MISSION VIEJO : Residents to Fight Home Depot Site

Opponents of a proposed 120,000-square-foot home improvement store have vowed to send hundreds of people to a city Planning Commission meeting tonight in protest.

Homeowners fear that a planned Home Depot on a 9.7-acre site near Crown Valley and Marguerite parkways would bring in heavy traffic and shatter the quiet in their neighborhood.

“It would really change the whole character of where we live,” said John Hamilton, board president for the Hillcrest Community Assn. “There will be trucks coming in to make deliveries, and these aren’t going to be vans; there will be semis rolling through here.”

Hamilton said residents are also frustrated because many bought their homes thinking that houses would be built on the site.

But the Planning Commission last year changed the zoning to allow office buildings. Tonight, it will consider a mixed-use application for the area that would permit retail business as well.

Home Depot officials estimate that the Mission Viejo location would generate $38 million in sales in its first year.

The city planning staff has recommended approval of the project, saying that traffic mitigation measures proposed as part of the project are more than adequate to prevent problems.