Developer Cash Trumps Residents
Staff editorial

The proposed senior housing project next to Casta del Sol’s gated community hit a snag. While trying to curry favor with Casta del Sol residents, the developer, Sunrise Senior Living, instead stirred up controversy.

Sunrise attempted to lure the “55 and older” community with visions of living in a luxurious old-folks’ home surrounded by a city-maintained park. An example of negative reaction appeared in a Casta del Sol resident’s letter to the editor, published in the Oct. 12 Saddleback Valley News. The opening paragraph refers to the developer’s attempt to deceive the city and the public.

Blog staffers agree with the writer’s concerns, beginning with the loss of a golf course and an increase in security issues for four neighboring gated communities. The letter also refers to triggering more affordable housing requirements by adding to the city’s number of dwellings, and that’s true. Potential litigation and spending enormous amounts of tax dollars on park development are additional liabilities.

One paragraph of the letter, however, deserves a closer look: “This huge developer must think its deep pockets and deceptions can sell this deal. However, our City Council won’t fall for those deceptions.” One might agree council members won’t “fall for” deceptions, given their history of “falling in” with developers.

As an example, the current council – all five members – accepted campaign cash from Steadfast, voting 5-0 for the developer’s project, which is now at a standstill at Jeronimo and Los Alisos.

Can anyone remember the current council siding with residents after a developer, contractor or vendor paid cash to campaign treasuries? Cell towers are going up all over town, commercial properties have been flipped over to high-density residential zoning, and the council has already discussed saddling the retail center at La Paz and Marguerite with high-density welfare housing. The nature of the community is changing at the hands of irresponsible council members who appear not to have the slightest interest in what residents think. When a petition was signed by more than 3,000 people in 2005 asking the council not to approve Steadfast’s project, no one on the council even responded to the petition. The council proceeded to vote 5-0 in favor of the developer without comment whatsoever regarding residents’ objections.

Other obvious steamrolling of residents’ views include the electronic sign at Marguerite and La Paz, acceptance of UDR-Pacific’s high-density housing project on the former Kmart site, taking away residents’ rights to pull agenda items for discussion, approving a redevelopment deal – the list includes nearly every major issue undertaken by the current council.

Casta residents are now gathering signatures on petitions to oppose Sunrise’s proposed housing development to replace the golf course. Given the council’s disinterest in representing the residents, there is one sure way to stop the project: put a measure on the ballot whereby residents get to vote on zone changes. Will council members forego their lucrative source of campaign cash – from developers, contractors and others lining up at the trough – by allowing residents the right to vote?