Growth No Longer a Given

Not so long ago, you wouldn’t have heard a development proposal in South County described as being planned for the last large remaining parcel of privately owned open space. There was always plenty of land to go around.

Since the development of Mission Viejo, the southern part of the county has seen growth in Rancho Santa Margarita, Ladera Ranch, Coto de Caza, Aliso Viejo and new housing in the environs of the Foothill toll road. These places, along with more established communities in Dana Point, Lake Forest and Irvine, have made up the new suburban population centers of Orange County.

With all this development, South County has come at last to the final big parcel, which was earmarked last month. The Rancho Mission Viejo Co. proposed a series of villages that would add up to 14,000 homes, spreading from San Juan Capistrano to the Cleveland National Forest.

This colossal development, including single-family homes, townhouses, apartments, senior housing, retail and office space, is to be built over three decades.

The plan includes the setting aside of 14,000 acres of open space, including a parcel that would continue ranch farming and cattle ranching.

Will this be another sprawling cookie-cutter development, or will attention to the history of the land and its environment guide development? It should. The family that owns the land is saying the right thing, that it wants to establish a legacy that balances preservation, ranching and development. Environmentalists aren’t so sure.

Since the last great push of the suburbs southward unfolded in earnest in Orange County during the 1990s, something has changed in the political landscape. The early development of South County was mapped out by developer agreements that went through with handshakes and a few shared rides in golf carts among planners, public officials and builders.

Open land meant having no vested constituency in place to question the environmental impact of new development. The battle over the building of the San Joaquin Hills toll road through the coastal hills, and the current fight over extending the Foothill southward --both roads to serve new development --have been signs of a coming of age of an environmental movement in Orange County.

Today, suburban activists have joined forces with environmental experts to raise questions about such proposals as the planned international airport at El Toro. It is no longer a given that development plans will be presented, approved and built without criticism.

Much of this new environmental consciousness reached critical mass in the latter part of the 1990s. In a Times Orange County poll in 1998, some 66% of Orange County residents said they would vote to approve laws to limit development in their communities. Things were different 10 years earlier. In 1988, county voters rejected a slow-growth initiative after a campaign in which developers outspent initiative proponents by 40 to 1.

Even before the official announcement of the recent preliminary development proposal for Rancho Mission Viejo, environmentalists were making themselves heard. The Sierra Club said the entire community had a stake in development in a 25,000-acre area that is home to several rare plant and animal species, and is one of the last pristine watersheds in the region. The Endangered Habitats League called for more scientific analysis.

The company pledged it would develop the land in such a way as to include environmentalists and community members in the planning. It should make good on that promise. Government agencies with jurisdiction should exercise diligent oversight.

Open space and sweeping vistas are endangered in Orange County, too often lost in recent years to a tide of new people and businesses sweeping through the area. There is certain to be close scrutiny by newly environmentally conscious residents. Here will be one of the last chances to make good on a promise of balanced growth and to do it with community participation.