Housing Plan’s Critics Expected at Meeting

Residents are expected to flood City Hall next week when the City Council considers a controversial 380-unit apartment complex.

Homeowners who fear traffic problems hope to block construction of the project on 19.7 acres belonging to the Mission Viejo Co. near Crown Valley Parkway and Los Altos.

City staff said the apartments will bring far less traffic than previous plans for a commercial center.

But residents disagree, saying apartment dwellers would be a far more constant presence than office workers, who would use the property during business hours.

“If you add an additional 700 to 1,000 people, you bring additional traffic seven days a week, 24 hours a day,” said Patti Bennett, a member of Citizens for Responsible Planning, a group opposed to the plan.

The project was recently reduced from 525 to 380 units, but Bennett said the residents still would rather see an office building.

Councilman Lawrence H. Smith said he would support the project: “My view is that apartments in the long term would be an easier fit in the community because there would be less traffic from apartments than with an office use.”