The email below was received by ICL director Janet Wilson on Oct. 27th, 2016 from our 3rd district supervisor Todd Spitzer.

Sup. Spitzer's email was a response to a legal opinion that ICL submitted to his office earlier this summer from noted local land-use attorney John G. McClendon, laying out why the SMSP is enforceable. The opinion was commissioned by a coalition of groups including the ICL, Rural Canyons Conservation Fund, the Saddleback Canyons Conservancy and the Canyon Land Conservation Fund.

Sup. Spitzer states he has directed county staff to comply with, and enforce, the Sil-Mod Specific Plan's provisions. You can also view the directive letter he sent to O.C. Public Works director Shane Silsby below.

At the April 2016 ICL meeting, Sup. Todd Spitzer and other county officials presented their view that the Sil-Mod Specific Plan is no longer seen as a binding, enforceable land-use and development document. The county's legal rationale was that the Plan had originally been passed by resolution instead of by ordinance.

In response to this, ICL along with three other canyon groups, voted funding to obtain a legal opinion from local attorney John McClendon, a senior partner with the Irvine law firm of Leibold McClendon and Mann. His analysis details why the county's view is legally incorrect.

This opinion has been sent to Sup. Spitzer. You can view it at the right (click the box at the lower right to view full-screen.). You can download it to your device using the link below.

The original Sil-Mod Specific Plan itself is available by clicking here.

Good news, and thank you Todd Spitzer!

The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted on Dec. 15th 2015, by 3-2, to overrule the recommendation of its planning commission and rescind the spot zoning in North Tustin that would have allowed the Catholic Diocese to build a large, 2-story assisted living center ("Bethsaida") just north of 17th street at Newport Blvd.

​The project would have been on a 6 acre site where North Tustin's Specific Plan (NTSP) says no commercial facilities can be built.

Representatives of the Save the Plans Coalition, including ICL, met with Supervisor Spitzer in mid-September to discuss reverting out the FTSP specific plan and Orange County general plan changes made near the end of Sup. Bill Campbell's tenure to enable the development of tract homes near Cook's Corner.

The changes made gutted vital plan provisions such as oak tree preservation requirements and traffic capacity limits, and the made it much easier for future tract projects to be allowed inside the canyons.

       (Please click the "read more" link below to continue)

Thanks to Supervisor Todd Spitzer, David Myers of the Wildlands Conservancy and the strong voices of the people of Orange County, there is hope that the 660 acres known as the Irvine Mesa and adjoining lands can be permanently preserved.

Inter-Canyon League directors met with officials from the Wildlands Conservancy, Supervisor Spitzer’s office, OC Parks, the Transportation Corridors Agencies and the Conservation Fund.

First and foremost, the Wildlands Conservancy has no desire to sell any of the property for tract homes, and will not do so. They are considering an offer from a religious institution, but they would prefer to see the land protected and accessible forever if possible, and will work with us and county officials to make this happen, as long as it can be done in a timely manner. Per direction from Supervisor Spitzer, in the next two weeks OC Parks and TCA staff will tour the lands to ascertain if they would be suitable additions to a) county park lands and/or b) county mitigation land banking. Agency staff will also determine what funding is available to purchase the acreage at the sharply discounted price of $2 million. There is a possibility that a house on Silverado Canyon Road that is part of the for sale properties could be sold separately, reducing the price further.

The Inter-Canyon League remains committed to working with all the parties and to the preservation of these and other canyon lands that are valuable to us and to all the residents of Orange County. As always, we will do whatever we can to ensure that our rural way of life is protected and that we are there for our neighbors in time of need.

Let us know what you think!

The Mesa property in Silverado Canyon has been put up for sale by its owner, the Wildlands Conservancy, which needs to raise funds.

This is a wonderful 660 arce wilderness tract with existing trails, easily accessible and with parking close-by. And Wildlands is willing to sell this property at a substantial discount to the county, provided that it places the property into conservation. But the county must act soon.

Please email our supervisor Todd Spitzer: [email protected] and tell him you support this purchase and ask that the county do everything possible to find the funds needed to make this acquisition happen.

You can find more information about this on the Save The Canyons Facebook page.

The ICL's Sil-Mod plan committee has been working with the county to help with drafting their new wireless ordinance. Because the Sil-Mod plan was adopted in the late 70s, it never envisioned the type of wireless infrastructure build-out we now are seeing. As carriers multiply and expand, and utilities enter, wireless expansion is increasing almost daily.

So we've been working to get the county's new wireless ordinance to reflect the overall goals of the Sil-Mod plan and prevent unnecessary and unsightly proliferation of new wireless structures that would adversely impact our canyon's viewsheds in the future.

This is not related to wireless coverage. It is just about where and how wireless facilities can be permitted and built. Many canyon residents in fact would welcome expanded wireless coverage in the residential canyon areas as it is currently poor in many areas. Nor is this ordinance concerned with wireless safety. Both of these are FCC matters.

The Orange County Register did a very thorough article on this, which also explains what the state is doing at the behest of industry lobbyists that could undo all the hard work that the county has put into it. That article is available here.