Settlement clears path for Target center

By: CHRIS BAGLEY - Staff Writer
Lawsuit had alleged improper approval for shopping plaza in eastern Murrieta | Friday, November 9, 2007 11:13 AM PST ∞

MURRIETA -- The company developing a large shopping center in the northeast corner of the city has settled a lawsuit brought earlier this year, attorneys said Thursday.

The settlement, expected to be submitted for court approval today, includes a six-figure payment for attorney fees and other costs, according to a city official who was briefed on the settlement this week. It also will specify several aspects of an environmental report that must be redone before the project can go forward, an attorney for the city said.

The city gave Regency Centers of Los Angeles its final approval in December to move forward with the 540,000-square-foot shopping center at what will eventually be the southwest corner of Winchester and Clinton Keith roads.

But San Diego attorney Cory Briggs filed a lawsuit in March on behalf of an entity called Murrietans for Smart Growth, which he had registered as a corporation several days earlier. The first person offered as a member of the group was a San Diegan who had no affiliation with Murrieta, according to documents filed in Riverside County Superior Court.

The lawsuit was delayed until September, when Briggs produced a second plaintiff, Felicia Munoz-Graham, who lives on the city's west side and works at the Ralphs supermarket on Washington Avenue, about 10 miles from the shopping center.

A Regency representative said the lawsuit had set back the developer's plans by about a year. Originally planned to open mid-2008, the shopping center is now expected to open mid-2009, Regency development manager Stephen LaBonge said in an interview Thursday. A large Target discount store with a grocery section is expected to anchor the development.

LaBonge declined additional comment. Briggs and an attorney for Regency confirmed the settlement but declined to comment beyond that, pending the filings this morning.

An attorney for the city also would not go into detail, but said the settlement requires Regency to redo four or five sections of an environmental impact report that Briggs' lawsuit had alleged to be insufficient. State law requires such reports be produced by developers for most large projects and reviewed by local governments.

The settlement also requires Regency to pay more than $100,000, a large portion of which would cover Briggs' fees, said Mayor Doug McAllister, who discussed the settlement with a person who had reviewed the documents.

Assistant City Attorney Jeffery Morris said he had billed less than $10,000 in the case, but that he expected Regency's attorneys had racked up far greater costs. Regency's development agreement requires it to reimburse the city for legal costs.

The lawsuit provoked frustration among city officials, who called it a cynical exploitation of environmental laws that forced unnecessary costs on Regency and, ultimately, on consumers and residents. Some had also suggested that the development would cut driving distances for residents of housing-heavy Murrieta and nearby French Valley.

"Sadly, this has become just another cost of doing business in California," McAllister said Thursday. "It's something that kind of eats at your sense of fairness. If there are real deficiencies (in the environmental studies), it's hard to settle because someone else will come forward."

In a brief interview Thursday, Briggs would say only that he was fairly confident that Judge Stephen Cunnison would approve the settlement, whose details are expected to be made public this afternoon.

"We've done everything right," Briggs said.

-- Staff writer Brian Eckhouse contributed to this report. Contact staff writer Chris Bagley at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2615, or cbagley@californian.com.