Mission Viejo Freeway Center

A request to add a major retail store to the Mission Viejo Freeway Center will be heard by the Planning Commission tonight. The Mission Viejo Co. is proposing to eliminate plans for a restaurant in the outdoor shopping center and add a 35,000-square-foot building that would be occupied by REI Inc., an outdoor goods supplier. Commissioner Sunnie Castner said the proposal needed to be studied in more detail at the meeting, but added that "it sounds like a good concept.

A request to add a major retail store to the Mission Viejo Freeway Center will be heard by the Planning Commission tonight. The Mission Viejo Co. is proposing to eliminate plans for a restaurant in the outdoor shopping center and add a 35,000-square-foot building that would be occupied by REI Inc., an outdoor goods supplier. Commissioner Sunnie Castner said the proposal needed to be studied in more detail at the meeting, but added that "it sounds like a good concept.

After dropping plans for an auto mall on a prime site near Interstate 5, a developer is now asking the city for permission to build a 289,950-square-foot outdoor shopping mall. The site plans submitted Wednesday to city planners ended months of speculation in the community over what might be built on the 49-acre site. "This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity in this area to take advantage of a high-volume freeway site," said Mission Viejo Co.

The Planning Commission will get its first chance on Tuesday to review blueprints for a proposed 289,950-square-foot retail center near Interstate 5. After considering the 49-acre project, the commission is expected to vote on the mall Sept. 20. Known as the Mission Viejo Freeway Center, the retail center would be located on a strip of land between the Interstate 5 and Cabot Road. The property is owned by the Mission Viejo Co.

The Planning Commission will get its first chance on Tuesday to review blueprints for a proposed 289,950-square-foot retail center near Interstate 5. After considering the 49-acre project, the commission is expected to vote on the mall Sept. 20. Known as the Mission Viejo Freeway Center, the retail center would be located on a strip of land between the Interstate 5 and Cabot Road. The property is owned by the Mission Viejo Co.

The city's first Autumn Business and Family Expo will be Sept. 21 and 22. The weekend event, which combines family entertainment with business workshops, will be at the Mission Viejo Freeway Center, 25262 El Paseo, in the parking lot between Borders Book & Music and CompUSA. The program will run from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

In a city that once bemoaned a dearth of quality dining experiences, two more restaurants are seeking approval at a Planning Commission meeting tonight. Applications for a Boston Chicken Restaurant at Marguerite Parkway and Estanciero Drive and a Dairy Queen restaurant in the new Mission Viejo Freeway Center will be heard by commissioners. The Boston Chicken franchise would join a previously approved California Pizza Kitchen and a Blockbuster Video store.

A second fund-raiser to build a new city library will be held Saturday with a book sale. Borders Books & Music will contribute 10% of all sales on Saturday toward construction of the city library. The bookstore is at 25222 El Paseo in the Mission Viejo Freeway Center. The event launches a month of fund raising for the library, during which the Mission Viejo Co. will match all contributions collected through Oct. 17, up to $10,000.

Three pushcart food vendors will be allowed by the city to operate at the Mission Viejo Freeway Center for the next four months. The Planning Commission, recognizing that the hundreds of employees at the new center need a convenient place to eat, approved the temporary arrangement, on condition that the vendors get permission from the shopping mall operator.

Dozens of firefighters and two helicopters stopped a fire that blackened two acres of grassland along Cabot Road, south of Oso Parkway, and delayed train service and street traffic for about an hour. "At times, I saw flames shooting up 30 feet," said Tom Cogdell, manager of South County Brake Supply. "But I wasn't worried because they had those helicopters buzzing around and a lot of firemen there."

After dropping plans for an auto mall on a prime site near Interstate 5, a developer is now asking the city for permission to build a 289,950-square-foot outdoor shopping mall. The site plans submitted Wednesday to city planners ended months of speculation in the community over what might be built on the 49-acre site. "This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity in this area to take advantage of a high-volume freeway site," said Mission Viejo Co.

Hoping to ease traffic congestion at the busy Oso Parkway-Cabot Road intersection, the City Council has agreed to create a right-turn lane. The council voted 4 to 1 to re-stripe westbound Oso Parkway at Cabot Road, designating two lanes for through traffic and the third for right turns only. Councilwoman Cindy Greengold opposed the change, arguing that requiring cars to merge into the left two lanes might be hazardous. "I'm just concerned about accidents happening," she said.

The massive, four-year El Toro Y improvement project, aimed to cure chronic traffic congestion at the confluence of the Santa Ana and San Diego freeways, is nearing completion, but motorists' frustration with the seemingly endless road work is a high as ever. "I don't fight the traffic anymore--I just don't use the freeway," said Toni Ershek of Laguna Niguel, shopping at the Mission Viejo Freeway Center this week. "You get tired of it."