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Environmental Impacts of Proposed Victoria Boulevard Apartment Complex to Be Studied

THE LATEST: Toll Brothers, a housing construction company, has the green light to study the environmental impacts of a proposed apartment complex on Victoria Boulevard in Capistrano Beach, at its own expense. But city officials are emphasizing there is still a long road ahead for the development.

Toll Brothers applied for Dana Point City Council approval to pursue an environmental impact report (EIR) in July, but the request was voted down. At the time, councilmembers expressed concern with the need for public outreach and inconsistencies with the city’s General Plan. While the same issues resurfaced at the Tuesday, Feb. 2 council meeting, the action items narrowly passed.

The proposed project would be built on the bus yard property owned by Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD). In 2017, the CUSD Board of Trustees moved forward with plans to lease the 5.51 acres of property. Since then, CUSD has worked toward obtaining the required permits needed to remove stabile, containerized hazardous material from the bus site and has entered into an agreement with Toll Brothers Apartment Living to develop the site for apartments.

Major differences in the second proposal include fewer units, height reduction, the addition of affordable housing and open space.

Unit count decreased from 401 to 365, with 15% affordable units proposed and with 1.1 acres dedicated to recreation and open space. Based on current zoning rules, there would be a maximum allowance for 224 units, including a percentage of affordable housing.

Building height would be limited to 50 feet along Victoria Boulevard, and 65 feet beyond, along La Playa Avenue, along the off-ramp from Interstate 5. The additional 10 feet for rooftop equipment and 10 feet for recreational amenities drew concerns during public comments. But city officials emphasized that approval of the action items was not an approval of the project.

“We are talking about an EIR … and we get to hire our own consultant,” City Councilmember Michael Villar said. “We’ve got to keep our eyes on the ball that’s in front of us right now. The data that I need to make a decision (on the project) is going to come from the EIR.”

Michael Baker International, the consultant currently finalizing the EIR for the Doheny Village plan, would handle the study. The proposed project lies within District 5 of Dana Point, the portion of the city in which Villar represents.

“We are not approving the project itself. The issue that is in front of us is the EIR, itself … I’m in no way saying I approve the project as written,” Villar said. “My focus is on the EIR to move forward, so I can get the data to make a decision.”

Mayor Pro Tem Joe Muller, however, emphasized how vocal that local residents have been as far as development, in explaining his dismay with staff recommendations.

“We need to figure out what our community wants down there, what the right zoning is,” Muller said. “These are conversations that should have happened already with the community … opening up this EIR is letting the horse out of the barn.”

In a 3-2 vote, city council approved the recommended action to adopt a resolution to initiate a General Plan Amendment and Specific Plan District for the Victoria Boulevard Apartments and to authorize for the city to execute an agreement on an environmental impact report, costing up to $207,000, which will be billed to Toll Brothers. Councilmembers Villar, Mike Frost and Jamey Federico approved the action items, while Muller and Richard Viczorek voted against it.

“Once you let this horse out of the barn, there are a lot of expectations,” said Federico, Dana Point’s mayor. “That risk is real in trying to get that horse back in. We will have to have the discipline to shoot that horse, if necessary.”

Michael McCann, regional director for Toll Brothers Apartment Living, tells Dana Point Times he hears council’s remarks loudly and clearly.

“Our plan is to follow their direction to engage with the community,” McCann said. “We have in the past, and we will continue to do so, but to bear in mind, our project needs to provide meaningful contribution to the city, particularly residents.”

McCann says Toll Brothers will actively revise plans based on recent feedback and that he looks forward to discussing those revisions with staff, council and Doheny Village stakeholders.

“It needs to be clear that this is just the beginning of the project,” Belinda Deines, a city senior planner, said to Dana Point Times. “Additional changes are warranted based on direction given by council … the applicant is aware of that.”

For a longer version of this article, visit danapointtimes.com.—Lillian Boyd

Dana Point

COVID-19 UPDATES

as of 2/3/21 cases deaths

TOTAL 1,335 25

LAST 30 DAYS 419 18

est. population • 34,000

Follow us on Facebook & Instagram for daily local & county statistics. Source: Orange County Health Care Agency TOTAL CASES

LAST 30 DAYS

Coronavirus Metrics Continue Positive Trends as OC Remains in Purple Tier

THE LATEST: Coronavirus metrics across the state and locally remained on their positive trends this week as California continued to come down from the pandemic highs of the winter coronavirus surge.

After the state lifted all of its regional stay-at-home orders on Jan. 25, California returned to its four-tiered, color-coded, county-by-county coronavirus monitoring system. The system is the main component of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy for determining in what capacity different sectors, businesses and activities can reopen safely.

Orange County’s coronavirus monitoring metrics decreased considerably in the weekly coronavirus tier update on Tuesday, Feb. 2, but the county remained high in the highest-risk purple “widespread” tier.

Daily new cases per 100,000 residents continued to dip, with the metric dropping to an adjusted 39.0 daily new cases per 100,000, down from the 46.6 new cases last week and the 67.1 of two weeks ago. The threshold for the purple tier is 7.0.

The state reports an adjusted case rate, which is adjusted for the volume of testing. The unadjusted rate is 43.1 daily new cases per 100,000, down from 66.1 last week and from 99.7 two weeks ago.

The county saw a drop in its testing positivity, as the countywide number dipped to 10.9% from last week’s 12.9%. The metric was at 16.7% two weeks ago. The threshold for the purple tier is 8%.

The county’s health equity positivity rate was reported at 13.9%, down from last week’s 16.6% and the 21.2% of two weeks ago. The threshold for the purple tier is 8%. The health equity rate measures the testing positivity in a county’s low-income and more racially diverse neighborhoods.

To move down to the red “substantial” risk tier, Orange County would need to have its metrics at red levels for two consecutive weeks. The red tier requires the case rate to sit between 4.0 and 7.0, the testing positivity between 5.0% and 8.0% and the health equity rate between 5.3% and 8.0%.

There are still 54 counties in the purple tier, one in the red tier. Two counties (Trinity and Alpine) dropped to the orange “moderate” risk tier for a total of three at that level.

Statewide, Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly reported a 7.2% 14-day testing positivity rate in California, with a 6.4% seven-day rate—both decreases from last week’s 9% 14-day average and 7.9% sevenday average, as downward trends continued. The 14-day rate was 11.6% 14 days ago.

Along with those continually declining testing positivity rates, the transmission rate again dropped, with the state’s R-effective down to 0.78, which means each person infected with COVID-19 is spreading the virus to well below one other person on average.

The state’s hospital system gets to a better point with each passing day, as those numbers also keep trending down.

The Southern California region is now at an adjusted 9.1% available ICU capacity. Based on the state’s four-week projection model, Southern California is set to be at 43.7% ICU availability on March 1.

Hospitalizations saw even larger decreases than last week, with a 28.8% decrease statewide over the past 14 days and an 18.9% decrease in ICU patients over the past 14 days. As of Tuesday, Orange County hospitalizations had decreased 33.7% in the past 14 days, and ICU patients had decreased 29.3% over the past 14 days.

While the death rate continued to rise, the increases were much smaller than in previous weeks.

Statewide, the 14-day daily new death average has gone up 9.4% in the past 14 days, from an average of 495.4 deaths per day to 542.2. Last week, the state average had increased 17.2% in the previous 14 days.

In Orange County, the 14-day daily