Council Reaction: Very High Density Zoning for 4 Orion

Last week, Aliso Viejo's city council held a special meeting at residents' homes. The residents fear a very-high-density apartment complex could dramatically change their quality of life.

This type of meeting has never been attempted in Aliso, Mayor Carmen Cave said.

Here's what three council members had to say about the meeting:

Ross Chun

"It went all right. I don't think it was exactly what the homeowners wanted, and I don't know if it was exactly what the city anticipated. We did view the homes and there was a little bit of disagreement on some of the goals."

Phil Tsunoda

"It went well. It was a good exercise to do two things 1); see the site and get a perspective from the homeowners viewpoint, and then 2), I think listening to the concerns of those residents in their homes, I think, was very helpful. It's different to actually 'live it, breath it, feel it, touch it.'"

"I'm trying to be as objective as I can and weigh the pros and cons."

On homeowners:

"They were very passionate about their quality of life that will be impacted with the potential of a rezone."

Mike Munzing

"We had the meeting with the residents on Sat. morning. We have a 7 1/2-square-mile city, we're 95 percent completed, we've got five parcels at most (unbuilt) and we're supposed to be building 970 affordable units. I'm trying to get RINA and SCAG to do a tour of the city, I'm trying to organize this thing if there's any, any way to get the number adjusted."

"I'm a free market guy. I'm a maximum freedom guy. The government created this situation. I watched how the government stepped in and forced banks to make loans they never should have been made. What that created in the real estate world was Hell, and total fraud and total manipulation. Because when you've got a zero-down stated income, people just go crazy."

On low-income housing options:

"Hey, I've moved back with Dad too. So you rent a room. There's lots of different ways to live. There's a lot of gracious, kind, generous people out there and you've just got to figure it out."

How homeowners responded:

"They were appreciative that we came out. Nobody likes the situation, everybody's looking for someone to blame. Did I want to become elected and walk into this? Not really. Nobody likes what we're up against. It's a total lose-lose."