O.C. Plan Calls for 14,000 Homes on 22,850-Acre Tract

Rancho Mission Viejo submitted its proposal Friday to build 14,000 homes on the last swath of privately owned land in south Orange County, a plan that immediately drew criticism from environmentalists.

The development plan was filed with the county for 22,850 acres of the century-old O’Neill-Moiso family ranch in the hills above San Juan Capistrano. In addition to the housing, it calls for 5.1 million square feet of commercial space, yet sets aside nearly two-thirds of that land as open space for cattle grazing, farming, wilderness preservation and recreation.

“This will define the balance of development for the future of Orange County,” said Tony Moiso, president and chief executive of Rancho Mission Viejo, the company that owns and manages the land. “It’s a thoughtful, caring, scientifically based plan. . . . We’re preserving more land than any developer ever would.”

But environmentalists complain that the company is moving forward with its building plans before completing environmental studies on a property that is home to several endangered species.

“The ranch is obviously more interested in ramming its massive development project down the throats of the local community than it is in helping to protect the environment,” said Andrew Wetzler, staff attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Los Angeles office.

The company is developing its land under the federal Natural Communities Conservation Plan, whereby company officials are supposed to come together with government agencies and environmentalists to work out a plan for preserving endangered habitats. Those joint sessions have yet to occur.

“It’s not appropriate for Rancho Mission Viejo to seek zoning changes until it first works out--through a collaborative process with the Fish and Wildlife Service--what land needs to be protected to preserve water quality and endangered species,” Wetzler said.

Rancho Mission Viejo officials are proposing a single project to be built out over 30 years. That’s in contrast to other major developers in the county, which have built parcel by parcel, a method that has been criticized for allowing builders to piecemeal major development without dealing with the cumulative environmental impacts.

“The alternative was to go canyon by canyon,” Moiso said. “The human cry is ‘help us look at this whole thing at once.’ That’s what we are doing.”

Company officials said the proposal represents only a first draft, and years of negotiations lie ahead--including sit-downs with anyone who wants a voice.

“We will talk to everybody who has even a remote interest,” Moiso said.

The proposal calls for a series of villages to be built on various parcels of the land. The largest contiguous chunk of open space comes in the form of a 9,200-acre parcel that stretches the entire eastern border of the ranch. Company officials would not offer specific information about what the open space would be used for, but have suggested in the past that this area would be set aside for ranching.

Some parks officials expressed displeasure with the open space plan when company officials shared it with them privately in August. The county had been negotiating with the company to add thousands of acres to the regional parks system. The county is instead being offered 1,100 acres that mostly meanders along a flood plain. Parks officials could not be reached for comment Friday.

Moiso said he has been disappointed with the way the county has handled some of the parkland his company deeded over to it in the past. He referred particularly to Caspers Wilderness Park, where much of the land is off-limits to the public because it is home to mountain lions.

By keeping the land in family hands, he says, he will be able to ensure that the public has access to it by creating conservancies.

The plan submitted Friday also calls for 800 homes in the Chiquata Canyon area, home to endangered gnatcatchers and vast expanses of coastal sage scrub.

“We are designing cluster housing so our plan avoids the sensitive habitats,” Moiso said.

The public will get its first chance to comment on the company’s proposal when it is officially presented to the county Planning Commission at 2 p.m. Dec. 5. County officials at that time will inform the public about other opportunities to participate in the planning process for the project.