Role of County Staff Reviewed in Land Inquiry

SANTA ANA —  In addition to investigating a local official who deeded 99 acres of public land to a developer in 1988, the Orange County district attorney is reviewing the role of county employees who indirectly managed the property, according to local leaders.

Officials who have been interviewed by investigators said county staff members are not the focus of the probe, but they conceded that some staffers may have made mistakes in overseeing the land.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Wallace J. Wade, who heads the office’s political corruption unit, would not comment on the case, citing the department’s policy against discussing active inquiries.

“There’s a possibility that something slipped past a low-level employee somewhere,” said Kenneth H. Bruner, a land-use aide to Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, whose district includes the property in question. “One thing we know for sure: Things aren’t looking the way they’re supposed to. There’s a house on my park.”

Laguna Niguel City Councilman James F. Krembas, while vice president of the Laguna Niguel Community Services District, deeded over the public’s right to the property on Feb. 12, 1988.

The land was transferred to Taylor Woodrow Homes California Ltd., a branch of the same British firm whose heavy construction division has been highly criticized as prime contractor on the John Wayne Airport expansion.

Taylor Woodrow executives contend that they had permission from the Board of Supervisors to build on the 99 acres as part of a development agreement signed two days before the property was transferred. About 100 houses now stand on the property, with more planned.

Krembas is being investigated by the district attorney, according to local leaders and others who have been questioned.

In an interview Friday, the councilman said he had relied on his staff’s expertise when signing the deed. And he pointed a finger at the county officials, wondering why they had not caught the mistake.

“Gee whiz, how did they let it happen?” Krembas asked of the supervisors. “The issue becomes greater than a local (community services district) if an august body such as a Board of Supervisors signed a document authorizing this.”

Bruner called that response “hooey,” saying the supervisors review hundreds of items each week and cannot be expected to review every detail.

John W. Sibley, deputy director of the Environmental Management Agency and head of the county’s internal review of the matter, said Friday that district attorney’s investigators have questioned county employees.

He added, however, that the county “is not the focus, and the supervisors are not the focus.”

On June 22, Sibley wrote a memo to other officials at the environmental agency requesting their cooperation in the inquiry. The memo, obtained Friday, repeated his position that county staff are not are under investigation for wrongdoing.

“The inconsistencies which were highlighted by the district attorney did not occur” within the environmental agency, the memo said. “The majority of the questions are being directed to the city of Laguna Niguel.”

According to county officials who have been interviewed by investigators, the district attorney is trying to discover how the property could have gone from designated open space to residential homes during a period when it was under the county’s indirect supervision.

The county deeded rights to the property to the Laguna Niguel Community Services District in 1987 but retained planning authority over the land.

Robert Hamilton--planning manager for the County Department of Harbors, Beaches and Parks--added that all planning matters in unincorporated areas, which Laguna Niguel was at the time, are handled through the county. That would have included any change in the zoning designation of the 99 acres, he and other officials said.

“Somewhere, something slipped,” Bruner said. “We’re just trying to figure out where.”

Top county officials, including County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider, held meetings to discuss the matter Friday afternoon. But so far, they said, they have been unable to determine exactly what happened to the property.

The county officials said they are trying to piece together a zoning history of the land this weekend and hope to have more information next week.