OC supervisors approve 181-unit Trabuco Canyon housing despite fire risk

Orange County supervisors on May 5 approved a 181-unit residential development in wildfire-prone Trabuco Canyon, denying residents' appeal against the project, Voice of OC reported.

The vote sharpens the conflict between California's state housing mandates and wildfire safety in Orange County, which has zoned only about 15 percent of the housing units the state requires in its unincorporated areas by 2029, according to Voice of OC.

The Saddleback Meadows project traces its origins to a 1988 tract map calling for 705 homes. Legal challenges from environmental groups including the Saddleback Canyons Conservancy, the Sierra Club and the California Native Plant Society reduced the plan over three decades to its current scale of 181 units, according to Voice of OC.

The Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 to deny the appeal, with Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento abstaining. Supervisor Don Wagner said the county had little room to maneuver. "Because we face a legal challenge if we don't approve it, ultimately, there is no real discretion on the part of the Board of Supervisors. That ship sailed," Wagner said.

Canyon residents focused their objections on evacuation risk. El Toro Road, a two-lane street, is the only way in and out of Trabuco Canyon for roughly 3,000 existing homes. "Why are we alarmed? Because Trabuco Canyon is now rated an extreme fire hazard severity zone, yet the 24-year-old EIR and more recent addendum does not address this new, extremely hazardous and threatening fire issue," Gail Mona, a Portola Hills neighborhood resident, told supervisors, Voice of OC reported.

Mona also warned the county faces financial exposure. "I hate to say this, but by not approving our appeal and by not requiring an updated or supplemented EIR, the County of Orange, unfortunately, will be setting itself up to host great liability — not if, but when the next canyon wildfire occurs," she said.

The Orange County Fire Authority confirmed the project meets California Fire Code requirements and local ordinances. The environmental review underpinning the approval dates to 2002; two addenda have been added since, rather than a full updated assessment of current fire conditions.

Wagner also placed the approval in political context. "The rest of this project, for better or worse, got approved under Todd Spitzer the first time he was here. And if you don't like it, you got Todd to blame, because this was approved back in his first term," he said.

The county planning commission approved the project's use permit in January, and supervisors cleared the final tract map in summer 2025. Orange County has zoned roughly 1,545 housing units — about 15 percent of the 10,406 units the state requires in unincorporated areas by 2029.