• Planning Commission Meeting August 2015

There were two items on tonight's agenda.

First was Discount Tire Centers and their request for a CUP (Conditional Use Permit).

This was discussed in detail in the blog covering the June Planning Commission meeting.

Click here to see the images and discussion over the noise levels and being located next to Massage Envy.

The vote was 5-0 to approve the CUP.

The reason why this wasn't voted on back in June was that a sound/decibel test needed to be done first. The tests came back and were well within the standards already in the city code.

A question by Larry Ferguson, owner of Massage Envy, was asked.

"I would like to know what happens if Discount Tire Centers moves in and month or two months we start losing members... if it negatively impacts our business. I would like to have some reassurance that you guys (the Planning Commission) would be interested in being involved, or could we get another meeting to discuss this? Or once you guys decide is that the end of it?"

Regional Vice President of Discount Tire Centers, Mike Nelson responded with:

We understand what the city code is, and we fully intend to comply with it. I understand Larry's concerns. We've had some experience with this (noise abatement) in the past and we felt our design, before the sound study, was going to meet the city code. The sound study just reaffirmed that, but if there is a fault and something is incorrect then we have every intention as a company to rectify that. We want to be a good neighbor.

With the reference that Larry [Ferguson] had brought up —and I thought about this before the meeting, what if the commission might want to discuss adding a condition to the effect where the applicant shall perform a second set of noise readings 60 days after opening. Then we could bring back a report to the commission at a future meeting with those findings to insure that real world activity is still within 55 decibels. 

—Matt Bassi Planning Director

Commissioner Bobby Swann asked, "Are there legal ramifications for doing that?" 

Assistant City Attorney Erica Vega chimed in there, "Yes, there probably would be, because we would've already approved the use so how you would craft that... would be for informational purposes... This could be a code enforcement issue, but wouldn't necessarily be a permit revocation issue." 

Commissioner Stan Smith added, "I don't know that I'm in favor of having the applicant expend that cost after he's already gone to the expense of this study."

In the end this is really about two tenants and a landlord in my opinion. Massage Envy is an asset to the community, but when they chose that location, they had to know that there was a suite right behind them with large bay doors that were intended for just such a business. 

Let's hope they take Commissioner Smith's advice and work out a coupon for the tire customers to get a massage while the work is being done on their car. It could be a win-win if both parties want it to be.

I caught up with Mike Nelson after the meeting and welcomed him to Wildomar. I asked when they were going to open up and his response was to the effect of "as soon as we can". They've already ordered the necessary equipment and hope to be opened in under two months.

Looks like another solid business for Wildomar, including the tax revs from high dollar items. I already lobbied them about joining the Chamber too. ☺

2.2 Elm Street Residential Project

Click this link to see the pictures and info from the Feb 2014 meeting on this topic.

This project has been in the works since before Wildomar was incorporated. In the time that I've been watching it, it's gone from 15 houses on 4 acres, to 12 houses, and now back to 15 houses. The big difference here is that Elm St will no longer be part of the project.

Before, Elm St was the sole ingress and egress. Talk about kicking a beehive when that was suggested a year and a half ago. Funny thing is that some of the neighbors that spoke against this project tonight hadn't updated their drivers... and still seemed to have the impression that Elm St was in play.

The developer really is trying to work with the locals here as he's prepared to not use Elm St at all, and cede 10 feet to a common alley (making the total 20 feet wide for the continued use of those that live on Darby). Now the new road that is proposed will be a one way street. 

Direct access to each of the lots created by the proposed project will be via a proposed one-way street that will be accessed via Central Street to the northeast and Gruwell Street to the southwest. The traffic will flow from Central Street through "A Street" and onto Gruwell Street.

At this point, there really is nothing more that the Darby-ites can complain about. Their road will not be impacted and they get to keep the access to the back of their properties. 

The bigger question is: Who is going to want to buy a new house that gets wedged into that little parcel?

But as I stated when I spoke in front of the commission... "I guess that's not my problem."

This passed 4-0 (Commissioner Langworthy had to recuse herself since she lives near the project). Next step for this is in front of the city council, but I'm still placing my life savings on Wildomar's favorite group of malcontents (the people that sue us for blinking) to hold this up. 

•      •      • 

If I'd just tried for them dinky singles I could've batted around .600.

 — Babe Ruth

The First rule of Wildomar Rap is to always discuss Wildomar Rap.

• Neighborhood Meeting Tentative Tract Map 33840

Tonight there was a neighborhood meeting for those that live near the proposed subdivision of 15 houses on 4.07-acre site that is sandwiched between the flood channel to the east, the backyards of homes on Darby to the west, Gruwell to the north and Central to the south.

There was a short power point presentation by planner Alfredo Garcia followed by many public comments. The top concerns revolved around a few themes. 

• Loss of existing access to backyards by homeowners on Darby.
• Loss of privacy due to two story homes looking into neighbor's yards.
• Flooding issues.
• Increased traffic on Darby.
• An existing ten foot easement for utilities granted the homeowners years ago.
• Sewer hookups. 

View from ground level of Tract Map 33840 looking south from near Gruwell.

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This is what it comes down to. Do the proposed 15 houses make sense on that tract or not? I say they don't —for many reasons, though I have to scratch my head at the comment by one of the neighbors, stating that the proposed fifteen 2,000sf to 3,000sf homes would somehow "stick out like a sore thumb". 

Calling a nice, new and modern neighborhood a "sore thumb" would be like calling the highrise, in the graphic below, a sore thumb. Sorry, but a "sore thumb" is something that subtracts from the whole. 

The 15 homes, though out of place IMO, would actually be the gem in an otherwise bent up crown. Such a development would help increase the local property values, not hurt them.

Can you imagine the view from the terrace? Not quite what Aladdin and Jazmin saw in that Disney cartoon.

Let's put our big boy pants on for a minute and call a spade a spade... the area in question is not the most desirable part of Wildomar. What is the developer thinking? Why force nice homes into an area that they don't fit into... both figuratively and literally? Who would plunk down market priced HOA homes in that location in the first place? Once built, who would line up to get a mortgage for such things? I'm thinking I might just rather live near a Sriracha sauce factory my own self... but that's just me. ☺

Oh, and the proposed perimeter block wall, that would be right on the public trail, would make a great canvass for graffiti artists.

Though I can understand why the landowner would like to collect as many dollars as he can from his personal patch of Wildomar, a development like this belongs in a different area, not shoehorned into such a mismatched area simply because he has a deed to the property. 

Rumors of a bridge being built over the concrete flood control ditch, to allow another point of entry to the proposed subdivision, traversing private land, were dispelled by Planning Director Matt Bassi.

There will be another Neighborhood Meeting on the topic in the near future, with answers to the questions and concerns that the speakers brought to the fore. If you want to be alerted to such things, you need to go over to the city's website and sign up.  

http://www.cityofwildomar.org/stay-connected.asp

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