Laguna Beach sues O.C., aiming to stop mixed-use development near Great Park

The city of Laguna Beach is suing Orange County in a last-ditch effort to halt a commercial and residential project near the Great Park in Irvine.

Laguna says the 108-acre project, known as the El Toro Development Plan, would adversely affect the city’s roads, recreational amenities and public services and that the county abused its discretion in approving it.

The county Board of Supervisors approved the development on a 4-1 vote in November. The project would put a hotel, offices and retail and residential spaces south of Orange County Great Park, which is on the former site of the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

According to the city’s complaint filed this month in Orange County Superior Court, the development would mean 1 million square feet of offices, 1,998 residential units, 200,000 square feet of retail space and 242 hotel rooms.

“Although the project is located more than one mile east of Laguna Beach’s eastern border, within the city of Irvine, a significant portion of the project’s traffic will travel the streets and highways within Laguna Beach,” according to the complaint.

The city is looking to overturn the Board of Supervisors’ decision and be awarded attorney fees, according to court documents.

Orange County spokeswoman Molly Nichelson said the county will defend itself against the lawsuit.

Laguna Beach argues the county’s approval of the plan was inconsistent with county general plan restrictions imposed through a voter-approved initiative called Measure W.

Measure W was passed in 2002 after plans to build an international airport on the former Marine base were scrapped. The initiative limited what could be developed on all 4,700 acres of the site to park, education, recreation, cultural and other public uses.

The measure also requires voter approval for any amendments to the initiative, a process Laguna Beach says the county ignored.

The lawsuit claims the project’s final environmental impact report was not submitted to city attorneys, as Laguna Beach requested, but rather to City Manager John Pietig, delaying the city’s review of the EIR.

This is one of four lawsuits against the county related to the development. The others are from the city of Irvine, Heritage Fields and Laguna Greenbelt.

Jason Holder, an attorney representing Laguna Beach, noted the city also sued the county in July in an effort to stop the West Alton Development Plan, a project that calls for up to 803 multifamily residences on 32 acres near the edge of the former El Toro base. That lawsuit argues the West Alton project would adversely affect traffic and wildlife in Laguna.

miranda.ceja@latimes.com

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