Casta Golf Course Remains in Jeopardy
Staff editorial

One of the most frequently asked questions in Mission Viejo is about the future of the Casta del Sol golf course.

On March 31, the city council held a special meeting and, after a few minutes of proceedings, decided to extend the 45-day moratorium on zone changes to 10 1/2 months. If anyone is still asking if the moratorium protects the golf course, it does not. The extended moratorium merely cools discussion of rezoning the golf course until after the November city election. Residents should not be deluded into thinking the developer has lost interest.

Council Members Gail Reavis and Frank Ury are up for reelection in November, and both are likely to run. Neither of them can afford to lose votes over rezoning of the golf course, and both need campaign cash from developers. By delaying the issue, they can have it both ways.

Council members are carefully stating, “We have no proposal in front of us regarding the golf course.” Technically, it’s true. Sunrise has made all of its presentations to council members individually during private meetings. Four council members (Reavis, Ury, Lance MacLean and Trish Kelley) have accepted campaign donations from the developer’s P.R. agent, Roger Faubel. Councilman John Paul Ledesma has not accepted a donation from Faubel. While some council members might argue that they haven’t always voted on behalf of their corporate donors, they have without exception voted in their favor when donors were developers.

Various residents have tried to guess which council members might vote to preserve the golf course. Based on the council’s record, the answer is none of them. MacLean has talked favorably about the developer’s plans. Ury is reportedly the developer’s “go-to guy,” and he frequently talks about his belief in property owners’ rights to do whatever they wish with complete disregard for neighboring property owners.

If a third council member were to show his or her hand in favor of the developer, residents would have to acknowledge the Casta golf course will be gone. All five council members approved the sham moratorium, which provides a variance in favor of any developer who wishes to pursue rezoning. Additionally, the moratorium can be overturned at any time with three council votes. If council members try to represent the moratorium as a safeguard against rezoning, they’re blowing smoke.

Apparently, Lance McLean thinks the developer is going to build him a basketball gymnasium in exchange for his support for rezoning. A zone change that permits an assisted-living project at the south of the property will bring an abrupt end to any talk about preserving the golf course.

Sunrise is interested only in housing. It doesn’t care about golf, basketball, what the neighbors think, security for nearby homeowners, golf classes for high school students or any other consideration of Mission Viejo residents. Sunrise clearly doesn’t want the golf course. As a bizarre remark, a spokesperson from Sunrise suggested it would buy the entire parcel, build a 300-unit assisted-living facility at the south end and GIVE the remainder of the property to the city to preserve the golf course area as a park.

Developers don’t give things away. They particularly don’t give away valuable, buildable real estate in a prime location. What about the flood plain? It doesn’t matter. The current council already approved housing below an earthen dam off Los Alisos. What about traffic? It doesn’t matter. The developer’s consultants will blow away such objections in a heartbeat. What about Casta residents’ petition with 1,000-plus signatures in support of keeping the golf course? It doesn’t matter. Residents in south Mission Viejo presented a petition with 7,000 signatures to no avail, and another group presented a petition with 3,000 signatures against similar rezoning that the council approved along Los Alisos. The previous developers’ projects were quickly approved, and the council ignored thousands of signatures that had no legal impact.

Residents have one option to preserve the golf course: passing the voter initiative developed by community activist Dale Tyler. Fortunately, the initiative is in the final stage of legal review and revision.

Without Tyler’s initiative in place, here’s the likely progression: Sunrise will present its proposal to rezone the golf course after the November election. The council will approve rezoning the entire parcel, although it might be a split vote. Sunrise will build its 300-unit project at the south end of the parcel without spending millions of dollars to relocate the clubhouse. (Why on earth would a corporation that builds only assisted-living facilities waste money on a clubhouse?) Sunrise will sell the remaining acreage to another developer who will build other high-density housing projects. The parcel south of the Casta Drive will also be developed as housing.

Lance MacLean’s basketball gymnasium will be a casualty of the developer’s spin cycle as well. Does anyone remember all the promises Steadfast made when proposing its high-density housing mess at Jeronimo and Los Alisos? What happened to the million dollars Trish Kelley went on and one about for the community center expansion? Where’s the money for the park? Steadfast is long gone after paying chump-change to council members’ campaign treasuries in exchange for their votes. The sad truth is how little it took for all five council members to sell out..