Judge Says County Hid Joplin Plans

A judge this week accused Orange County’s planning department of ignoring its own zoning guidelines and hiding details about a grading project from the public.

San Diego County Superior Court Judge Lisa Guy-Schall’s assessment is contained in a written opinion in which she derailed the county’s proposal to expand a juvenile detention center in Trabuco Canyon.

The county wants to build the 90-bed Rancho Potrero Leadership Academy on property next to the existing 64-bed Joplin Youth Center. Nearby residents sued to block the project, fearing it would increase traffic and harm the rustic surroundings.

Their suit claimed that the project violates zoning rules for Trabuco Canyon and that the county illegally graded the environmentally sensitive land.

Guy-Schall concluded that when the grading project was approved by the Board of Supervisors last year, nothing was mentioned about using bulldozers to clear land.

“No public hearing was noticed or held as to the actual scope and nature” of the grading project, wrote Guy-Schall. In fact, the board agenda had only a vague description of maintenance and repair projects at Joplin and “made no mention of grading or clearing,” she wrote.

Guy-Schall said the grading was carried out “without notice and without proper permits.” It destroyed the habitat of a threatened species without compliance with state environmental laws, she said.

The judge also faulted the county for bypassing the Foothill/Trabuco Specific Plan, created by the county to review new construction in Trabuco Canyon.

Instead, the county designated Joplin as its own special district and declared it exempt from the specific plan committee. The judge concluded that this strategy was “misplaced.”

Officials from the Orange County Planning and Development Services Department said they have not analyzed the judge’s ruling and would not comment. At the Probation Department, which is spearheading the Joplin expansion, officials said they relied on county planners and public works officials for technical information.

“I’m in probation,” said Chief Deputy Probation Officer Thomas G. Wright. “I don’t know from Shinola about engineering or about [planning] laws. We had to rely on planning and [public works] for those things.”

The county must complete the $18-million expansion by the end of 2003 or lose an $8.4-million state grant. Officials said Friday that they have presented the Board of Supervisors with a list of options as to whether the project should continue.

Activists who sued the county over Joplin said the judge’s ruling raises larger questions.

“Somebody should have been asking questions,” said Richard Gomez, a spokesman for the Saddleback Canyons Conservancy. “It smacks of a fundamental violation of the public trust. How are we ever going to believe that what they tell us is the right thing?”

Andrew Lichtman, an attorney representing canyon residents, said he was especially concerned about the county’s failure to inform residents about the grading. Residents discovered the grading from photos taken by a remote-controlled model airplane with a 35-millimeter camera strapped to it.

“It was evident that [the county] slipped that in with no words to signal what they really intended,” Lichtman said. “It was a kind of end run around the system.”

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Times staff writer Mai Tran contributed to this report.