Pros and Cons of Cook’s Corner Project

Re “Board OKs Strip Mall at Cook’s Corner,” May 8:

Your article on the Board of Supervisors approving the commercial center at Cook’s Corner was accurate, but our firm has represented the developer and I would like to clarify the following:

The project’s commercial zoning continues to be questioned, even though the Board of Supervisors approved the zoning in 1997. Three years of litigation that challenged the board’s vote and the adequacy of the environmental impact report--which went all the way to the California Supreme Court--resulted in the validation of the county’s actions. The Cook’s Corner intersection draws 7,000 to 12,000 daily trips by vehicles. A small commercial center is the best use for this site.

This project represents a careful balance between the rural character of the area, the environmental resources on the site and a reasonable use of Live Oak’s land.

Close to 15 acres of Live Oak’s 23 acres at Cook’s Corner are being preserved as permanent open space.

W. Dean Brown

President, Planning Consortium

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So what else is new? The Board of Supervisors has never seen a development it didn’t like--and the uglier the better. Drive around Orange County and see how easy it is to pick out developments that were approved by the board. If the houses are crowded together and all you can see is roofs, then you know it is one of their projects. I can’t understand why we name anything in Orange County after a supervisor except maybe a garbage dump.

Julian Keithahn

San Juan Capistrano

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Please tell the residents of Trabuco Canyon who are mourning the approval of a shopping mall at Cook’s Corner that all they have to do is not buy gas at the filling station, not drop off film at the photo shop, not pick up prescriptions at the pharmacy and not shop in the gift shop. Tell them not to support any of the new businesses. Then the mall will die and the residents will have the ultimate revenge.

I predict that residents will enjoy the convenience of the shopping area. All the fighting will die out as the locals discover they have an easy place to drop off their dry-cleaning.

B. Dirk Yarborough

Santa Ana