Sign Debate Underscores Controversy Over Project

SANTA ANA — A controversial proposal for 708 manufactured homes on wooded hillsides in South County will return to the Planning Commission today, exactly a year after the Board of Supervisors vetoed earlier plans for the development.

Mere mention of the project, hotly debated for two decades and strongly opposed by neighbors, touched off a spirited discussion at Tuesday’s supervisors meeting when the board considered a request by the developer to post a “Coming Soon” sign at the 232-acre site off El Toro Road.

“This is not about a sign at all. This is about a symbol,” said Supervisor Todd Spitzer, whose district includes the county’s canyon communities. “This represents a more-than-15-year tug of war.”

Plans for the project, called Saddleback Meadows, have been debated and revised since 1978, when county officials gave tentative approval for its development. A year ago, supervisors rejected an alternate proposal calling for 318 high-end homes on the property.

In that vote, Supervisor Jim Silva abstained, citing a conflict of interest because the property’s owner, Aradi Inc. of Los Angeles, had been fined $14,000 by the state Fair Political Practices Commission for illegally funneling $5,000 in contributions to Silva’s election campaign. Also, a lobbyist for a nearby Roman Catholic abbey, which is fighting the project, had encouraged opponents to support Silva.

Silva abstained from voting Tuesday on the sign proposal too, leaving the board hearing room during the hourlong discussion.

Over the years, officials have considered half a dozen proposals for the property, including one that the county buy it and preserve it as open space.

The current owner acquired the land from the Resolution Trust Corp., the federal agency created by Congress to sell off the assets of the nation’s failed savings and loans. The government had seized the property in 1990 from San Jacinto Savings & Loan Assn.

Opposition to its development has come from the abbey, which is one side of the property, and the Ramakrishna Monastery on the other. They and others have argued that the land is unsuitable for development because it is too hilly, environmentally sensitive and prone to landslides.

The heated debate Tuesday over the sign request indicated the depth of emotion that the proposal has generated and may foreshadow the mood at today’s 1 p.m. Planning Commission session.

Even the sign itself stirred controversy. It would be a 200-square-foot billboard, six times the size of what is allowed now along the scenic portion of El Toro Road near Trabuco Canyon.

“This sign is an in-your-face, inflammatory provocation to the people who live up there,” said Ed Conner, who represented the monastery at Tuesday’s meeting.

Spitzer said he would go along with the sign request if the project had been approved already. But it would be dishonest to do so now, he said: “To say ‘Coming Soon’ is like yelling ‘Fire’ in the canyons.”

Pike Oliver, a lobbyist representing Aradi, said the sign would give people in the community information and a number to call to inquire about the homes being built.

“Our intent is not to incite a community controversy,” he said.

Supervisor Chuck Smith asked, “Isn’t it reasonable as a landowner for him to advertise his property?”

That drew a sharp response from Spitzer, who said doing so would be like erecting a sign outside Mile Square Regional Park in Smith’s district announcing a second 18-hole golf course before it had been approved. Smith has been criticized by some constituents for voting in favor of another golf course being built at the popular Fountain Valley park.

In the end, the supervisors put off action on the Saddleback Meadows sign request until the board’s Dec. 9 meeting.

By then, the board reasoned, the Planning Commission will have had time to review an updated environmental study of the project, and a grading permit may have cleared the way for construction to start.