Big Development, City Gateway Plan Under Discussion

What development at the edges of San Clemente should look like, how to build attractive entrances to the city and how to collaborate with Capistrano Unified School District are items the General Plan Advisory Committee will hash out Wednesday.

Consultants and staff have prepared a draft of the master zoning and land use document that will direct building activity in the city for the next few decades. The General Plan Committee is working through each element in a series of meetings to make changes and prepare

The "community edges" element calls for close monitoring of the Rancho Mission Viejo Company's Ranch Plan, a 23,000-acre development plan that encompasses at least a third of San Clemente's border.

The plan also calls for monitoring the TRW Defense Space Systems site, a 2,700-acre research installation in the border mountains around Camp Pendleton. At the end of Avenida Pico, it was used heavily in the 1980s in the Star Wars program. It was later operated by Northrop Grumman, but Councilman Jim Dahl said they have closed up shop and are dismantling the installation.

The plan calls for close coordination between San Clemente, Orange County and Camp Pendleton to make sure development moves forward smoothly with a coherent design.

Also on the docket are directions to build attractive gateways to the city in the Spanish Colonial style, maintaining views of the ocean and historical buildings while screening parking lots and blank walls.

The education element of the General Plan calls for close coordination with CUSD, specifically in the design and location of new facilities and joint use of existing ones.

The GPAC will meet at 6 p.m. in the Community Development Department in the second-floor conference room at 910 Calle Negocio, Suite 100.

CORRECTION: Because of a reporting error, the current function of the TRW site was misstated in an earlier version of this article. Patch regrets the error.