How to Develop O.C. Land

Orange County must take a serious look at what the final picture will show as the last scraps of developable land are filled. Will the county successfully balance housing, jobs and oak-dotted open spaces? Will it have sufficient roads yet, leave enough land uncrossed by concrete for wildlife?

County residents are outspoken about what they don’t want -- suburban sprawl that would cover some of the loveliest and most environmentally sensitive areas of the county, such as Trabuco Canyon and the Bolsa Chica wetlands.

But they have shown less concern about what still needs to be built -- the schools, low-income housing, nursing homes and churches that allow a community to function. People want these organizations and services -- just not so close. This attitude won’t wash as the county runs out of space. Residents must make room for services before there’s no room left to build.

Consider two communities that recently protested plans to build public schools.

San Juan Capistrano has been a city for more than 40 years, yet it lacks a public high school. Its teenagers travel to out-of-town campuses. Instead of being outraged about this absence, residents are protesting the district’s common-sense plan for a home-grown school.

Santa Ana school officials used eminent domain to obtain land in Floral Park for a much-needed school. The district has been squeezing schools into the few empty spaces it can find -- even putting Mendez Fundamental Intermediate School atop a shopping center’s commercial parking structure. Head north to La Palma, where disgruntled residents have launched an ill-fated recall against a city council for approving a high-density development. The project in question? An assisted-living facility with space for about 50 senior citizens -- a demographic group not noted for a noisy, disruptive presence. What’s more, La Palma’s population has grown by exactly nine people in the last 20 years -- so this is not a hotbed of development.

Head south to Rancho Santa Margarita, where homeowners complained about the potential traffic when they blocked construction of a Muslim school. The school reported receiving some hate-filled telephone messages and subsequently found a warmer welcome in Irvine.

Residents often complain that schools, churches and other necessary buildings constitute bad planning that will wreck the county’s quality of life. We see it as the opposite.

Many of the county’s aging residents will come to a day when they no longer will be able to live independently -- unless La Palma and other cities make an effort to provide appropriate housing.

And if land isn’t set aside for schools, imagine how residents will feel when more districts resort to eminent domain -- or drop the football and baseball teams because the ball fields are needed for portable classrooms.

Schools, churches, hospitals and the like are part of the fabric of a community. That’s why Irvine is including space for a cemetery in its proposed Great Park. Life stretches from the cradle to the grave, and Orange County’s real quality of life will be measured by how it meets those needs.