SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Pacific Point Project Gets Council’s OK

After more than four hours of public testimony, the City Council this week approved a 350-home development on 256 acres of the Window Hill and McCracken Hill areas in the southern section of the city.

The project, called Pacific Point, is part of the 405-acre Forster Canyon Planned Community approved by the council 11 years ago. Pacific Point will including housing from town homes to custom homes on sites in the $1-million range, as well as two commercial sites and two parks.

At the urging of the majority of the speakers, the council Tuesday agreed not to extend Avenida Calita into the Pacific Point project. Instead, the roadway will be graded and installed, but reserved for emergency use only.

A number of residents voiced their concern over the future design of a park on Camino Las Ramblas. Many of the speakers suggested that the installation of an “active” park with ball fields and restrooms would bring problems to the area.

“Restrooms bring in drugs, the homeless and undesirable people . . . that would ruin our neighborhood and our property values,” said Charles Buell, a Via Acordarse resident.

The council held off making any such promises, however, and instead asked that a specific plan be designed and discussed at a future public meeting. The council did insist that the Camino Las Ramblas park improvements be completed at the end of the first phase of the project.

The council also insisted that much of the project’s road work be completed during its first phase.

The next step for the developer will be to submit a tentative tract map for the project, said Thomas Tomlinson, the city’s development director.

“What they got last night was the zoning for the property, but no actual site development approvals,” Tomlinson said. “Those would require subsequent application and review by the City Council.”

The developer, TMC Communities, has projected the construction to come in three phases, with groundbreaking as early as next summer, according to Mike Schlesinger, the project manager.