses on 30 acres, and added that he will vote against the latest proposal.

“The alternative forwarded by staff is too massive a development. The Foothill/Trabuco plan calls for rural development. I don’t think that the massive amount of grading they propose for the area is consistent with rural development,” Moody said.

Supervisor Don Saltarelli, whose district includes Trabuco Canyon, declined to comment on the project. Supervisor William G. Steiner said he favors a proposal that would allow the property owner to build enough units to turn a profit.

“Limiting it to 100 units is not in the real world,” Steiner said. “I think the project needs to be economically viable and 100 units is not economically feasible.”

Commissioner Clarice Blamer, who represents Trabuco Canyon, said she is “prone to supporting” the compromise offered by the planning staff, which calls for 299 houses.

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House Plans

Controversial 222-acre development.