Residents say El Niguel Country Club use of Paseo del Niguel easement violates fire code, request CEQA review

Several residents of the Paseo streets neighborhood told the Laguna Niguel City Council on Oct. 21 that commercial and construction traffic for a turf project at El Niguel Country Club is using a private residential easement that they say fails to meet minimum fire-access widths and should not have been cleared under a categorical CEQA exemption.

The complaints, delivered during the public-comment period, centered on repeated use of a narrow, enclosed easement for employee and vendor access and on what speakers said was a failure by city staff and the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) to make critical fire-safety reports public. “Our streets are not against the project. What we're against is the illegal use of a easement that's been in use for years, which is breaking the law,” said Tisha Holbert, who identified herself as representing the Paseo Street Safety Coalition.

The residents asked the council to reexamine the project’s CEQA exemption, to release fire authority documentation the speakers said has been withheld, and to…