Commission Can’t Agree on Size of Canyon Project

SANTA ANA —  The Orange County Planning Commission failed to reach an agreement after three votes Tuesday on how many homes should be allowed in a Trabuco Canyon development planned on a pristine, slide-prone area.

The commission’s inability to reach an agreement on the number of units surprised opponents of the Saddleback Meadows project, who expected the panel to approve the proposal. At a commission hearing earlier this month, three commissioners, including the chairman, had expressed support for the development.

Commission Chairman Michael Potts explained Tuesday that the failure to act on the plan was due solely to disagreement over how many units should be built on the 222-acre site near Cook’s Corner, east of El Toro Road and on the northern boundary of O’Neill Regional Park.

“The disagreement is not [over] project [or] no project,” Potts said. “It’s the number.”

The developer, Aradi Inc., wanted to build 318 homes, while a planning staff alternative recommended a maximum of 299. But during Tuesday’s debate, Potts, who hinted at the last meeting that he favored the developer’s plan for a higher density, proposed limiting construction to 260 houses.

He was supported by Commissioner Clarice Blamer, whose district includes Trabuco Canyon.

Commissioners failed three times--each on a 3-2 vote--to approve separate motions calling for 318, 299 and 260 units. A fourth attempt that called for approving the project but letting the Board of Supervisors decide on the number of houses also failed.

However, the development is not a dead issue.

The property owners can now seek approval from the supervisors, where Supervisor William G. Steiner has come out as a key supporter of the project.

Attorney VerLyn Jensen, who represents St. Michael’s Abbey, urged commissioners on Tuesday to refer the matter to the supervisors without any recommendation. The abbey’s property borders the site.

“They’ve got a cheerleader up there who thinks he can get three votes [for approval]. Let’s see if he can,” Jensen said of Steiner.

Steiner, whose district does not include the development site, was out of town and unavailable for comment, said a staff member. But in an earlier interview, Steiner said he favored the project as long as the developer can turn a profit.

Tuesday’s stalemate resulted from Potts’ pique with representatives of the developer over their failure to work out a design compromise with officials from the abbey and the Ramakrishna Monastery, which also borders the site.

The planning agency was ready to give the developer preliminary approval at its July 10 meeting, but delayed any action until Tuesday in order to to give Aradi, the abbey and the monastery time to reach an agreement on how to best minimize the visual impact of the proposed housing units.

But Aradi’s representatives, TPG Management Inc. of Newport Beach, chose not to meet with the religious groups.

On Tuesday, an angry Potts accused TPG Management of “stonewalling” the abbey and monastery and immediately presented a motion limiting the number of units to 260.

Earlier this week, TPG official Pike Oliver acknowledged that there had been no meetings with the officials of the abbey and the monastery, but added that there had been “a lot of previous discussions on this stuff.”

At Tuesday’s hearing, Oliver said that he had tried without success in the past to meet with the representatives of the abbey, monastery and homeowners in the area to discuss the project, but “we were shut out each time.”

He also suggested that the abbey was not serious about compromising because its priests have also been lobbying for another alternative that would have limited construction to 100 houses on 30 acres.

Oliver’s comments were challenged by several homeowners and attorney David Cosgrave, who also represents the abbey, who addressed the panel.

“I am the lying scoundrel who represents the duplicitous priests,” said Cosgrave, prompting laughter from the commissioners and the approximately 45 people in attendance.

Although the commission failed to act on the project, its members did approve the draft of an environmental impact report drawn for the development.

The county approved a mobile home park of 705 units for the site in the 1970s, and the previous property owners recorded a tract map.

Aradi attorney William Ross said last week the developers will consider going ahead with plans for the mobile home park if the county puts up roadblocks for the housing proposal.

“There’s a legal right to go forward with the legally approved density. This is continually overlooked by the critics,” Ross said. He said that sewer and water lines to handle 705 mobile homes have been installed.

Before approving a housing development in the area, county officials would also have to approve a zoning change from manufactured to residential housing.