In 2019, Ladera Ranch residents worked together to file formal complaints against LARMAC (the HOA managed by FS Residential) and its longtime landscape contractor, O'Connell Landscaping. Some of the complaints alleged violations of California's Healthy Schools Act of 2000 (Education Code §§ 17608–17614), including:

1. Failure by O'Connell to produce required School Pesticide Use Reports for at least three Capistrano Unified School District sites
2. Required resident notifications that were frequently late or never sent
3. Pesticide applications on school sidewalks and walking routes during student arrival times

Other complaints involved pesticide application practices including:

1. Spraying during rain (with storm drains and gutters that flow to the ocean) 
2.  During high winds that caused drift, in violation of Food and Agricultural Code § 12973 (use inconsistent with the pesticide label) and 3 California Code of Regulations § 6614 (prohibition on applications that result in substantial drift)
3. Leaving unattended pesticide equipment near playing children in violation of label requirements and Food and Agricultural Code provisions governing proper handling and storage of pesticides.

A California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) program supervisor confirmed in writing that O'Connell could not produce the legally required school-site records and told me directly that O'Connell Landscaping could face a $10,000 fine or lose its pesticide license if the OC Agg Dept. chose to enforce the law (Education Code § 17611; Food & Agricultural Code §§ 13186 et seq.). A striking admission that raises real doubts about how closely this vendor relationship had ever actually been scrutinized.

Despite the opened 2019 investigations, records show the same practices continued. Seven years later, many of the same notification and application problems persist, alongside a troubling number of cancer diagnoses in both residents and neighborhood dogs regularly exposed to the same treated common areas. Dogs often serve as sentinel animals for shared environmental exposures and are thought to be Ladera Ranch's "Canaries in the Coal Mine".

At this time, we cannot prove causation in any individual case. However, records obtained under the California Public Records Act (PRA) show that O’Connell Landscaping applied large quantities of synthetic pesticides and herbicides in Ladera Ranch: including Glyphosate, Glufosinate, and 2,4-D. These chemicals have been linked in peer-reviewed research to cancer, neurological effects, and other serious health harms. Given the concentration of cancer diagnoses reported among both residents and neighborhood dogs, this documented pattern of heavy pesticide use has significantly heightened community concern.

None of this can be resolved without FULL TRANSPARENCY. A 2026 partial CDPR records production omitted documents former residents already possessed, prompting a demand letter be sent to CDPR on 7/24/2026 . This lack of transparency is the latest example of local governance gone bad forcing taxpayers to fight for basic answers owed to them under the California PRA. We are calling for a full, independent audit of how CDPR and the Orange County Agricultural Commissioner handled the 2019 complaints, and an independent review of LARMAC and FS Residential's oversight of O'Connell Landscaping.

We demand that an independent audit answer, at minimum:

1.  Did the 2019 investigations include a complete, documented review of pesticide use records for all Ladera Ranch school sites and adjacent parks, and were findings and corrective actions fully recorded?
2. Why was O'Connell unable to produce required School Pesticide Use Reports (Education Code § 17611; Food & Agricultural Code § 13186), and what consequences, if any, were imposed?
3. What pesticide use reports, complaints, and enforcement actions exist for O'Connell's work in Ladera Ranch from 2019 to the present, and do they show continued Healthy Schools Act violations?
4. Did LARMAC and O'Connell's resident-notification practices from 2019 onward meet the timing and content requirements of Education Code § 17612, as well as the pesticide warning-posting requirements of Food & Agricultural Code § 12978 and 3 CCR § 6618?
5. What is the full history of LARMAC's uninterrupted, roughly 26-year contracting relationship with O'Connell, including whether competing bids were ever solicited after the 2019 non-compliance findings?
6. Why did CDPR's 2026 records production omit documents, some of which the requester independently held, and what search methodology was used?
7. What specific corrective actions, penalties, or consequences were imposed on O'Connell or LARMAC as a result of the 2019 findings, and were any recommended actions implemented?
8. Do the gaps in this case reflect broader systemic weaknesses in how CDPR and county agricultural commissioners statewide monitor Healthy Schools Act compliance?

Seven years ago, Ladera Ranch was promised transparency and change. Seven years later, people are still fighting for basic public records. That gap itself shows why an independent audit is needed. An outside review is the only way to determine whether the law was actually upheld or whether a long vendor relationship allowed serious compliance failures to go unaddressed for years. Ladera Ranch could be any community in California. Residents and taxpayers across the state deserve both transparency and accountability under the law. Join us in demanding a full, independent audit.

Sign this petition to demand a full, independent audit of CDPR and the Orange County Agricultural Commissioner's handling of this matter, and an independent review of LARMAC and FS Residential's oversight of O'Connell Landscaping.

***WE ARE NOT LOOKING FOR DONATIONS.  Please know the Change.org ask for money at the bottom is not from us, and we are trying to have that removed ***