• More Legal Wrangling, City On Sidelines This Time

"Wildomar Project Opponents Must Abide by Their Agreement and Cease Litigation Threats," Developer Sunbelt Communities Says in Lawsuit.

Some people, when they're no longer punching a clock, decide to pick up one hobby or another.

Jigsaw puzzles, crocheting, book clubs, traveling, mentoring, suing their local municipalities —or local developers— costing the residents of their towns many thousands of dollars in legal fees and staff costs, or future homeowners many thousands of dollars in needless costs hidden in the price.

Wildomar has several such accomplished geriatric litigants. They often make up cutesy names to take the brunt of the flak. Names like Alliance for Intelligent Planning (AIP pronounced APE) or Citizens for Quality Development.

Back in October it was reported that the city paid out $120,000 to the group that includes former Wildomar city council member Cheryl Ade, a person that still holds the sole distinction of being the only council member to be voted out of office in Wildomar. (Link to the blog about it) 

That group has also had Gary Andre in it (he may still be in it, but it's hard to keep track of shadowy circles like that.) Suffice to say, if you'd like to play connect the dots I'll be happy to toss some dots out there for you.

• Gary Andre runs for city council in 2014 and claims to be indigent so as to avoid the filing fees, which he later pays anyway the next week.
• Gary Andre is a member of AIP as described by the Press Enterprise "Andre’s group Alliance for Intelligent Planning".
• Alliance for Intelligent Planning gets $120K payout in October 2015.
• Gary Andre, the man that filed as indigent the year before, shows up to a council meeting in a brand new, $27,000 Kia. Complete with a leather bra. (not him, the car)

Interesting dots, not sure if they connect or not, but I'll let the individual do their own sleuthing.

So why is this topical? Because he's part of another group... the one mentioned above: Citizens for Quality Development (better known as Crud).

That group has been trying to derail the 275-home Oak Creek Canyon residential housing project, which is just west of The Farm on Bundy Canyon Rd.

This project was the big news right before I started going to the city council meetings back in 2013. I didn't get to see a lot of the action as it unfolded. Yet, back in November of 2014, there was a settlement agreement between the developer and opponents of the approved 275-home Oak Creek Canyon residential housing project in Wildomar.

However, when you're dealing with Gary Andre things never go smoothly. There's always a hitch. If he's got your phone number he'll be calling you half a dozen times a day.

True to form, at the February 2015 planning commission meeting he showed up with another laundry list of demands (Click this link to the blog covering it).

Today Sunbelt Communities issued a press release. Here's an excerpt.

Sunbelt Communities said it had no choice but to ask the California Superior Court to set aside requests by a group calling itself Citizens for Quality Development for inordinate additional soil testing in and around the development site. Sunbelt has already accommodated numerous requests from the opponents for project changes, including a payment of $60,000 to their lawyers.

link to full press release.

“The motives behind the call for more unnecessary testing are obvious: additional legal fees for the opponents’ attorney, with no additional benefit for prospective homeowners of an already approved project,” said Larry Markham, a spokesperson for Sunbelt Communities. 

“This has become a meaningless exercise spurred on by opponents’ repeated threats of litigation, and we have no choice but to ask the Court to put an end to it,” Markham said.

It's good to see the developers finally standing up to theses mindless lawsuits. Let's hope that the rest of them take a cue here and stop looking to settle with any of them from now on.

•       •       •

Recently I was referred to as a "sheeple" for "lumping together" all the various lawsuits that are going on in the city. Fine, though drawing that conclusion is akin to a child's crayola drawing being confused with the Mona Lisa.

I have no skin in the game when it comes to development in Wildomar. I have a house and if no more houses were built, it wouldn't affect me (isn't that part of the NIMBY mindset?) I'm not pro developer any more than I'm anti developer. I'm pro sanity, and that is a quality that seems lacking in the Lawsuit Lennys of Wildomar.

I don't come equipped with an agenda, and I think that confuses many people that know me. As long as you're a straight shooter, I can get along with you even if I don't agree with your views. For all that, if you are one of those that loves to repeatedly sue the city, then even if I happen to agree with some of your points I have minimal respect for you. 

It's a shame really, because the right to sue city hall is a terrific privilege that we all enjoy and should guard well. When the system is abused, it gets people looking to curb their own rights just to stem the parade of garbage that gets pushed onto them.

•      •      • 

Oh yeah, you completely disgraced yourself and almost destroyed an entire town!

― April Ludgate, Parks and Rec

Wildomar Rap tip of the day: Sit back and relax, the ride isn't half as bad as you're making it out to be.

• Planning Commission Meeting April 2015

Tonight's meeting was about 37 mins... new record for shortest meeting that I've been to... and that isn't some half baked April Fools joke either.

There were only two items on the agenda.

2.1 Oak Creek Canyon (minor changes)

This was continued until next month's meeting at the request of the applicant. This was continued from the meeting before because of a couple of comment letters from the usual cranks. 

The other day we did receive a letter from the Water Quality Control Board. In summary basically the Water Quality Control Board has indicated that there is no evidence that the quality of waters within the area have been, or threatens to be, adversely impacted. 

If you remember, the contention was that the spray fields at The Farm were contaminating the soil. They also did an impromptu inspection of the waste water treatment facility, and they concluded that there was no over spray or irrigation runoff into neighboring properties, and they concluded "We do not believe that any further action is warranted."

—Matt Bassi Planning Director

Commissioner Stan Smith on the topic: 

"I find it interesting that the minute that the experts review all the claims [from the cranks] they find that it's nothing but a lot of smoke and mirrors on behalf of the individuals that objected. Essentially what the letter is saying is there isn't a problem over there, contrary to what Mr. Johnson and his group allege, correct Mr. Bassi?"

"That's what the letter states," Bassi replied.

The vote went 5-0 to continue the item until the next meeting.

2.2 Zoning Ordinance Amendment

This was kind of wonkish to me. It was about cell towers, and from what I was hearing, many times they have to approve changes provided they keep a similar footprint. It had to do with regulations that are being imposed by the FCC.

This passed 5-0, and will play no part in any of our lives.

Planning Director's Report

• The Parks Master Plan will be going before the City Council at the next meeting. 
• Re: landscape ordinance, a budget item will be brought forth in July to update the landscape/conservation ordinance that's part of the zoning code.

Assistant City Attorney Report

Two maps that are adjacent to Murrieta Creek, owned by CV Communities, there were public hearings dealing with whether subsequent environmental review was required for these minor changes. We received a favorable ruling in that litigation. The court upheld the city's decision not to 

require additional environmental review.

Commissioner Smith said, "The court supported our position? Good, we're always glad to hear about a win".

And you people ask why would I call that contingent of malcontents cranks... because they earned that distinction over many years of hard work and relentless determination [such as above], that's why.

•      •      • 

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves. — Cassius, JULIUS CAESAR, William Shakespeare 

If Wildomar Rap wrote recipes, you'd have been treated with one dealing with: fresh picked mustard greens from the backyard, sauteed with onions and garlic in olive oil for nearly an hour (that is one tough weed) then rolled up in a tortilla with mozzarella like a burrito. 

• Planning Commission Meeting: Sycamore Academy

A couple of things on tonight's agenda worth noting.

The long plagued Oak Creek Canyon project was hit with another last minute document dump. So the issue will be continued until April 1st, 2015.

Gary Andre spoke and wanted it known that he has "no problems" with the project, but... He went on to speak for 9 mins, with donated time, discussing the problems just the same. He was concerned about soils tests and repeated more than once that it "wasn't Bill Lo's problem... How do you build homes next to a sewage treatment plant? You wouldn't want to build homes on top of sewage and people getting sick."

Good points Gary. When did you first realize this was potentially the case? I'm guessing that you had your documents ready long before the day of the Planning Commission meeting... right?

So what was the point of doing another last minute Document Dump... other than that's the only card you people seem to have in your hand?

I liked how Chairman Veronica Langworthy worded it: As a commission, we'd appreciate a more timely opportunity to read the information, so if you can get it to us a little sooner, that would be lovely.

To which Andre said, "No Problem".

To which I whispered to my lovely wife, "Yeah right."

Item 2.2 Sycamore Academy

A room full of Scorpions! (It's the name of Sycamore Academy's mascot, and you can see it on the green jerseys.)

The school project was hit by it's own 275 page document dump, around 4:00pm, by Wildomar's own self proclaimed activist, Martha Bridges and pals. The comments were not provided during the 30 day public review period. The actual letter was 2 pages, with 273 pages of exhibits.

Mark Teague spoke about the letter.

Two main points. The first was about liquefaction and the second about fault lines. "We feel that the information here [in the letter] doesn't raise any new environmental issue, or does it cause any problem with the project."

There was then a presentation by the school principal Barbara Hale, about their school's program and mission statement, followed by a detailed powerpoint, by the architect, for the new project.

Artist rendering of what the future campus will look like from it's northernmost point on Palomar.

Aerial view of the campus. To the left, you see the edge of the grassy field area that will provide a play area.

▼

A couple of interesting things I heard were that the school has a No Walk To School policy, and No Ride Your Bike either. I get that at its current location next to Baron's Market, but once it's at a real campus, I don't get it. I guess it's that I'm an old fashioned parent that's out of touch, because I had my kids ride their bikes, or walk, once they were old enough. My kids only got rides to school when it was actually raining.

The other thing that caught my attention was that the rules of a charter school are different than that of a typical public school. Sycamore Academy is attached to Ronald Reagan School and part of the District and open to all students without charge, but there are a ton of things that don't apply to them, that do apply to other schools such as the speed limit when children are present.

====================

CORRECTION

Sycamore is not "attached" to Ronald Reagan Elementary.

Though, according to the internet, it's full name is:

Ronald Reagan Charter School Alliance,Sycamore Academy Of Science and Cultural Arts 

====================

It's not an automatic thing that the speed limits will be reduced. 

I have two thoughts on that one. First, the city council needs to take the necessary steps to have the speeds lowered while kids are present. Second, since kids won't be allowed to walk or ride bikes, it seems that they won't be "present" and so maybe lowering the speed isn't necessary. I'll leave that to the city engineer to hash out with the council members. ☺

There were two public comments of note. First was George Taylor, and he made several strong points in support of the project.

• Win-Win for both the city and Sycamore Academy.
• The school gets a place out in "the country", where it's quiet.
• The city gets ready made office space, without having to go through the building process.
• As far as the seismic thing is concerned, we are at the tail end of a fault, and maybe we should all pack up and leave tomorrow morning. (I read that as a forearm shiver to those that would bring such a silly thing up in these here parts.)

Everyone loves Debbie Downer!

Next up was Kenny Mayes, and probably due to the applause that George got for his comments, Kenny started off by declaring himself as Debbie Downer as he proceeded to say that the school has no business being built on Palomar Street.

Watch the video to see it in real time, along with some well placed sound effects.   Principal Hale comes back to rebut a comment about the property line "being manipulated to be shoehorned into a parcel" to avoid environmental factors. 

There were two speakers from the school, Hillary Martinez and 6th grader Taylor Bedley. There were also 101 comment slips filled out in favor of the project.

Taylor Bedley speaks in front of a full house as the Planning Commissioners give him their full attention.

What an exciting campus they have in mind. If I had kids that were the right age, I'd be looking to get them into this school.

This is a bundle of 400 letters from the students.
This looks to be a future heirloom that the school will want to get back I'm sure.
There was also a giant banner that they didn't get a chance to unfurl.

The vote went 4-0 to approve. The only potential hitch is whether the Last Minute 275 page Letter Writers want to pay the $964 filing fee for the privilege of further trying to hold up this project with an appeal. They have ten days. Which means they'll wait until 9 days and 23 hours have passed before dumping more documents.

Let's hope not, though I told one city staffer that "I'm going to mortgage my house and head to vegas, putting it all down on the Bridge-Burner to do what she always does..."

•      •      •

Last on the agenda was Westpark Promenade. It's still in the early stages, but it is another half commercial—half housing project. This has been discussed in the past, but has been revised a bit. This project is off of Clinton Keith Rd behind the USA gas station and abuts the I-15. 

In short, it includes 191 Townhomes, about 100,000sf of retail with two 8,000sf restaurants. It has a large anchor store and though a clothing or grocery store was mentioned, there are no commitments at this point. 

Commissioner Bobby Swann said, "You used the G word, and I think the worst thing we could do is put a grocery store there. I can't control what you do, but we're putting a Walmart one off ramp up, it's a Super Walmart, it's in essence a grocery store, and the existing grocery stores are going to have a [fiscal] problem with that."

Come on Bobby, we don't have a Ralphs, Vons, Pavilions or Gelson's yet... but I sure could go for a Winco myself.

There was a lot of wrangling about enough parking spaces for the condos, errr... I mean, Townhomes.

Had to love Langworthy's invocation of Little House on the Prairie again. Where you live above your own general store. Not sure how real that is in a wide open place like Wildomar, but it's good to have dreams.

The problem I see with this project is that the people that live off of Depasquale have an advanced case of the NIMBYs. They don't want ingress and egress going in and out of their neighborhood. 

Commissioner Stan Smith said it best on the topic, "That's what happens, you do a development, then the adjacent property gets developed. Then the residents that moved into the first development say 'Oh no, we don't want anything happening over here next to us.' So if you don't plan for it in advance you end up with this impact where you don't get adequate flow."

This project is still in the early phases, and there won't be much movement on it for months. Be sure to stay tuned.

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The best of men cannot control their fate,
The good die early, the bad die late.
— Daniel Defoe

The editor of Wildomar Rap can prep a mean Shepherd's Pie in under 30 mins, and the photographer enjoys it very much!