Planners Delay Vote on Project in Trabuco

The Orange County Planning Commission on Wednesday postponed a vote on a plan to build a 300-unit housing development in Trabuco Canyon.

The postponement only delayed the inevitable because it was clear at Wednesday’s meeting that the proposal is supported by at least three of the five commissioners. Two, including the chairman, expressed support for the project. A third said she was leaning toward approval.

The panel is expected to adopt the draft Environmental Impact Report for the project and an amendment that will allow the developer, Aradi Inc., to build at least 299 homes on the property when it meets on July 30.

The amendment is necessary because the county had previously zoned the area for 705 mobile homes.

Commissioners granted the delay so Aradi’s representatives can meet with attorneys for St. Michael’s Abbey and work out an agreement that would minimize the visual impact that rows of houses would have on the abbey, which now sits in the middle of a wilderness area. The developed lots will border the abbey’s property.

If the project is approved, the commission will reject complaints from local residents who have argued that the project violates the county’s own development plan for the 6,500-acre Foothill/Trabuco area, which is to remain rural.

Some speakers argued in vain that the developer was being afforded special treatment by the commission.

Ray Chandos, who chaired the advisory committee that helped county officials draw a development plan for the Foothill/Trabuco area, charged that panel members were “extending special privileges for this project.”

“Everyone else in the area must comply [with the development plan],” Chandos said.

Nine people spoke against the project, but no one, other than the project managers, spoke in favor of the plan.