Orange County Supervisors Deny Appeal Against Development

Orange County officials are letting a long-simmering housing proposal in Trabuco Canyon move forward after tossing out a last-ditch appeal from residents and conservation groups.

On Tuesday, the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to deny an appeal challenging Saddleback Meadows, a 181-home development planned on 222 acres near the intersection of Live Oak Canyon Road and El Toro Road intersection, the Orange County Register reported. The decision effectively clears the way for a project that has been mired in revisions, lawsuits and community opposition for more than four decades.

Lawyers for the Saddleback Canyons Conservancy and Rural Canyons Conservation Fund filed an appeal in February, arguing the project would “result in conditions or circumstances contrary to the public health and safety and general welfare” and demanding that the county conduct a fresh environmental review, according to the Register. Residents echoed those concerns at the hearing, pointing to increased wildfire danger, traffic constraints and threats to wildlife.

The current 181-home version of Saddleback Meadows was approved in 2002. The project was first greenlit in 1980 as a 705-unit mobile home development. At issue is whether the county still has discretion to revisit resident concerns given that the plans were approved decades ago by officials’ predecessors. Supervisor Don Wagner argued that the project’s entitlements were effectively locked in decades ago, limiting the board’s ability to halt it now without triggering legal challenges from applicant California Quartet.

“That was really the last time this board had discretion to give a final thumbs up or thumbs down on the project at all,” Wagner said of past approvals. California Quartet is a limited partnership linked in state business records to the Washington, D.C. address of investment firm Capital Guidance.

The Orange County Fire Authority has waved away fire concerns regarding the development, saying that Saddleback Meadows does not pose significant fire danger to surrounding neighborhoods, according to the Register. “The fire danger, according to the experts, has just not materialized, and is not a reason to stop this project,” Wagner said.

The OC Board of Supervisors approved the final tract map for the project in June, and the county Planning Commission approved a use permit in January to establish setbacks and residential development standards for the site. A timeline for construction has not been set in stone. — Chris Malone Méndez