A proposed development of housing, commercial space and a 750-horse equestrian center is good, but probably too big as now proposed, San Juan Capistrano City Council members told the proposed developer Tuesday after more than three hours staff reports and public testimony.
Advanced Real Estate Services proposes 94 homes, 90 condos and 50 apartments, along with 68,200 square feet of retail and 27,500 square feet of office space and the equestrian center, on 153 acres just east of the San Diego Freeway at the Camino Capistrano exit.
In a public hearing Tuesday, 13 residents, nearly all who live near the project, said they opposed the proposal, while 17 speakers voiced support for the plan. Council members, however, said some elements, including the stables and a five-story parking structure, were just too large. The project comes back to council on August 3.
City staff deserves some process for trying to quantify the potential traffic impact of the project – while it could generate more traffic overall than the approved housing-and-hotel project (along with something on a remaining parcel), the impact at peak hours would be less. City Traffic Engineer Alan Oswald said motorists’ average drives would increase less than a minute with the new project. That drew some catcalls from the audience (the room held well over 100 people at the start of the hearing, but that number dwindled as the night wore on … and on) but it was a good attempt at validating what 8,000 car trips a day would mean on the streets around the project.
A rundown of the council comments (in the order they spoke, and Mayor Lon Uso was absent):
* Councilman Sam Allevato told residents the approval process would be long, so there’s no need to get upset – for now at least. Additionally, Allevato said, there are questions about the project, but time remains to get those answers.
“If nothing is ever done up there, maybe all those issues might go away, but that is not reality,” Allevato said. “Four hundred and forty homes would cause a lot of impacts and a lot of people would be here complaining about those impacts.”
* Tom Hribrar expressed some strong concerns about the project, saying he couldn’t see approving it with more than 300 to 350 horses. He also said he has serious concerns about the proposed five-story parking structure, saying that he did not believe people would want to park in structures.
He did say, however, that he liked the project, especially the inclusion of affordable housing, the architecture and retail components. He did say he thought it was too dense, too, and the project appears too massive. He suggested one of the condo buildings might have to be removed to make room for more surface parking.
* Mark Nielsen started by taking to task folks who compared this project to an earlier proposal to building housing on the golf-course driving range. Nielsen led the battle against that project, which was overturned by voters. The golf course, he said, is zoned open space, where 440 homes and a hotel are already approved on this land. Nielsen also wanted more answers on the landfill-closure process.
* Mayor Pro Tem Laura Freese agreed with the other council members’ concerns and said she did not like the parking structure element of the project, either.
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