Mission Viejo councilmembers axed plans for a new Department of Motor Vehicles location in the Kaleidoscope shopping mall over traffic and safety concerns.
The DMV — which would have been the first for the city — was initially approved by the city’s planning commission for a vacant spot in the Kaleidoscope shopping mall off Crown Valley Parkway.
But on Tuesday, June 11, the City Council rejected the plans after a multitude of disapproving messages from residents and apprehension from councilmembers.
The 16,000-square-foot property would have served as a full-service DMV, including offering behind-the-wheel driving tests, license and registration renewals and title transfers. The planning commission estimated that 850 people would visit the location daily.
Included in this plan was a slew of potential driving test routes — and each would enter adjacent neighborhoods, including those next to Viejo Elementary School and Carl Hankey Academy.
The plan was first approved by the planning commission on May 13 and did not require the council’s approval. But Mayor Trish Kelley and Councilmember Cynthia Vasquez filed an appeal, stressing safety and traffic concerns that had been raised by residents, and a hearing was held during the June 11 council meeting.
“Between concerns that this is not the right location at Kaleidoscope for a DMV, with the traffic we already have on Crown Valley and the use (of a DMV) within that facility, and the impact that this has on our neighborhoods, I am not able to support putting a DMV there at this point,” Kelley said.
After more than 90 minutes of public comment from residents and remarks by the council members, the appeal was unanimously approved. (Councilmember Wendy Bucknum was absent.)
Kelley, who used to live in the Viejo Elementary neighborhood, said many children from those neighborhoods walk to and from school along the potential driving test routes. She predicted an increase in traffic in those areas not only from the driving tests administered throughout the day but also from those who would want to practice.
“I can understand why there is a concern,” she said.
Kelley also said the DMV would add more traffic to an already congested area of Crown Valley Parkway.
“How many times have you been on Crown Valley stuck in congestion and an ambulance or firetruck come up and can’t get through,” Kelley said. “It costs extra seconds for them to get through.”
Kelley said she received more than 80 emails from community members sharing similar concerns regarding the DMV.
Vasquez, who oversees the area in which the DMV would have resided, said the abundance of messages was “really hard to ignore.”
“The common theme throughout all of the emails was public safety,” Vasquez said.
Vasquez also noted that people sometimes film DMV driving test routes and post them online for people to practice. Vasquez said that she did not feel comfortable having children in the area, including hers, filmed.
“We have to ask how this benefits our residents as a whole, and this truly seems like this is not a benefit to our residents,” Vasquez said. “In general, it seems like it will cause more issues. This isn’t the right location.”
It is now up to DMV officials, not the city, to decide if another location is plausible, DMV spokesperson Chris Orrock said.
Although councilmembers nixed this location, Orrock said, DMV officials are reviewing additional options for a facility to serve residents in the Mission Viejo area.
“The DMV takes pride in being a good neighbor in the communities in which we serve, and our planning considers the local community in our service delivery models, including drive test routes,” Orrock said.
The closest DMV location to the Mission Viejo area is located in Laguna Hills, but its lease is up and is slated to close, Orrock said. There is no official date for its closure, however, he said.
The next closest DMV location is in San Clemente.
