1,408 Acres of Canyon Land Given to County as Open Space

It was County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley’s 76th birthday party in Woods Canyon near Laguna Hills on Wednesday, but the residents of Orange County got the biggest present.

Riley was presented with a cake and a green leather belt. County residents received, free of charge, 1,408 acres of almost untouched, canyon-studded open space southeast of Laguna Beach that will, for the most part, remain untouched.

The land was dedicated to the county by the Mission Viejo Co. as part of a 1979 agreement that allows the company to build its 20,000-home Aliso Viejo planned community. The company earlier dedicated 967 acres to the county under the same agreement. Most of the 2,375 acres will become a part of the county’s regional park system.

Wednesday’s dedication was ceremonial in nature, since the Board of Supervisors officially accepted the land at a meeting last week.

And Riley acknowledged that he hoped it would take some of the wind out of a recall campaign against him. The campaign was launched in April by people angry over his recent votes for development agreements--especially one for the Laguna Laurel project in Laguna Canyon, which they say will destroy the natural beauty of the canyon.

“We didn’t do this because of the recall,” Riley said of the ceremony Wednesday, “but it might help.”

In a written statement, Riley pointed out that land set aside for parks and open space in his 5th Supervisorial District had increased from 6,849 acres in 1974, when he was appointed to the board, to nearly 22,000 acres today. The additional land has come from negotiated dedications, purchases by the county and outright gifts.

The dedications were made possible by elements of the county’s general plan, which requires developers of large projects to set aside as much as 50% of a project area for parks and open space.

Land-use and zoning plans for the Aliso Viejo project were guaranteed in January under a development agreement that also calls for the Mission Viejo Co. to help finance other “public benefits,” such as road and freeway improvements.