Mark Speros, San Juan Capistrano
I have to agree with Councilman Sam Allevato’s points about the strange vote by the Water Quality Control Board (“Road to Nowhere?,” The Capistrano Dispatch, July 26-August 8).
In my thinking, the title of the article reflects the unfortunate current thinking of that board. Yes, at this moment that road leads to not a single adjacent residence. But, as we know from the start of the two-year project to rebuild the Interstate 5/Ortega Highway interchange, roads take years to complete. In that time, we’ll have a sizable chunk of the 14,500 planned homes built, each brimming with families who need to run thousands of errands.
So the shortsighted approach is to ignore the obvious development and “just pretend” the problem won’t manifest itself, at least during the term of any of the water board’s members. The fatal error is the fact that not only will it be a road to all those tens of thousands of homes, but equally important, it will be a road from those homes, offering more direct access to the state’s freeway system than Ortega, which already has traffic choked to a crawl for the majority of every business day, or Crown Valley Parkway, whose on-ramp lanes don’t contain the current residents already using it. Don’t even think about Camino Capistrano, whose mile-long backup on Silver Creek moves at the speed of the Saturday morning line at the car wash.
Ignoring the convenience of the residents, emergency equipment is already hamstrung by the current gridlock, with dispatches to major accidents somewhere on Ortega occurring multiple times each week. Are we really ready to be so cavalier about the protection of life and property? Let’s not forget the incredible speed that recent wild fires have moved, and the enormous amount of dry vegetation surrounding this area that’s been unburned for decades.
I’m not anti-Trestles, but Councilman Allevato’s observation that the sphere of impact has been stretched to any headlands or tributary that empties anywhere in south Orange County seems accurate as it is disturbing. He’s spot on about protecting a state park whose perpetuity is not guaranteed and already has an expiration date with a hefty price tag that a recently bankrupt county won’t easily be able to cover.
The battle over “if” Rancho Mission Viejo will be developed is long over. And by the look of the crowds at the newly opened model homes, each sporting many “sold” stickers on their site maps, it’s time to plan and prepare for the inevitable arrival of our newest neighbors, rather than be crushed by their onslaught.
