Local News in Brief : Lake Forest : Developer’s Plan to Remove Trees Delayed

Plans for the relocation or destruction of thousands of native trees in the hills north of Lake Forest have been delayed until at least Oct. 4 while the county Planning Commission studies additional complaints from environmentalists about the 1,643-acre Foothill Ranch development project.

Planning Commissioner Douglas Leavenworth said one of the tasks facing the commission is the choice of a specialist to monitor the proposed changes in the site. Those changes include the relocation of about 600 trees and the destruction of about 1,800 others to make way for 3,900 dwelling units. The commission last week added the requirement for a developer-financed monitor, chosen from the staff of the county’s Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department, to the resource management plan submitted by the Hon Development Co.

Establishment of a monitor was one of a number of issues involving the Foothill Ranch project raised at Tuesday’s commission meeting by Sherry Meddick, president of the Rural Canyon Residents Assn., which has been critical of the plan.

Mike Mohler, a Hon Development vice president, said the company’s resource management plan calls for the preservation of more than 2,500 coastal live oaks, sycamores and eucalyptus trees, many of them in a 262-acre tract that has been designated as permanent open space.