[CPEO-MEF] Rancho Mission Viejo development, including Defense test sites, challenged

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Natural Resources Defense Council
December 8, 2004

RANCHO MISSION VIEJO DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGED IN COURT 

Lawsuit Alleges Massive Project Will Destroy Orange County's Last Large
Undeveloped Open Space 

LOS ANGELES (December 8, 2004) -- Conservation groups filed a lawsuit
today alleging that Orange County's approval last month of a massive
development plan for Rancho Mission Viejo violates California
environmental law and will destroy the county's last large, unprotected
natural area. The plan allows 14,000 homes and 5 million square feet of
commercial space to be built on mostly pristine land, bringing 30,000
more people to south Orange County, dumping traffic on local streets,
taxing the ability of cities and the county to provide essential
services, destroying and fragmenting wildlife habitat, and polluting
local air and water.

"The environmental assessment rubber-stamped by the County claims that
this colossal development on mostly unspoiled land will have no
significant environmental impact, and that's simply not plausible," said
Dan Silver, executive director of the Endangered Habitats League, one of
the plaintiffs. "This project will severely degrade the environment and
the quality of life for county residents. The Board's approval was
entirely contrary to the public's interest and did not meet legal
requirements." Mr. Silver added that the concerns of surrounding
communities regarding traffic were also ignored.

The other plaintiffs in the case are Laguna Greenbelt, Inc.; NRDC
(Natural Resources Defense Council); The Sierra Club; and Sea & Sage
Audubon, an Orange County chapter of the National Audubon Society. The
lawsuit names both Orange County and the project's developer, the Rancho
Mission Viejo Company. It seeks to vacate and set aside the County's
approval for the project and require that any future approval comply
with environmental laws.

California law requires developers to properly analyze the physical and
biological damage that large projects will do; to propose ways of
mitigating the damage; and to consider lower impact alternatives. "This
developer has failed to satisfy either the letter or the spirit of the
law, but the County approved the project anyway," said James Birkelund,
an NRDC attorney. "Orange County residents deserve an honest assessment
of this project and a good faith effort to minimize the environmental
harm it will do."

Rancho Mission Viejo's approximately 23,000 acres are the last large,
unprotected natural area in Orange County. The project site is one of
the most important areas in California for the protection mountain lions
and golden eagles, and such rare species as the gnatcatcher, arroyo
toad, and coastal cactus wren. In recognition of its importance to
endangered wildlife, the land has been the subject of State of
California Natural Community Conservation Planning for over a decade.
The Board of Supervisors' sudden approval of the massive development
plan precluded community efforts to protect these beautiful natural
lands for future generations.

"We cannot accept the gross level of habitat fragmentation that would
occur in pristine areas like the San Mateo Watershed," said Scott
Thomas, conservation chair for Sea and Sage Audubon. "The approved plan
does not come close to meeting modern wildlife reserve planning
principles." 

In addition to granting the Rancho Mission Viejo Company the right to
develop the land, the Board of Supervisors needlessly committed to a
30-year development agreement that locks in the scale and density of
housing and commercial space, preventing the County from reassessing
later phases of the project as circumstances change and more information
becomes available.

"The county wrongly signed a development agreement that disregards the
public interest by locking in the scale and density of the development
forever. This unreasonable agreement violates state law," said Brittany
McKee, associate regional representative for the Sierra Club.

"In addition, there may well be extremely toxic waste material at the
two defense industry sites slated for new homes and elementary schools,"
said Mr. Birkelund, "and yet residents would have no way of knowing.
It's just common sense to test thoroughly for harmful chemicals at sites
like these before building homes and schools on them." 

Contamination at other, similar facilities suggests that the Rancho
Mission Viejo test sites, one of which is still active, may be polluted
with a rocket fuel by-product, NDMA, which is hazardous to human health
even at extremely low levels, and with perchlorate, a primary component
of rocket fuel, which harms the thyroid and is especially dangerous for
infants. 

As the case moves forward, plaintiffs will prepare an administrative
record to show that the County approved the project without complying
with environmental laws.


...

For the original press release, see
http://www.nrdc.org/media/default.asp#1209rancho

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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