Judge Claster Requires Project & EIR Be Overturned

We have that news hot off the presses from today’s court hearing.

Judge Claster ruled in OUR favor (again) that BOTH the project approvals (entitlements) and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) must be overturned for the Esperanza Hills project. Yep. We are forcing the developer back to the drawing boards AGAIN. We expect these approvals to be rescinded by mid-July 2018.

The Esperanza Hills developer may (or may not) have a newly drafted/revised EIR available for review at that time. We will see. This would mean additional comment letters, hearings, and red shirts before the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.

What does this mean for our 2017 lawsuit? This lawsuit is now “stayed” and once the project approvals/EIR are overturned on the appeal win from today—we and the Cielo Vista attorneys will dismiss our respective lawsuit without prejudice. This allows us to file a new suit in the future if we need to. And, we should know about the court’s decision on the Esperanza Hills easement through Cielo Vista by early April. There are so many moving parts!! It can be hard to keep up with.

We are making history here!

We are unaware of any project at the County of Orange that has been overturned twice and will need to go before the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors for a third consideration.

Thank you as always for your support. Remember, we have our garage sale scheduled for March 31st… we need your stuff to sell to keep winning these cases against this poorly planned project. We also gladly accept donations. Remember, the contributions are tax-deductible.

And, a big shout out to our attorney Kevin Johnson and his team for the exceptional legal work on this case!