LAGUNA NIGUEL : Housing Plan to Get Another Evaluation

The City Council and attorneys representing a landowner who wants to build an exclusive housing project on a hillside overlooking the ocean have agreed to send the proposal back to the Planning Commission for evaluation.

Attorneys for landowner Jack B. Binion and city officials met in closed session Wednesday to draft an agreement for re-evaluation of the project, which was rejected by the commission last month.

The move is significant because Binion’s two lawsuits alleging that city officials sabotaged the approval process will be frozen while the project plans are being revised.

The Planning Commission last month rejected a proposal by Binion to build some 32 homes on the ridgeline at the end of Skyview Way. Binion appealed the decision to council.

But instead of acting on the appeal, the council held a closed session with Binion’s attorneys. Officials said the attorneys agreed to revise the project and resubmit it to the Planning Commission.

Under the agreement, Binion would have 60 to 120 days to revise the plans for the project, City Atty. Terry Dixon said.

Dixon said the agreement allows Binion to press litigation once again should processing of the project become bogged down.

“Once we get this (memorandum of understanding) finalized, we are going to sit down with the Binion people to figure out what is the best way to proceed,” Dixon said. “We will sit down and talk about it again . . . (and) work out the problems.”

Commissioners last month cited an array of problems in the Binion project design, focusing mostly on the proposal to remove a massive quantity of dirt to create flat building pads.

The Planning Commission has not set a date for the next hearing on the project.