The Buzz column

One of the city’s original planners with the Mission Viejo Co. recently chatted with blog staff members about some of the parcels that were unsuitable for housing when the Master Plan was developed. He mentioned an earthquake fault that runs near the city’s eastern border where the ball parks are situated. He said it’s not a fault of consequence, but it was a factor in deciding the area would become sports fields rather than homes. He said the Casta golf course is ideal for a golf course and it shouldn’t change. Residents generally agree that the Mission Viejo Co. did things right, and city hall bureaucrats have erred every time they’ve tried to undo the original plan.

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Council candidates Neil Lonsinger and Cathy Schmidt entered the current city council race believing they would be treated fairly by city hall. In return for their offer to serve the community, they were sued for trivial items in their ballot statements. Instead of receiving calls from city hall officials to discuss any issue, each received a summons to appear in court. Councilman Lance MacLean was working behind the scenes, and he initiated the lawsuit. Will his dirty trick next be used by the Political Action Committee that he, Frank Ury and Trish Kelley conceived of, filling residents’ mailboxes with hit pieces against Lonsinger and Schlicht?

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The Crown Valley Parkway widening project is now “slated” for completion in March according to some announcements coming from the city staff. They’re even saying the project could be finished in November if placed on a fast track. The project, in its third year of non-progress, will likely drag on well beyond March. What’s behind the nonsense of a November completion? Councilman Frank Ury lied in his ballot statement, saying the project is already finished. His exact words: “We completed the Crown Valley traffic improvements.” Ury’s accomplice, Lance MacLean, asked staff members during a council meeting how the project could be accelerated. One of them answered that the road crew could work day and night, but there would be “a cost involved.”

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Also blending into a defense of Ury’s lie about completing the Crown Valley road widening, MacLean arranged to bring a representative of SDG&E to the public microphone to blame the utility company for the city’s incompetence in managing the project. The plan backfired when the SDG&E spokesman mentioned the lack of communication between city hall and his company – until very recently, city officials hadn’t contacted SDG&E. Then: project planning escaped city hall – they just dug in and began tearing up the road without first figuring out how to relocate utility boxes. Now: it’s SDG&E’s fault.

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What’s been the impact of Sunrise announcing it is “withdrawing its plan” to build an assisted living project on the Casta del Sol Golf Course? Right-To-Vote signature gatherers report that some residents are quoting HOA board members who say that the threats to carve up the golf course are over. Is any HOA board member pretending to speak for the golf course owner or the developer? The correct and truthful answer is that HOA board members have no information about Sunrise’s PR tactics or offers that might come from any other housing developer to buy the property. The golf course is still for sale, and developers aren’t stupid. After Sunrise has spent a year developing a PR strategy, donating to four out of five council members’ campaign treasuries and staking the property, what are the chances it won’t be back?