Orange County transfers 1,200 acres to developer-backed land trust

The developer, Rancho Mission Viejo, says it plans to add the land to its own 17,000-acre open space preserve and maintain it as undeveloped land. The land was originally set aside as part of an earlier agreement to offset the environmental and wildlife effects of housing developments.

Rancho Mission Viejo said the transfer would provide more resources, such as the reserve's $200-million endowment, to enhance and protect the land. County officials portrayed the transfer as bureaucratic streamlining that is part of a plan to consolidate management of up to 33,000 acres of open space in southern Orange County under a single entity.

But a lawyer for a board member on the conservancy that now oversees the land sent a letter opposing the transfer to supervisors Monday, saying it appeared to be a way to eventually give a portion of it to the public agency that is seeking to build the toll road through it.

"We believe that such a transfer is not in the interest of the public," wrote attorney Todd T. Cardiff on behalf of Michael Lindsey, a member of the Donna O'Neill Land Conservancy board.

Supervisors approved the proposal unanimously, with little debate and no public opposition. The proposal also must be approved by the San Clemente City Council, which is scheduled to vote on it Sept. 2, before it can take effect.

The plan to move the Donna O'Neill land into the Reserve at Rancho Mission Viejo is the latest twist in a complex history. Over the last two decades, the property has gone from being an ecological gem preserved to offset a housing development to being a potential through-way for a 16-mile, $1.3-billion private toll road that would connect southern Orange County east of Mission Viejo to Interstate 5 near Basilone Road in northern San Diego County.

The land was set aside in 1990 as a countermeasure to the 3,800-home Talega development in San Clemente. With thousands of coast live oaks, coastal sage-scrub, sycamore groves and threatened, endangered and rare species of lizards, toads and other wildlife, the land has thus far remained untouched -- other than docent-led nature walks. But in 2006, the directors of Orange County's toll road agency voted to approve plans to build the turnpike through the property as a way to alleviate congestion on Interstate 5.