Update / * Follow-up on the news : MISSION VIEJO : Land Once Planned for City Hall Is Sold
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Though a weather-beaten sign still proclaims that the property is the future site of City Hall, the land no longer belongs to the city.
An eight-acre parcel once envisioned as a futuristic government complex was sold by the City Council this week for $3.5 million.
The new owners, the Mark Taylor Inc. development company, intend to build a 192-unit apartment complex on Los Altos, just off Crown Valley Parkway.
The sale settles a long, heated debate over the city’s plans for a civic center on the property.
After receiving the land in 1990 from Mission Viejo Co. in exchange for development rights, the council spent more than $1 million to have plans drawn up.
But the money was spent in vain. Angry citizens mocked city officials’ vision, dubbing it a “Taj Mahal” and forcing a referendum on the proposal. Voters overwhelmingly rejected it.
Ironically, proceeds from the property sale will eventually be used to build a library and civic center complex at Marguerite Parkway and La Paz.
--COMPILED BY FRANK MESSINA, BILL BILLITER AND HOLLY J. WAGNER
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