Banning Roads at Banning Ranch

by Tony Chavira

 

In a nutshell, Banning Ranch is a 400-acre open coastal area in Orange County that developers are drooling to build on, trump up prices and sell off to the highest bidders.  Unfortunately for them, Banning Ranch is also a living ecosystem protected by it's own conservancy, citizen-action group and registered with the Sierra Club as parkland.

But that doesn't stop developers hungry to instigate economic growth, even if they have to sacrifice some untouched natural beauty.  In fact, there seems to constantly be a battle over what kind of development will happen there at what speed and for what purpose.  Some tactics are pretty clear, others not so much.  For example, an argument that "parks should have paved roads intersecting it" is clearly an argument for initiating the development of the area.  Here's how it was countered by a conservationist in a public meeting:

This is clearly a land-grab designed to make an end-run around the controversy over Banning Ranch’s proposed use as parkland. We have here a trumped-up situation artificially manufactured to “require” a four-lane road through the ranch because it is “the only feasible alternative.” I have heard far better arguments from my children when they were five or six as to why I should buy them candy.

Developers have been trying to get at this land for a while now, but to no real avail.  The development plan so far is to build 1375 residential dwellings including 65 foot tall affordable housing high rises and develop arterial roads capable of handling 34,000 cars per day.  This will really only mean a need for more infrastructure, like public buildings, schools and police stations, along with sewage and water pipes, an electrical grid, and gas lines.  Suddenly, what seemed like a slap dash development job has become a full-blown infrastructural overhaul on naturally beautiful land.  Despite the fact that Orange County really needs affordable housing, I get the impression that the units built on Banning Ranch won't be too affordable for too long.

In 2006 the residents of Newport Beach voted not to develop on the space at all and keep it pristine.  And yet, the conservancy still has to fight at every public meeting to get those grubby investors mitts off the land. 

What do you think should happen, OC readers?  Should some of the 400 acres be developed as long as there's a promise for affordable housing?  Should the entire space remain pristine?

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