Council Drops Plans to Take Dirt From Slopes

Drawing applause from angry residents, council members this week scuttled plans to scoop dirt from slopes along Alicia Parkway for the nearby Civic Center construction project.

The council on Tuesday voted unanimously to halt a study into the feasibility of the excavation plan, which residents feared would weaken local bluffs.

“I was opposed to the study from the beginning,” said Councilman Randall J. Bressette. “I knew that I couldn’t support moving the slopes.”

The hills “are an icon, part of the community,” he said. “They are part of what Laguna Hills is.”

City officials had proposed the excavation to provide fill dirt for the construction project across the street. About $1 million, they said, could be saved by eliminating the need to truck dirt in from elsewhere.

But as community opposition grew, council support for the concept dwindled.

“This is a project of use from a number of standpoints,” Councilman L. Allan Songstad Jr. said. “However, we have heard from the community that they don’t even want us to study it. Under those circumstances, I can’t imagine ever voting to take the dirt from there.”