Auto Centre Protest Starts Slow, But Will Shift to Another Gear

By Martin Henderson

Hundreds did not show up for the protest Saturday at Foothill Auto Centre, but a small group of protesters came away from the three-hour exercise with a better plan and a bigger team.

Mary Altoff, Merry Axelrod and Jim Gardner brought signs and enthusiasm to the grassroots project to turn back a development project in the Foothill Auto Centre. They hope to get 4,000 signatures from Lake Forest voters on a referendum in an effort to put the council's decision Tuesday green-lighting the development in the hands of residents. They won't have much time to get the signatures—until Sept. 19—but they came away with about 20 new people who said they will start gathering signatures as well in addition to the several dozen signatures they collected.

"Our goal is to find 40 people who can get 100 signatures apiece," Gardner said. "It won't be easy, but it is doable."

And rather than stand on a symbolic street corner where cars are unlikely to stop or detour, they will begin targeting gathering spots where the pace is a little slower and people are more inclined to hear their pitch as they try to turn back Ordinance 253, the development agreement between the City of Lake Forest and the Brookfield Residential developers, Brookcal LF LLC.

Additionally, Gardner said he expects a lawsuit to be filed by the end of the week in an attempt to prevent Brookfield and, eventually, Trumark Homes from breaking ground on the site that was, until this past week, zoned for commercial business.

Currently, Elite Automotive Service—which services the city's vehicles—conducts business on the property site to be developed by Trumark, which got the OK on its first reading at City Council on Tuesday. Ordinances become law 30 days after the second reading. 

According to Gardner, 27 employees at Elite Automotive are Lake Forest residents.

For a couple of years the sites—which were supposed to be for auto dealerships—have been without the full complement of car dealers. The only one currently there is Foothill Ranch Mercedes, which is unaffected by the zone changes and development plans.

To learn more about the protest and receive updates, see the Facebook page at Facebook.com/SaveLakeForest.

TELL US IN THE COMMENTS: Do you want to see high density housing in the Foothill Auto Centre, or would you rather it remain available for eventual commercial use?