Regretfully no? Supervisor Achadjian, what did you mean? Those were your exact words in explanation of your vote on Friday, Dec. 19 to deny a more reasoned, thoughtful approach to Santa Margarita Ranch development, one that would take the time the project deserves, with community, agency, developer, and staff input and dialogue. Do you regret ignoring the expert, agency and county staff-reasoned explanations for denying approval for the Santa Margarita Ranch project as presently constituted? Do you regret denying Supervisor Patterson the opportunity to craft a compromise with a committee comprised of county, applicant, and community input? Do you regret ignoring the entreaties of the public to do so?
I regret your decision not to depart with your two departing colleagues. I regret your rejection of your own, board-adopted smart, planned growth policies and practice in favor of developer-adopted, self-aggrandizing policy and production. I regret that, if you have a conscience, you didn’t vote it. You didn’t explain your regret, so we’ll never know. Your “no” vote counts. Your regrets don’t.
This article appears in Dec 25, 2008 – Jan 1, 2009.