San Juan Capistrano City Council Decision on Transfer of Development Agreement

I went to the SJC City Council meeting on January 20 to follow-up on my correspondence regarding the Development Agreement for Whispering Hills.

On this occasion, Council approved the transfer of the DA unanimously. I don’t think any of the Council members saw an alternative.

The materials I had prepared ahead of the meeting were distributed to all Council members and the public by the City Clerk. In addition, the City Attorney prepared an analysis of his own that addressed the points I raised in my letter.

I spoke to refer the Council to the materials, draw their attention to the proposed Settlement Agreement before the CUSD Board of Trustees and suggested that they seek financial guarantees from the developer. I stated that if they approved the transfer, that in light of the Settlement Agreement, they would be ceding control of the City’s position in the deal to the school district.

I was the only person to speak.

Council questioned the City Attorney about his analysis and made a number of good inquiries that pointed out flaws in the original Development Agreement. However, in the end, they saw their duty to be representing the City’s interest in the Agreement – and it is a very narrow interest. Protecting the County, CUSD, etc., were not reasonable considerations. The Council was assured by the City Attorney that if any money due to the City were to be diverted (either by the developer or the school district) that the City would be in a position to withhold building permits.

Unfortunately, nobody from the school district was present at the meeting. Councilman Allevato expressed mild irritation about this, consistent with his comments from the prior meeting. Frankly, I share his frustration. It is difficult for a member of the public to ask Council to watch over the interests of the school district when nobody from the school district appears at the meeting. However, I also understand that CUSD has been busy since December with other matters.

In the end, the vote wasn’t in question. The decision was unanimous that Whispering Hills LLC should be allowed to transfer the Development Agreement to Rancho San Juan Development LLC. Of course, the resolution doesn't compel this transfer, so everyone will be left to guess when the transfer actually occurs, if ever.

The biggest surprise to me was that when the item was over, about 20 people got up and left the room, including the 5 from the developer. I wonder if there was that much interest in this arcane subject, or if instead, it was a convenient time to take a bathroom break!

During a break in the meeting, I had a brief discussion with the City Attorney and suggested that we had just witnessed the creation of the next “Suncal” debacle. He didn’t exactly disagree.

The whole matter is now in the hands of the school district.