• Community Responds Quickly

In less than 6 hours, local charity's need of a freezer, was met. 

At about 9:00am this morning City Councilmember Bridgette Moore posted about a need of the Five and Two program at Gracepoint Church on facebook.

Not long after the post was up, Paula Willette pledged the first $100. 

A couple of hours later, Mayor Pro-Tem Ben Benoit saw the thread and also pledged $100. About an hour after that $50 came in from Pete Lent.

Two more donations came in bringing the total up to $450, more than enough to get the type of freezer that Wink Davis had in mind for their bi-monthly food distribution program.

I know that none of the people that donated did so for recognition, but I don't feel like blurring out their names. lol

They've done a terrific thing, and it's not a bad thing that others know about it. Thanks again to the quick community response to a worthy cause that has been helping those less fortunate in the community for many years.

I reached out to pastor Wink Davis to get his reaction to the pledges from the community.

"I am absolutely amazed by our community. I was at a meeting most of the day so I didn't get a chance to see it happen [in real time], but I came back and saw all the notifications on my phone and was amazed as I was looking at it. I am overwhelmed, it's exciting. We have been putting our money towards food, both for emergency and for the distribution [program], this is going to be a huge, huge help. I can't say thank you enough to everyone."

—Pastor Wink Davis, in response to the generosity of the community.

It's nice to see positivity come from facebook.

Link to 2016 blog about 

Five and Two program at Gracepoint Church

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For it is in giving that we receive. 
– Francis of Assisi

Wildomar Rap gets that... and you?

• Community Profile: Gracepoint Church 5&2 Program

I always love to share the good deeds of others. Today's Community Profile is about the Five and Two program at Gracepoint Church, also known as Wildomar Gracepoint Church of the Nazarene.

The HOPE truck being offloaded at Gracepoint Church.

I spoke with Pastor Wink Davis and Ministry Director Gay St. Yves, about the program that assists the needy with food and clothing.

Every second and fourth Saturday of the month they team up with HOPE to feed those in need. They get between 20 and 50 volunteers to help with the food distribution.

The food comes from a variety of sources

The "fresh rescue" portion comes from HOPE, as seen in the image below with boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables being offloaded. 

Eager hands help get the food ready for distribution.

If HOPE's supply is low, they dip into the church's pantry. 

They've also gotten food from various retailers like Albertson's, Vons, Trader Joe's, Costco and Panera Bread. The Mormon church has given them money to purchase goods from their store in the past. 

I asked how the community can participate by donating time or food. 

Gay told me, "We've had several people just show up with food that they've bought, and they come and tell us they want to donate, and we make sure that food goes out that day."

Gay continued, "They can also donate [by] giving to HOPE, that also helps us out. We're working on our own 501c3 so that we can become our own entity and then they would be able to donate directly to us."

Fruits and veggies before they are put into smaller bundles.

"If people want to volunteer their time all they have to do is show up on the second and fourth Saturday, and we will put them to work." 

You don't have to be a member of their church to volunteer. You don't have to be a member of any church for that matter... and it's also a great way for high-schoolers to get their community service hours in.

Gay went on, "A lot of the people that are working today, are people that also get boxes [of food]. So they've seen us working and they ask, "can we help?""

If you'd like to donate, either time, money or food, you can also make arrangements ahead of time. That would be done through the church. 

They have a dedicated Facebook page for the 5&2 program, and for those that don't do Facebook, you can reach them at info@gracept.org. 

Link to 5&2 facebook page

A look at the lineup of boxes ready to go to needy people.

I learned that they also accept clothing donations.

Instead of dropping of your old clothes in one of those metal bins, operated by out-of-towners, consider donating your old clothes to a local charity instead.

They prefer that you would drop them off during business hours, which are Monday thru Friday (closed Thursday) 9:00am to 4:00pm-ish. If those hours don't work for you, just contact them and I'm sure they'd be happy to work with you.

Two different donation boxes, within 100 feet of each other in the Stater Bros parking lot, that are operated by people far out of town. 

☺

Contact info

• Address: 21400 Canyon Dr, Wildomar, CA 92595
• Phone:(951) 674-4481
• info@gracept.org

Link to Church Facebook Page

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A little rule, a little sway, 

A sunbeam in a winter's day, 

Is all the proud and mighty have. 

Between the cradle and the grave.

— John Dyer, 1699–1757

Wildomar Rap walks the walk and has a fitbit to prove every step.

• City Council Meeting January 14, 2015 Recap

Let's go down the agenda.

First up was Wildomar City Attorney Thomas Jex reporting on a new lawsuit against the city and Cornerstone Church.

A group calling themselves "Cornerstone Concerned Area Residents" which if it were a more honest name would be something like "Area Residents That Hate Everything About Cornerstone Church" but what's in a name... right?

The reportable action on that topic was that the City Council unanimously voted to defend the lawsuit. This was another Ray Johnson special, but this time the group is headed by a guy named Jim Filanc.

Interesting that the last time Cornerstone had a proposed project in front of the council, this guy had said, "We want the city to have all the facts on what the impact will be on traffic on Monte Vista," he said. "We don't want to stop them from developing. We just want to make sure they pay their fair share and that it's a condition of the project."

Click here for the full article in the UT.

Well, I guess times have changed since there is a comprehensive EIR and they [Cornerstone] are more than paying "their fair share" for this project.

Presentations

• Ethan Edwards received recognition for his Eagle Scout project. 

Eagle Scout Ethan Edwards with Mayor Ben Benoit.

• We met the outgoing Fire Chief Steve Beech's replacement Joel Vela and Division Chief Geoff Pemberton.

Public Comments
There were seven public speakers tonight. Of note were:

• Kenny Mayes speaking about the need for a Food Truck ordinance and wondering when we will be getting the promised Parks Commission. 
• Miss Miller wanted the council to set aside other work and put their efforts on stopping Chemtrails and Global Warming. 
• Bill Keane (sp?) wanting a stop sign on Wesley at Union to slow down the speeders.
• Kristan Lloyd spoke about the historic significance of The Brown House and wanted it known as Wildomar Heritage Museum from here on out. She also took issue with the word, dilapidated, that the city has used in connection to the Wildomar Heritage Museum.

Just to be fair, the word may not be along the lines of "Cozy" or "Quaint" or "Historic" but a person would be hard pressed to find a more apt word for the current condition of the Wildomar Historic Museum than Dilapidated.

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• Matt Patrick was speaking about speed issues on Via Sarah.
• Judy Gugliemana represented the Wildomar Chamber and some of their coming events.
• Kathy Bundy spoke about a planned Volkswalk on June 6th which is National Trails Day.

2.1 and 2.2 were continued to the February meeting.

3.1 Baxter/Susan GPIP

This was covered in Wildomar Rap last year when it was in front of the planning commission. 

Click here for that blog.

This was one of those, "yes you can ask permission to ask permission" moments again. If I were the developer/landowner I'd seriously think about scrubbing this plan the way they envision it. 

You know you're in trouble when Council Member Tim Walker says, "Miss Miller was right" and Mayor Ben Benoit says, "I'm with Miss Miller here." Referring back to her public comments on the project and the area in general.

My favorite part of her comment was when she blamed all the concrete in the area for a bee sting she recently got in the jugular vein which now requires her to sleep with gloves for the next two weeks. She also saw some lion foot prints near Clinton Keith... then she slammed her papers against the podium and stormed out.

This passed 3-0 with Bob Cashman recusing himself since he lives near the project.

3.2 Gracepoint Church Public Use Permit Extension

They need a two year extension to complete their project due to funding and illness that hit the project manager. It passed 4-0.

3.3 Professional Services Agreement

Dan York was speaking about the Parks Masterplan and Traffic Signals in relation to DIF fees and TUMF fees. It was more sausage making and after my eyes finished glazing over I heard the vote go 4-0 to approve. 

City Manager Report

Gary Nordquist mentioned the coming Walmart public hearing on January 21, 2015 at 6:30pm. A scoping meeting for the Grove Park project this coming Monday at 6:00pm.  

He also gave the final numbers for the Green Waste Cleanup Event. The Marna O'Brien location had 132 signers and went through 16 bins and collected 30 tons at a cost of about $2300 paid to CR&R. On the other side of the freeway, at the La Estrella area, there were 78 signers (no bin count) but the services were donated by Waste Management.

He mentioned how the new Subway on Bundy Canyon is progressing.

City Clerk Debbie Lee thanked the City Staff, the City Council and her "Wildomar Family" for the condolences she received after her mother passed. 

Future Agenda Items

Bridgette Moore wants construction project signs to be addressed. (Example: A sign at the new Subway construction telling passersby what the project is, and projected finish dates).

Bob Cashman wanted Wildomar's historic structures designated or recognized. He's counted 14 such structures. 

Tim Walker wanted to get school test scores for Wildomar specific schools, away from LEUSD.

Ben Benoit Wants an option for various neighborhoods to be able to avoid the Windsong Valley slurry boondoggle when their neighborhoods are scheduled to be re-slurried, by paying additional monies through their HOAs if desired.

Marsha Swanson wasn't at tonight's meeting.

♥

Mayor Ben Benoit adjourned the meeting in honor of Debbie Lee's mother.

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We are men of action. Lies do not become us. 
- Farm Boy Wesley AKA The Dread Pirate Roberts

Wildomar Rap has been accused of not including "vital info" in blogs. I can handle being called a city insider/suck up, but shake yourself. This blog always has the vital info.

• The Jello Is Jiggling for Bob Devine

 
This game's in the refrigerator: the door is closed, the lights are out, the eggs are cooling, the butter's getting hard, and the Jell-O's jigglin'!
— Chick Hearn

Or if you prefer Dandy Don Meredith's rendition of "Turn out the lights, the party's over, all good things must come to an end..." click the image to relive the magic.

Hut, hut... hike!

It was unceremoniously revealed on Tuesday Jan. 7th, through Martha Bridge's blog,  TheWildomarWatcher , that Planning Commissioner, Bob Devine, tendered his resignation.

As you probably know, each of the planning commissioners is nominated by one of the Council Members (CM). Bob Devine was tied to Bob Cashman (the only council member I've yet to meet). The other Council Member/Planning Commissioner combos go like this.

• Bridgette Moore/Bobby Swann
• Ben Benoit/Stan Smith
• Tim Walker/Veronica Langworthy
• Marsha Swanson/Michael Kazmier's recently vacated seat. 

I've only been going to the Planning Commission meetings since August. I started off rooting for Bob Devine. I liked his contrarian approach. He was holding the line against builders wanting to put apartments in commercial areas, and saying no to CFDs (basically Mello-Roos in another form).

My esteem for him took a hit when he appeared to be ok with playing chicken with the State of California over a deadline they set for Wildomar to send in our Official Housing Element. 

Click this link to see my summary of his interaction with Planning Director Matthew Bassi and Assistant City Attorney Erica Vega.

Then in the most recent Planning Commission meeting he really gaffed in my opinion, especially considering he's been on the Planning Commission from day one, dating back in 2008. The issue was about approving a few trailers at the Grace Point Church on Canyon Drive. 

Grace Point Church, with trailers easy to see... Thanks Google!

He divulged that he didn't know that an adjacent housing tract had already been built... and it had been up for about two years, or that the trailers in question were already on the property, just awaiting approval for installation.

Grace Point Church with a fully built and lived in neighborhood directly to the left.

It was in his own general part of the city, and yet he didn't even drive by the church to get a first hand look at it. Sorry, but that is not good representation for our city, and I'm glad he's stepped down. Thank you for the time you put in, but it's time to give the seat to someone eager to do the whole job.

Gotta love the classy way he did it too:

by email.

Though he'd sent it in last Friday, to his CM Bob Cashman, who happens to have a reputation for slow response to email, the City Manager Gary Nordquist and the Planning Director Matthew Bassi had to learn of this through the blogosphere.

How does that look to you? It sure doesn't look good to me when the first anyone hears of such a thing comes from three unofficial sources... not known for their objectivity.

According to one regular attendee of the Planning Commission (PC) meetings Bob Devine was heard to state, unequivocally, at a PC meeting, that he would not vote for new developments. He also was heard to say he would never vote to reduce the amount of business park zoned properties, despite the lack of interest from developers for such projects here. Again, according to a regular attendee of of the PC meetings, he made these opinions public and should be in the recordings of the meetings.  

 

He also caused a huge commotion at a city council meeting where he was quoting a blog by Kenny Mayes, seen on the Patch, that happened to be factually inaccurate. That he wished he could change his vote from the previous PC meeting, then he ended up storming out while he audibly was mentioning something about bovine excreta. 

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That leaves us two vacant seats out of five on the PC, though I've heard there is one qualified applicant for the seat that Michael Kazmier previously had. Let's just hope that the next two people to take this job understand the commitment involved. That the job is not only for a specified span of years, but that it takes a lot of reading, and they need to physically go to the various projects that they will be evaluating and voting on. Wildomar simply isn't so big that you can't take a car ride to the proposed site and check it out. If that's too much for you, please don't apply.

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If you like this blog, or can stomach it on occasion, and you do the facebook thing... come over and "like" the page I've set up for it. That's a way for you to be alerted when I post a new blog. Thanks for taking the time to read it.

• BP vs. HDR (Planning Commision Meeting 12-18-13)

(Business Park vs. High Density Residential)

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Are you signed up for the city's emails? I am. Two weeks ago I got something that looked like this in regards a special Planning Commission meeting.

Below is an artist's rendering of it.

click for the link I was sent.

It was 717 pages long... so I emailed A-Gar and asked if this was a mistake. I must have hit the wrong "reply" button at yahoo mail, because I've yet to get a reply. I've since learned that there are server issues that the city is coping with. 

My Bad... I guess.

...and to be fair, he did start off with saying the 'agenda was attached'... but the included link was a major league curve ball, and I just watched it go by for a called third strike. My bad... I guess.

The real agenda was only six pages long.
Who knew?

Dear Santa, I've been marginally good this year, and all I'd like to have is clear, consistent communication when dealing with the city. Can you please straighten out their internet server issues? Thank you.

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Straight from the Planning Commission agenda

3.0 GENERAL BUSINESS
3.1 Strata/Prielipp GPA Initiation Request (Planning Application No. 13-0039):
The applicant (Strata Equity Group) is requesting a Planning Commission recommendation to the City Council in accordance with Section 17.08.040.B of the Zoning Ordinance to initiate a proposed general plan land use amendment on a 20.2-acre site from Business Park (BP) to High Density Residential (HDR) to accommodate a future 86-unit/104-bed Congregate Care Facility/Assisted Living Facility on 7.5 acres of the site, and a 143-unit townhome multi-family project on 12.7 acres of the site located at the northwest corner of Elizabeth Lane and Prielipp Road (APN: 380-250-023).

RECOMMENDATION:
The Planning Department recommends the Planning Commission recommend the City Council allow the initiation of a general plan amendment for Planning Application No. 13-0039 (Strata/Prielipp Project).

(emphasis is mine)

The vote was 3 to 1, with Commissioner Swann voting nay, to NOT recommend.
   Nothing like a good old fashioned double negative to cross a person up.  

My favorite quote from the applicant was:
"Taking care of the aged is a business."

This was his response to concerns that he wanted to put HDR (High Density Residential) where the zoning is for a business park. He does have a point... it is a business, and the estimate is for 100-110 permanent jobs once it's complete, with 300 construction related jobs for the 2 years it takes to build; does sound nice. Still, this is far worse than a MUPA where the maximum of 50% HDR was agreed upon.

Not only that, but what brainiac suggested putting 143 multi family, triplex and fourplexes, in the same complex as a retirement home? Seriously, talk about a match made in hades.

What I didn't understand was when the applicant said,

"We own this property, we bought it in October of 2012, this isn't just an option that we have..." 

Let me get this straight. You bought business park property, but you wanted to build HDR townhomes and assisted care facilities. Umm, Mr. Applicant sir... why didn't you buy land that was already zoned for such a project in the first place?

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There were two other items on the agenda. 

Items that I thought would've sailed through. 

2.1 Allowing a 5 plus acre parcel to be divided into ten 1/2 acre lots at 34951 Orange St. I can't imagine why there would be real opposition, but there was. Commissioner Devine recused himself from the discussion (I'm gathering he had some dealings with it) and the final vote was 3-0 to recommend to the council. But not before Gary Andre warned about impending flooding, and lost indian artifacts. (please refer back up to the rolling eye gif if you wonder what I think of it).

I know my name isn't Joe Hydrologist, but why would there be anymore flooding because of ten houses being built? Is someone suggesting they are all going to leave the hose running at once?

Oh, also gotta love hearing that The Alliance For Intelligent Planning had their cap gun attorney send another letter. Can there be a bigger misnomer for a cabal of dissidents, I mean "activists" out there??? Well, other than Ducks Unlimited suggesting they are for the protection of ducks that is?

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2.2 After much deliberation, or so it seemed, it was voted 4-0 to recommend to the council. In question were three modular trailers for Gracepoint Church, on Canyon Drive. I didn't see what the hang up here was either. It's good to be concerned about the aesthetics of the area, but perhaps those making the decisions could drive by the place next time. Come on Commish Devine... you didn't know the houses that abut the church property were already built? 

You can see rooftops and cars in the neighborhood west of Gracepoint Church.

 

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Oh, and as of today, there have been ZERO applications sent in for the fifth planning commissioner's spot. If you're interested in applying for the post... contact the city about it.

Click here for an application.