Vote To Protect Neighborhoods

Residents are stirred up with new activity regarding the parcel next to Target at Los Alisos Blvd. and Jeronimo Road. An even greater number of residents will be stirred up when they see the high-density housing project being built. However, the city council made the decision years ago, and residents’ battle to preserve the site as a business park is over.

Council members voted for more traffic and overcrowding. Wait a minute! Was any council member representing the majority of residents when voting for the zone change from a business park to high-density residential? Well, no. The property owner at the time (Steadfast) was savvy enough to fool only a few residents who lived nearby. Steadfast used a direct mail campaign to invite neighbors to a “free lunch” to learn about the project. The pitch was all about the affordable high-density homes that would be right next door to employment and shopping opportunities at Target. Did naive participants believe they could buy a home by getting a job at Target? Maybe not, but some of them attended the free lunch because they wanted one of the much-heralded “affordable” units. They were willing to jettison the prospect of real jobs in a business park for a chance to join the line for welfare housing. The number of taxpayer-subsidized units turned out to be 22.

Steadfast found three or four neighbors who then appeared at council meetings to support the zone change. The council approved the zone change with a 5-0 vote against overwhelming objections. Four council members had accepted “campaign donations” from Steadfast. The fifth council member, Trish Kelley, made a big production of not taking Steadfast’s money prior to her vote. Instead, she took their money after the vote.

Steadfast wasn’t able to build its housing project, but Target built a new store approximately 1.5 miles from its old one on Alicia Parkway. Another builder, Lennar, now intends to build the housing project council members approved for Steadfast.

When ex-councilman Lance MacLean was criticized during the campaign to recall him, he denied that he favored special interest, overcrowding and high-density housing development. He said, “The council has approved zone changes, but no housing has been built.” Somehow, residents weren’t supposed to notice that he took special-interest money, sold constituents down the river and voted to change the character of their neighborhoods. After all, the housing slump had delayed construction of projects he voted to approve – at least until after the Feb. 2 election to recall him. What timing!

A similar developer campaign occurred with the Casta del Sol Golf Course. When Sunrise Development got a bad reaction to its housing plans during a community open house, it next met with representatives of the three adjacent homeowners associations. Two of the three HOA presidents were smart enough to say no to housing of any kind on any portion of the golf course, but one of them fell in with the developer. Homeowners in Casta del Sol, Finisterra on the Green and Cypress Point overwhelming supported the Mission Viejo Right-To-Vote Initiative signature drive, and they overwhelmingly voted on Feb. 2 to recall MacLean. Homeowners understood even if their so-called representative on the HOA board didn’t get it.

Mission Viejo voters will have an opportunity to pass the Right-To-Vote Initiative in the June Primary. By doing so, they’ll take away the council’s power to rezone such property as the Casta golf course without a popular vote. Outside interest is already lining up to oppose the initiative. Residents should anticipate another flood of money similar to the deputies’ union to try to confuse residents into voting against their own best interests.