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I applaud Chairman Stan Smith for taking a show of hands to see who were there for the Parks Master Plan and those for the Cornerstone project. Then he suggested the two items be switched since the Cornerstone issue was going to take longer. For some reason, Commissioner Langworthy voted against the switch...
There will be one more time that the Parks Master Plan gets discussed in a public hearing, and that'll be in front of the City Council.
Now to the topic of the night. Cornerstone Church wanting to to build a 17,000sf preschool/daycare building, a 2,400sf maintenance building, a 23,000sf administrative building with a 1,300sf commercial kitchen.
The Council Chambers were filled with people that either lived very close to the church, were members of the church, the builder and attorney for the church, and of course the attorney for the group known as the Wildomar APEs. I had to set my camera up in a different place than usual, and have to thank new full time Wildomar employee, Alfredo Garcia, for not tripping over my poorly placed tripod.
Not that anyone wants to hear the riveting legal punditry of Ray Johnson, but if you do, his three minutes can be seen in the video below.
Now to the topic of the night. Cornerstone Church wanting to to build a 17,000sf preschool/daycare building, a 2,400sf maintenance building, a 23,000sf administrative building with a 1,300sf commercial kitchen.
The Council Chambers were filled with people that either lived very close to the church, were members of the church, the builder and attorney for the church, and of course the attorney for the group known as the Wildomar APEs. I had to set my camera up in a different place than usual, and have to thank new full time Wildomar employee, Alfredo Garcia, for not tripping over my poorly placed tripod.
Not that anyone wants to hear the riveting legal punditry of Ray Johnson, but if you do, his three minutes can be seen in the video below.
I had to Love RayJay's comment about kids going to school within 500 feet of a freeway. I'm so glad he's worried about the li'l tykes but I doubt too many bought his concern (whenever someone drags children into an argument, they might as well be raising the white flag and be done with it).
If a school can't be within 500 feet of a freeway, due to "Toxic Air Contaminants", then it's time to rip out Donald Graham School since it sits against the freeway. Not to mention countless other schools and parks in the state.
I will say this in response to Mr. Johnson's comments. They're similar to all the other comments we get on all the other EIRs. This EIR was vetted thoroughly by the applicant's attorneys, our attorneys... it is a solid Environmental Impact Report. We just respectfully disagree with his interpretations and his assumptions that we didn't do it properly.
—Matt Bassi Planning Director
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There were many public speakers tonight, I counted twelve, and the vast majority were in favor of the project. Most seemed to be members of the church. There were several from nearby homes that were in favor of the project and spoke glowingly about how considerate the church is, and has been during this process. There were also about a dozen that filled out speaker slips in favor of the project, but declined to speak. They just wanted to be on record.
There was one woman that got up, Mary Flores, that was against the project. My take on her comments is that she would be against anything that the church would want to do. She mischaracterized the church's desire to build a "Commercial Kitchen" as wanting to build an "International Kitchen" then turning to the builder and the pastor she said, "If you put in a supermarket, you can win over [against] Walmart". Sorry, I don't get that. Just another case of hyperbole gone wrong. She also mentioned being worried about fire issues with the building going on. Really? Why would there be anymore risk of fire than anywhere else or any other time?
To me, the key issue is Monte Vista and the traffic that is already bad there. When I got up and spoke, I said that no one has mentioned the big monster down the road: Walmart. If Monte Vista is a hazard today, then imagine after Walmart and a new preschool get added to the current flow of traffic. People in the know won't even go near Monte Vista on a Sunday, and for those of us that use the northbound Baxter offramp, we avoid it on Sundays.
"I'm not religious... actually I'm not religious at all, but I am an American, and I'm big on the 1st Amendment and Freedom of Religion. I'm also big on Property Rights and as long as the applicant is following the rules, no one should be able to stop this project."
—Joseph Morabito in front of planning commission
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This is one of those Doctor Laura moments when she'll tell a caller, "When you pet a porcupine, as if it were a puppy, why do you act surprised when you get pricked?"
If you want to see this as it comes to the full city council, mark your calendars for December 10th. This time I'll get there well before 6pm so I can get a better seat.
I don't expect the church to pick up the tab for the necessary road improvements, but they are going to need to be done. As it is, the whole way Monte Vista is configured is a mess, especially where it intersects with Baxter. I think where it hooks up with Bundy is pretty much a nightmare too.
City Engineer/Assistant City Manager Dan York made it clear that Monte Vista is wide enough for five lanes (two in each direction and a center turn lane). He also made a good point about NOT having sidewalks on the freeway side of the street.
Let's face it, many parts of our town were poorly planned, and there aren't any Mulligans after the city got bifurcated by I-15. We have to make the best of some sloppy situations and Monte Vista is one of those.
I know of a similar situation that just got fixed in San Juan Capistrano. The frontage road there was sandwiched between the freeway and some railroad tracks. Somehow they managed to widen it, but it didn't include sidewalks on the freeway side.
City Engineer/Assistant City Manager Dan York made it clear that Monte Vista is wide enough for five lanes (two in each direction and a center turn lane). He also made a good point about NOT having sidewalks on the freeway side of the street.
Let's face it, many parts of our town were poorly planned, and there aren't any Mulligans after the city got bifurcated by I-15. We have to make the best of some sloppy situations and Monte Vista is one of those.
I know of a similar situation that just got fixed in San Juan Capistrano. The frontage road there was sandwiched between the freeway and some railroad tracks. Somehow they managed to widen it, but it didn't include sidewalks on the freeway side.
If you want to laugh, or just have your stomach turn... take a look at the Wildomar Timex's comments left on an article at the Press Enterprise. Here is a link to the article in question, about the Cornerstone project.
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| I just love how her picture is off center. Maybe she needed a booster seat when it was taken? |
This is one of those Doctor Laura moments when she'll tell a caller, "When you pet a porcupine, as if it were a puppy, why do you act surprised when you get pricked?"
If you want to see this as it comes to the full city council, mark your calendars for December 10th. This time I'll get there well before 6pm so I can get a better seat.
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You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
What you have here is a community pillar (Cornerstone) wanting to add to their property. They should be allowed to do whatever they want with their land, and the EIR sounds like it was properly vetted. But you have to laugh at Timex's first line, where she says "This project is not what most of Wildomar wants to see..." This crackerjack activist who just backed a failed candidate for City Council does not have her finger on the pulse of Wildomar. She doesn't have a clue as to what "most of Wildomar" wants. It's what Martha Bridges and her Cantankerotti cronies want. If you don't agree with her, you must be a city kiss-ass, isn't that correct? Because it's black or white with her.
ReplyDeleteMaybe she should follow her old buddies Sheryl and Gil out of town. Surely she might have a better shot at knowing what most people in Hemet want; at least there are more people tehre.
Like I said tonight, I'm a big "private property rights" guy. Even if a project isn't something I'm jumping for joy over, if it's their land, and done by the book, then who am I to say 'boo' about it?
DeleteYou obviously don't have a "I am the ruler of all things wildomar" complex like Timex, the out of towner, the recent loser, and the former royal council woman. I guess we should be happy Mayes just likes to complain and doesn't file lawsuits.
DeleteUh oh... you just said the 'poo poo' word. Next time write it out this way #$%$, it makes people wonder what expletive you're referring to... but as to your comment... Yes, it's proven to be so... over and over again.
ReplyDeleteHi Joseph
ReplyDeleteI would like to congratulate Stan for his effort to try and involve more people in the Parks Master Plan process (He did have a captive audience) . It is just a shame that on last nights agenda this item was nothing more than presentation of what will be rather than a workshop allowing community input. Not that it would have mattered as the captive audience had loftier goals and could care less with the balance of the community.
Kenny Mayes
I know what you're talking about. As I was speaking to the planning commission, part of me wanted to turn to the audience and wag my finger at them. Saying, "It's great that you came out to support your church, but what about the rest of the community and our parks? Where have you been?" But I haven't developed that much gall yet.
DeleteGet over it. Maybe it isn't a lack of interest but more a trust in the process. The public has a basic expectation from a park and I think the city staff is probably familiar with the process. It isn't as if they are working in a vacuum with no info or standards to follow. Parks get built all the time without every citizen weighing in on every detail. I would rather the professionals worked on it using data, experience, and real training rather than amateurs quibbling over things they really don't understand.
ReplyDelete"Get over it"?
DeleteOk.
"every detail"?
How about any details at all?
What you are missing here is that the city ASKED for input from the community. The city WANTS input from the community. It wasn't little old me looking to storm the castle and throw our weight around.
You're comment was very entertaining due to it's lack of coherency and understanding of the actual issue. Thank you for NOT bothering to show up, no one needed the seats to be warmed.
Why is not showing up at a meeting taken as not interested or not caring? Did you miss where I said people probably trust the process? I think an email to the city is just as good as attending a meeting. If people aren't doing either I would take it as a good sign because we know people are quick to complain when they don't like something. If I wanted to be badgered or have a finger "wagged" at me about not being a good citizen there are three other bloggers that do that. I read you for information, humor, and fairness because I can't attend city meetings but I still want to know what is going on in Wildomar.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think I did miss the part where you said, "I think an email to the city is just as good as attending a meeting". I think that is true... but there were no stacks of emails waiting to be read into the record as usually they are mentioned.
DeleteAnd I do have to apologize to you for getting abusive. I have an excuse primed and ready to go, but I hate excuses, so I won't water down my apology to you with it.
Thanks for reading the blog. It's appreciated.
You would have had to been able to read the invisible font I used in my first response to see the email comment. I used a better font in second posting.
Delete