SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : OK Expected Tonight on Housing Project

Despite the recession, the City Council tonight is expected to approve Pacific Point, a 256-acre planned community that developers say they are anxious to begin.

The project includes prominent Window Hill, one of the southernmost areas of the city just above Interstate 5 as it curves toward San Clemente. The site has been targeted for development since the 1960s when a regional mall, hotel and several thousand dwellings were proposed.

The current plan for Pacific Point, however, is less intense than its predecessors, with a total of 350 units, two parks and two commercial sites, said Mike Schlesinger, project manager for the developer, TMC Communities Inc.

Schlesinger said the current plan has been in the works since 1988, when TMC purchased a portion of a city-approved project that was called Forster Canyon Planned Community.

“The project has changed quite a bit over the years,” he said. “It contains a lot more detached homes now. The project used to be mostly condominiums. We still will include condos, but we’ve greatly reduced their percentage.”

In compliance with the city’s growth-management plan, which limits development to 400 new units a year, TMC hopes to build the community in three phases, along with the necessary roads and infrastructure, Schlesinger said.

Five different neighborhoods in the community will range from town homes to ranch houses on one-acre lots, according to the developer. The homes will start near the freeway and ramble up Window Hill.

“We’re very anxious to start,” Schlesinger said. “Our next challenge is to put a group together to finance the project. We believe the demand for the homes is there.”

During public hearings on the project, the potential extension of Avenida Calita, now a dead-end street, into Pacific Point became controversial. The extension has long been part of city planning maps, but neighbors have pleaded with city officials to leave the street as it is.

Although Pacific Point will not generate enough students to require another school for the area, TMC Communities has agreed to reserve 8 acres for a potential school site.