Last week's letter from a resident about CAUSE (Citizens Against Uncontrolled San Juan Expansion) was either ghost written by a chagrined developer (or his spokesperson), and reflects a complete misunderstanding of CAUSE's mission and a total mis-statement of the facts. In the hope that it is the latter, and that CAUSE has simply not effectively communicated its activities and mission, let me correct these misimpressions, and let me offer a face-to-face meeting with the resident or any others, to make clear the facts of the real issues with which we are concerned. CAUSE has a mailing list of over 1,000 residents from all parts of San Juan Capistrano that are concerned with preserving the City's rural and village character. Active and interested citizens are not just along San Juan Creek Road. CAUSE has the following seven priorities as part of its mission:
Protection of ridgelines
Protection of open space lands and view corridors
Traffic reduction and management
Preservation of San Juan Capistrano's equestrian and rural small town feel
Control of residential and commercial growth; low density of development and low      profile buildings complementing the natural environment
Improvement of public schools in San Juan Capistrano
Preservation of historic structures and areas of the city.
We have never commented on the power lines or any of the other examples made by the writer. CAUSE has, however, suggested both remedies and solutions to preserve the quality of life and rural character of San Juan. These solutions have ranged from strengthening our General Plan, challenging precedent-setting actions by the City, and advocating downtown revitalization efforts to the perhaps more controversial solutions of pursuing alternative funding sources that would allow the city to further preserve undeveloped open space for parks or hiking and equestrian purposes.

As to comments about the profit being made by the Whispering Hills developer, there is a very disturbing issue here. Don't you think most taxpayers would be concerned that a 356-acre property previously owned by the taxpayers (U of C) was sold for less than $3 million to a private developer who now plans to sell only 15% of it back to the taxpayers (school district) for around $40 million? No one opposes a businessman making a profit.  But everyone should oppose improperly taking advantage of taxpayers or claiming that a very large number of homes must be approved by the City to avoid economic hardship to a developer who has sued us, the taxpayers (City), twice before to get his way.

And claims that opposing uncontrolled growth is somehow wrong and just being a NIMBY is a simplistic argument made by developers. The fact is that San Juan Capistrano is less than 3,000 people away from reaching the maximum population that can be properly supported within the confines and infrastructure of the City. Should we not be concerned that we have less than a 3-day reserve supply of drinking water? With only a 7% population growth left until we max out, every citizen should be very concerned about where and how quickly that maximum will be reached. We no longer have the luxury of being at only 20% of the eventual population the City can support, as we were decades ago. Mistakes by the Planning Commission or Council don't have the buffer for error we had in the past. Every single decision is now far more important with so little room left.

To shrug and say development is inevitable and part of progress does a disservice to our City, and especially to all of its citizens and City leaders who have worked so hard over the decades to preserve the historical character and unique setting that makes San Juan Capistrano such a special place. Just imagine if CAUSE and a host of other groups like it over the years didn't exist. We wouldn't have ridgelines to preserve, acres of open space to worry about, a Town Center Park to clean up or a Los Rios District to fret about. We could all just meet for coffee at the Mission, if only we could find it among the multi-story office buildings and if only it weren't closed due to the walls crumbling from vibrations and exhaust generated from six lanes of traffic and a cloverleaf interchange on Ortega Highway. But hey, then no one would call us NIMBYs. A fair trade, wouldn't you say?

Mark Nielsen Co-Chair, Citizens Against Uncontrolled San Juan Expansion (CAUSE)

www.sjc-cause.com

Paid for by Citizens for Mark Nielsen * 27126-B Paseo Espada Suite 725 * SJC CA 92675 * 949.325.0130