The OC Board of Supervisors won’t stand in the way of a long-stalled housing project in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains moving forward.
A group of residents and conservationists appealed prior approvals for Saddleback Meadows, a 181-unit development on 222 acres of unused land in Trabuco Canyon, near the Live Oak Canyon and El Toro Road intersection, to the county supervisors. But at a public hearing Tuesday, May 5, the supervisors denied their request 4-0, with Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento abstaining.
A law firm for the nonprofits Saddleback Canyons Conservancy and Rural Canyons Conservation Fund had filed the appeal in February to halt the proposed development. The groups argued the project would “result in conditions or circumstances contrary to the public health and safety and general welfare,” and demanded that the county conduct an updated review of the project’s potential environmental impacts.
The Saddleback Meadows project has been beset by setbacks and controversy since 1980, when the Board of Supervisors first approved the development of 705 mobile homes. In the intervening decades, county officials have approved revisions to the project multiple times in response to a series of litigation, settlement agreements and community pushback.
The current version of Saddleback Meadows was approved by the board in 2002, and an environmental impact report was conducted. The board approved the final tract map last June, and the county Planning Commission approved a use permit in January to establish setbacks and residential development standards for the site.
Trabuco Canyon residents argue that the environmental impact report is outdated, as population and fire risk have increased sharply in the past two decades. More than a dozen speakers Tuesday urged the board to suspend or reject the proposal, saying it would harm the region’s rural character, create safety hazards and threaten endangered wildlife such as mountain lions.
A big worry among residents is that the project could increase congestion during fire evacuations on Valley Vista Way, the lone route from Hidden Ridge to El Toro Road. Some also expressed concern about the construction and placement of a million-gallon water tank that’s needed to deliver water to the project.
One resident said it “defies logic” that 181 homes would be built in a high-risk fire zone.
Another said the county should gather the most “current and accurate dataset in order to make an informed decision” about housing. “We need to analyze all the safety and environmental issues — fire, traffic, everything — that have grown in the last 24 years,” she said.
Third District Supervisor Don Wagner, who represents Trabuco Canyon, said the project is legally locked in because it had been approved decades ago — before his time on the board, he pointed out. The applicant, California Quartet, could turn to litigation should the board reject the project now, he said.
“That was really the last time this board had discretion to give a final thumbs up or thumbs down on the project at all,” Wagner said.
He also pushed back on residents’ complaints that they were not given enough opportunities to review and critique the project, noting that the county significantly “whittled down” allowances for the proposed development, from more than 700 homes to 181, in response to public input and litigation.
He acknowledged that the fire risk is a “legitimate concern,” but assured residents that the Orange County Fire Authority has concluded that Saddleback Meadows does not pose significant fire danger to surrounding neighborhoods.
“The fire danger, according to the experts, has just not materialized,” he said, “and is not a reason to stop this project.”