School Stadium Foes Reject Study Promises

Neighbors who oppose a new stadium at Mission Viejo’s Trabuco Hills High School were not persuaded by officials of a consulting firm who promised that their environmental impact report on the proposal would be fair and impartial.

About 30 angry residents attended a meeting Wednesday night at the high school in which representatives of Michael Brandman Associates of Santa Ana, the firm hired by the Saddleback Valley Unified School District, outlined their plans.

“Their EIR is going to be done their way,” said Bill Bonsall, one of the residents leading the opposition to the stadium. “Even if we find negative impacts on the environment, the school will still go ahead with the project. The school board has no one to be accountable to.”

School officials insisted the study would be unbiased. “The consultants we’ve hired are the best of their kind in the county,” said Bob Cornelius, the district’s assistant superintendent for business. “They are extremely sensitive to their independence.”

Despite residents’ objections, district trustees approved plans in February to build the 5,000-seat stadium at the southwestern edge of the high school campus on Cordova Road near Los Alisos Boulevard.

Some neighbors complain that the visiting team’s bleachers would be 28 feet from back-yard fences of some homes and that the games would generate traffic jams, parking problems and noise. They also contend neighborhood property values would go down and extra traffic could hinder access by emergency vehicles.

In July, the Mission Viejo Co., the builder and designer of the city, filed a lawsuit seeking to force the district to file an impact report. A spokesman said the firm doesn’t oppose the stadium, but wanted to ensure that required planning was carried out. The suit was dropped after the school district agreed to prepare a report.

The district had contended that the project did not require an environmental report because it would not greatly disrupt the neighborhood.

A second lawsuit--which is still pending-- was filed by nearby resident Theodore Encinas, seeking to force the district to study alternative sites. Encinas said after the meeting that he does not believe a valid study was being conducted because the district ultimately approves any changes after the statement is completed.

“They’re going to try and do exactly what they did before,” Encinas said. “They’re trying to force-feed us the stadium.”

The district is studying alternative sites for the stadium, according to Bill Manahan, director of business services.

Preparing the environmental report will delay the project from five to six months and cost the district about $50,000, Hartman said. The stadium is expected to cost about $2.7 million.

Hartman said district officials cannot understand why opponents surfaced last spring.

“We were extremely upset because this was something that had been discussed at public board meetings for years,” Hartman said. “Nobody came to complain until we started to bid to do it.”

The stadium is part of a sports complex for the high school that will include tennis courts, an all-weather track, a swimming pool and an auxiliary gymnasium.

Trabuco Hills High now plays its home football games about five miles away at Mission Viejo High School. That stadium serves all four district high schools.

PROPOSED TRABUCO HILLS STADIUM

Vital statistics on the proposed stadium at Trabuco Hills High School:

Location: Southwest edge of the high school’s campus at 27501 Cordova Road in Mission Viejo.

Description: Stadium would include 5,000 seats--

3,000 for home team fans, 2,000 for visitor’s fans. There also would be a press box, lights, public address system and scoreboard.

Other features: Stadium is part of an expansion that would include eight lighted tennis courts, a swimming pool and an auxiliary gym.

Costs: Before the district agreed to do an environmental impact report, the stadium was bid for $2.7 million. The pool was bid for $752,600. Other structures had not been contracted.