Laguna Niguel Needs Ridgeline Law

You would have thought, based on all of the self-righteous mewlings of our mayor and City Council, that the residents of Laguna Niguel would have ready and waiting our city-conceived and developed Hillside/Ridgeline Protection ordinance. You would think all that would be left to do is put our council’s stamp of approval on this ordinance paid for by our community, six months in the making.

But no. The ordinance was unanimously rejected by our Planning Commission!

Yet at the Environmental Review Board meeting two days before this ordinance was rejected, the lawyer for the proposed Binion ridgeline development angrily exclaimed that “scare tactics” were being used by those of us who, on our own time, attended the meeting to voice our concerns over this devastating development project.

So the planning commission rejects the city’s hillside protection ordinance and tells us in the process that it wasn’t necessary anyway, when there are obviously adversarial forces such as Binion’s lawyer with this mind set directed at concerned residents.

I’m tired of this “us against them” confrontation every time some devastating Empire State building is proposed for every last nook and cranny in Laguna Niguel by some wanton poltroon.

And I’m tired of the county, and now city, twisting, bending and mitigating every whim and whimper dripping from every Philistine developer, while dismissing gross concerns raised by residents as anti-development scare tactics mouthed by tree-hugging eco-freaks!

How can an ordinance, endorsed by our mayor, mandated by our City Council, put together by a qualified outside consultant being paid big city bucks, overseen by city staff, discussed at two Environmental Review Board meetings and put before three hearings of the Planning Commission before their rejection on the fourth be no good?

What is quite apparent from all of this is that we have a total collapse of representation, credibility and truth within City Hall.

So right now, our city has had three opportunities to enact ridgeline protection. First was the emergency ridgeline ordinance brought forth in January, which was deemed unnecessary. Then the Ridgeline Protection Ordinance/Initiative currently held in abeyance, which is in total violation of our constitutional right to vote. And finally the city’s Hillside Protection Ordinance.

With all of this, excepting the unlikely possibility the City Council overrides the Planning Commission and approves the Hillside Protection Ordinance, we’ll still be left with nothing.

And yes, some will now say we don’t need a ridgeline protection ordinance, but then why do Laguna Beach, San Juan Capistrano, Palm Springs and Santa Barbara, to name but a few?

I don’t want a Planning Commission and City Council used by developers as a conduit to destruction. If others feel the way I do, it’s high time they let their voices be heard.

God knows there are powerful forces buying, bullying and mitigating for 100% buildup of Laguna Niguel. The groundwork for which was being laid last week.

THOM TAYLOR, Laguna Niguel