Decision Clears Binion Project to Proceed

Ending years of wrangling over development of a Laguna Niguel bluff top, the state Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal to block the project.

The decision, announced Monday, clears the way for Las Vegas casino owner Jack Binion to begin building 22 hilltop homes above South Laguna Road near Crown Valley Parkway.

“We’re obviously delighted,” Binion representative Phillip Bettencourt said. “There are no more obstacles in the way.

The South Laguna Civic Assn., a group of Laguna Beach homeowners, filed a lawsuit in 1995 alleging that the project would cause irreparable environmental damage and that rain runoff from its streets would flood their backyards and could cause mudslides.

With financial help from the city of Laguna Beach, they fought a 4th District Court of Appeal ruling that the development could go forward.

Though an appeal could conceivably be filed now with the U.S. Supreme Court, “I can’t think of any issues that could be used,” Binion attorney John Flynn said Monday.

Civic association representatives could not be reached for comment.

Laguna Niguel Councilman Eddie Rose, a longtime opponent of the Binion project, said he was disheartened by the court’s decision.

“I’m very frustrated, and I think a lot of other people are too,” Rose said. “This is a loss for the people of Laguna Beach and Laguna Niguel--and a victory for special interests.”

But Laguna Niguel Mayor Linda Lindholm said it is time that the controversy “be put to rest. . . . This has been on the books a long, long time, and in the end I think it became a reasonable project.”