This is a speach given to the Planning Commission Meeting by Dale Tyler on August 1, 2005.

I am here to speak against increased density in residential uses in our city.

At the last planning commission meeting there was some discussion of a new way to look at development in the city. Essentially what was proposed was a way to turn our city into another Costa Mesa or Brea. While the proponents will tell you that we have to change our style or be left behind in the rush to the New Urbanism, I am here to tell you that is hogwash.

Mission Viejo was planned by some very smart people who realized that a low density community on the southern boundary of existing development would be quite attractive to many people. In fact, they were right. Mission Viejo became a desirable place to live, almost completely because the Mission Viejo Company gave people what they wanted, uncrowded housing with a lot of parks, adjacent to a major freeway. Now some people are trying to convince us that the original planners were wrong and that we all really wanted to live in high density high-rise towers. How amazing! I guess I must have been confused when I bought a house here 18 years ago. I was looking for the entrance to the apartment tower and just got lost.

Sure, there will always be social engineers that want us to live better, according to their definitions. Where I come from , we call these people liberal democrats or socialists. Whatever you call them, they want to dictate how others live. The citizens of Mission Viejo have spoken with their dollars. They want low density mostly single-family detached housing. Almost without exception, this is what families want across our great country. Other than retired persons with limited mobility and those who cannot afford a house, only a small minority choses to live in apartments.

However, I am not against letting people choose what type of housing they prefer (unlike the social engineers). I am only opposed to changing the character of Mission Viejo to accommodate the high density life style that some propose. Let those people who want that lifestyle go elsewhere and good luck to them.

Finally, I wonder if this proposal that would change the zoning to allow this mega-dense development is really designed to thwart public input by preapproving development changes in our city.