• Field Trip to Camelia Townhouse Project

Let's take another look at the Camelia Townhouse Project.

previous blog discussing it

I decided to take a field trip to the actual area. 

The Camelia Townhouse project is slated for the land in the middle of the photo, on the far side of the road (Palomar to Washington). This was taken from Starbuck Circle looking southward.

I'm guessing that nearly everyone in town has driven by it at least once in their lives, if not weekly. 

Thing is, driving by it doesn't really give you an accurate picture. You need to park the car, walk up the hill and take a look at it to get a real grasp of it.

It's a rather expansive place with great vistas. 

A northwesterly view from the hill on the west part of the site.

Once you're at the westerly peak, and you look south, you see directly into the yards of many homes.

Washington Avenue is the road on the right, and you can see the first of the homes in question from about 200 feet away (about the distance of a Little League home run fence).

The homes are quite nice, and at least one of the backyards I could see would almost qualify as a park in Wildomar. 

I took this picture from the nearest part of the peak that I could get adequate footing. I'm guessing it was more than 50 feet away. Keep in mind that is closer than the bases are set on a Little League field. The townhouses are said to start 25 feet from a block wall that will have less than 20 feet of no-man's land in between.

Ok, that's a bit of an overstatement, but it explains why the crowd at the April 5th planning commission meeting groaned when Commissioner Veronica Langworthy suggested that it's a two way street and they should consider planting some trees in their yard to block the views of whatever development ends up going there.

Link to blog: planning commission meeting covering Camelia

An easterly view of the existing block wall that divides Grizzly Ridge from the undeveloped parcel in question. The biggest issue that I can see is confined to the western portion of the project where the hill is well above many of the houses below.

What gives this proposed development a different wrinkle than others in town is that it is on the border with Murrieta, and it doesn't directly affect anyone in Wildomar like it does those living in the Grizzly Ridge development in Murrieta.

As you can see in this image, the issue of the hill towering above Grizzly Ridge isn't in play at the whole site. In this area, the townhouse foundations would be below the existing wall.

The planning commission, and later the city council, are there to make sure the guidelines are followed, but I have to wonder if this would be on the same track if it were entirely in The W?

Thing is, it isn't. 

One public speaker at the planning commission meeting tried to sell that Murrieta so loved Wildomar, that they only built single family homes on the city line. 

"When Murrieta did their general plan they kept the future neighbors in mind, and out of pure respect to the rural lifestyle of Wildomar, they only allowed single family homes on the entire five mile border."

Tim Huizenga, April 5, 2017 at the Wildomar planning commission meeting.

Link to video cued up to Tim Huizenga quote 

Come on Mr. Huizenga, that is flat out silly to suggest. Please don't try the snow job of Murrieta having pure respect for a nonexistent city that they were trying to annex at the time.

I guess that any amount of hooey can be reverse engineered as long as the facts appear to support it. That there aren't multifamily units in Murrieta that border Wildomar only tells me that the developments in question were built back in the day when the only way to lure a person from the OC, LA or SD here was to give them a nice large lot in the process.

Those days are over, and unless someone is going to reveal a document signed by the town fathers of Murrieta, vowing to keep multifamily dwellings from the view of Wildomar, I'm not buying it.

I remember when the Wildomar planning commission was putting together the housing element. It was one of the first meetings I'd gone to in 2013 and I distinctly remember one of the commissioners being amused at the thought of putting high density along the borders with both Murrieta and Lake Elsinore.

There is a small notation about it in the November 2013 blog

One of the suggestions was to remove the uppermost portions of the hill. 

They (the developers) said they couldn't do that due to the incline of Jefferson and how it would hook up with Palomar. 

If you go out there, you'll quickly see how that is utter nonsense. There is no reason why they can't lower that hill so that it's at the same level as the existing houses.

Oh wait, I just thought of a reason... it'll cost money. Apparently a lot more money than a proposed 8' block wall (that isn't legal here), and the 36" box trees that they're hoping will fly instead.

This isn't set to come back to the planning commission until the latter half of June, but I think that it only fair that anyone voting on this project (either commissioner or council member) take a walking tour of the area first. Maybe even see if one of the residents will invite you to take a look from their perspective too.

If I were in that neighborhood I wouldn't budge off the point of having the key portions of that hill removed first, or set back the units at least 150 feet or more and leave some open space there instead.

Now time for some fun. 

While I was out there, enjoying the vast and expansive views, I stumbled onto a giant dumping ground. 

It's not as impressive from far away as it is up close.

From above it looked like a homeless camp. Once on the scene I could see that it was just the discards from some lowly white trash types (being that I pass as "white" I can say "white trash" with impunity).

The debris field was at least 100 feet long.

Not long ago I praised how quickly code enforcement was able to remove a couch from the roadway. 
 

link to blog about code enforcement

Well fellas, looks like it's time for you to spring into action again. From what I heard at the planning commission meetings, this land is owned by Bill Lo, and though I doubt he's the guy that dumped the kids toys there... they're his now.

It takes a special kind of cretin to sump their garbage on other people's land.

I'm sure we all remember the impromptu dump that was on Palomar and Wesley back in 2014, that I dubbed Boberta's Thrift Store... if not, there is a parody video promotion for it below.
Well, if you like Boberta's Thrift Store... 
...you're going to love Camelia's Open Air Thrift Emporium even better!

•          •          •

“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.”

– Robert E. Howard 1906-1936

Wildomar Rap knows quite few people that wouldn't get more than two or three sentences out before getting their skulls crushed by their fellow savages.

• Governor Brown to Give Back VLF Funds???

This isn't one of those April fool's joke blogs...

Hey everybody, remember that huge tax increase that the Sacramento Dems just rammed down everyone's throat?

The one that will be raising gas taxes and vehicle registration fees?

Link to a CBS News story discussing SB 1

Apparently there is a silver lining that came with that punch in the mouth. 

The pilfered VLF funds that Governor Brown took from the four newest cities in the state (all in Riverside County) in 2011, are reportedly about to be on their way back where they belong.

When asked for his thoughts on the possibility of getting the long sought after VLF funds back, Wildomar Mayor Pro-Tem Ben Benoit responded, "I'm excited about our four cities to finally be treated equally like the rest of the cities in California. [But] I'm saddened that it comes with a $5 billion price tag for the state of California."

Wildomar is anticipating a yearly bump of about $2,000,000 to the general fund once this goes through.  

Roughly 22% of the budget.

I put in call to Councilmember Bridgette Moore and she echoed Benoit's sentiments. She added, "The way I understand it is [that] Brown has until June 15th to sign it, so it isn't a done deal yet."

I'm a bit surprised that Brown wasn't touting that carrot on the stick when he was in Riverside last week trying to sell his record tax increase.

Still, unless he aims to line item veto this, it's going to happen, and we will finally stop hearing about the annual "will he or won't he veto it" office pool.

Unless you're one of those lovers of tax increases, you may agree with my analogy here.

It's like being told that your dog just got run over by your neighbor, but at least he's finally willing to give back that lawn mower he borrowed five years ago.

It'll be interesting to see where this money ends up/gets used in the budget. Let's hope those that continually sue this city don't see another pot at the end of a rainbow to chase.

•          •          •

“I expect to pass through this world but once and therefore if there is anybody that I want to kick in the crutch I had better kick them in the crutch now, for I do not expect to pass this way again.”

— Maurice Bowra 1898-1971

Wildomar Rap hopes that governor Moonbeam is done passing this way for the rest of forever.

• Wildomar Egg Hunt 2017

With threats of rain through much of Friday, the 2017 Eggstravaganza was greeted by blue skies with billowing white clouds. 

A worm's eye view of the impending stampede of five year old kids.

The event was from 9:00am to 11:00am and the four various age groups had two different opportunities to participate. All the while Robert Walker performed the roll of DJ again this year and kept the peeps alive with tunes from all eras.

From left to right: Councilmember Bridgette Moore, Little Miss Wildomar (daughter of Councilmember Nigg), Councilmember Dusting Nigg and Young Miss Wildomar Daisy Varney are getting the next group of egg hunters revved up to start.

As has become the custom in Wildomar, there was a special needs table that drew a handful of participants. 

Besides the egg hunt, there was a bouncy house, face painting, glitter tattoos and pictures with the Easter bunny available.

Face painting was a popular attraction.

In addition to the city's booth, the Elks Lodge had a booth and so did the San Gorgonio girl scouts. 

Scouting is a great activity for your child (boy or girl). Consider getting them involved.

The snack bar was being manned by the parent's of boy scout troop 332, and troop 2011 was raising money for a coming eagle scout project that will see a refurbishment of the base of the water tower at Marna O'Brien park.

Members of the Elks helped out at the prize table.

There were also some tables for young artists to get in some coloring time or fabricate some crafts.

This aspiring artist was seen applying the just the right color to the just the right spot.

Families lined up to get a photo with Peter Cottontail.

Be sure to mark April 29th as another day to come to Marna O'Brien park. There will be the first of two 5K runs of 2017. 

It's a very good cause, water safety awareness. 

Drowning is for keeps, and it is the number one cause of death in children under the age of five.

Even if you don't want to run, it's going to be a beautiful morning with lots of activity at the park starting at 8:00am. There will be vendors and other activities too... so come on out! ☺

Click image to visit facebook page

•          •          •

This is going to be the greatest Easter Egg Hunt ever, and I'm going to find them all!

– Lucy van Pelt

Wildomar Rap would rather find all the Pokémon if given a choice.

• Planning Commission Meeting April 2017

This meeting was about the proposed Camelia Townhouse project that is slated for the a triangle of land where Palomar becomes Washington at the city line with Murrieta.

The orange circle is where a stop sign is slated to go.

The first thing I noticed about this meeting is that the room was at least 80% full. Which means more people came to this meeting than came to the meeting about marijuana dispensaries last week.

Before any gumshoe tries to suggest that one meeting was better advertised over the other, both were touted in the same places. Thing is, people cared about one issue and not the other.

For those that want to see how the meeting went in real time, there are three videos below. 

The first video has the presentations, the second has the public comments, and the last is where the commission discussed the agenda item.

To recap what Camelia is, it's 163 unit gated townhouse project. The units are not apartments, though planning commissioner John Lloyd kept referring to them as apartments. These units are to be sold with the previously reported price point starting beyond $300K.

Link to blog covering Camelia Townhouse Project community meeting

Public comments took about 45 minutes. 
The list of speakers is as follows:
                • Robert Kinsey (9 minutes)
                • Ken Mayes 
                • Pete Kee (9 minutes)
                • Dawn Morrison 
                • Tim Huizenga (6 minutes)
                • DJ Williams
                • Erika Vaughn
                • Ryan Vaughn 
                • Robert Kinsey returned for a second helping.

Which led to a humorous moment reminiscent of the famous scene from Spartacus. Since Mr. Kinsey had already had his three minutes, plus an additional six donated minutes, he hit a mini road block.

City Planner Matt Bassi suggested he could use additional donated minutes and commissioner Veronica Langworthy reminded them they had to submit their names first. 
This is where some pictures of the existing houses were introduced. 

The neighbors went into the field behind their homes, stood on the grounds where the proposed town homes will be, held some 20' flagpoles to give an idea of the height and snapped some pics.

I took one of the images and then superimposed the 6' block wall, and the town home beyond it. Of course it's not 100% accurate, I made this image in about 15 minutes and had very little to work with. It's just to give you an idea of what is being proposed. 

One of the images supplied by the neighbors. On the left is how the original looks. On the right is after adding a town home and a block wall. If you look on the original image, you can see men in the field. Using them as a guide, the block wall I added may be much higher than six feet.

Also, trees are to be planted in the area between the block walls, and it was said that the new wall would be covered with vegetation once the landscaping matured. 

•

During the public comments Ken Mayes got a sitting ovation. It couldn't have been for what he said, since much of it wasn't even about the project, he was talking about the extreme shortage of park acres in town. That didn't prevent the crowd from getting excited at his oration style as he finished speaking.

Which led Chairman Stan Smith to mildly admonish the audience and suggested that if they are in agreement with the speaker, to raise their hands. Instead of raising hands, many went for the 1968 Olympics fist in the air after every speaker finished.

This photo doesn't accurately capture the sea of arms that went up.

There were a lot of fair points made during the public comments, right alongside a lot of silly ones. Sorry people, but when you say it's a nightmare (or worse), you're just adding to the joke meme known as first world problems.

We are so blessed that our key problem in life is a potential townhouse development.

The group was pretty well prepared and speaker Pete Kee read a laundry list of items (starting at 15:20 of the video), so that they would have standing if they were to choose to take the issue to court.

Among the grievances listed:

Invasion of privacy, increased traffic, increased pollution, increased noise, potential increase of crime, lack of adequate police coverage, uncontrolled lighting impact on existing homes, blocking views, devaluation of property values especially on the Murrieta side, impact to schools in both Murrieta and Wildomar.

From a letter addressed to the City of Wildomar Planning Commission, read by Pete Kee.

Had to get a tickle from the some of that list. 

link to public comment video

The commission was swayed by the Murrieta residents and asked that this be continued to a future date. They were reminded that usually there is something that is supposed to occur during such continuations, and that the applicant (developer) would need some direction.

Commissioner Kim Strong said, "Do we have any concerns, time for the communities, the property owners to do any investigations? Wouldn't it be in the best interest of the city to allow them more time?

Commissioner Veronica Langworthy added, "Yeah, it might be best to continue so there is more review time."

Thing is, I didn't see what was supposed to actually change during the next two and a half months.


At the end of the day, the commission voted to have this continued to June 21st by a 5-0 vote. 

Originally it was going to be slated for June 7th, but quite a vocal outcry could be heard from the audience since that day coincides with graduation at one of the Murrieta high schools.

Enjoy the outburst starting at 53:40 of the video.

Let's break this down now.

In its simplest terms:

There is a proposed development that is being met by resistance from the existing neighbors. 

Just like with all such instances, the neighbors make some compelling points about how their lives will be impacted forever more... mixed in with some eyebrow raising claims at the same time.

The facts are, if you talk to the members of that group, most want NOTHING there. We're in the "what will stick to the wall" part of the process.

They're using a long list of objections (the exact same type of objections that are raised every time a new development is proposed) and topping it off with that it's "high density". 

Commissioner Langworthy made a point worth considering.

What I'm hearing is neighbors are asking the developer to make some movement, some compromise. So I'm looking at the neighbor's house and I don't see a whole lot trees in your backyards blocking the view either. So maybe you might want to consider what your yard planting is, as a compromise. So when everybody comes back together both sides are making some movement. I realize you've been there a long time, but somebody's going to build in that yard (field) and no decision has been at this point. Just know that change is going to come at some point. 

Planning Commissioner Veronica Langworthy

The previous project that was supposed to go on that site got eaten up by the recession, but it had more units backed up to the same wall. The difference was that they were single family homes. (Not really sure how that changes the loss of privacy claims.)

Hey, I used to misspell "origional" like that too... when I was a kid.

Another observation I made here is how disruptive, and dismissive the crowd was, especially at the end of the meeting. 

They showed no respect for the city of Wildomar, or its planning commission, when they got up and started talking among themselves as they slowly sauntered out of the room once their agenda item was finished. Then many proceeded to talk at full voice right outside the glass doors. 

I love Chairman Stan Smith, and do appreciate his style that allows for more public input, but it's hard to stomach it when I see such disrespect allowed to go on as much as it did. 

Stay tuned... this isn't going away anytime soon.

•          •          •

Human beings yield in many situations, even important and spiritual and central ones, as long as it prolongs one's well-being.

– Alexander Solzhenitsy 1918-2008


Wildomar Rap loves watching a well armed battle of wills... let's hope that neither side yields. 

• Kevin's Corner

Kevin Jeffries

Most people know that we are in Riverside County's 1st district, and that Wildomar's representative is Supervisor Kevin Jeffires... if you didn't know that, now you do. 

He was reelected to his seat last year, and he's now in his second term in that chair.

A graphic in the newsletter. The map is a bit squished, but you can still get the basic idea.

Most recent edition.

He puts out a newsletter called Jeffries Journal with highlights in a section called Kevin's Corner. This is where he alerts his constituents to various issues that he finds particularly noteworthy. 

If you aren't signed up for it, and you care about what is going on with your elected officials, visit the this webpage and do so: LINK.

You can either get the full version from the website, or just the key portions sent to your email.
 

Link to the April 2017, 8 page newsletter

I mention this newsletter to you for a couple of reasons. 

First, it's good to know that such a thing exists and how to get on the email blast list.

Second, in his latest newsletter he discusses the county budget. 

Budget Cuts. 

If you have been following the county financial picture, you know that our county budget is in pretty serious trouble.  Our criminal justice system (Sheriff, jails, District Attorney, Public Defender, Probation) are all facing increased workloads, increasing expenses, a new flux of low-level offenders NOT being sent to state prisons anymore, and of course limited tax dollars to pay for it all. Next year we will be opening a new county jail in the Coachella Valley, and that comes with a very hefty multi-million dollar price tag to staff it. Our County Fire Department (staffed by state firefighters) is also going to incur a $22 million dollar annual increase because of pay increases granted by the state.  Add to that some significant new budget threats from Sacramento, and it is pretty much the perfect financial storm.

This has been coming for awhile, but the part I really wanted to share with the people of Wildomar is his following paragraph (I'll emphasize the key parts in bold).

For those of you who live in our unincorporated communities (outside city boundaries), the county budget cuts could impact you much more severely (Sheriff, Fire, Code, Animal Services – just to name a few).  My calls to immediately start cutting non-essential unnecessary spending a year ago was dismissed as foolish and spreading panic at the time. While we would still be facing cuts today, had we actually started scaling back our spending and hirings a year ago – I believe we would be a little better off today.

It's hard to believe that there are still people in this town that pine for a chance at returning to the county's tutalege, but it's true. 

For as much as the high hopes that Wildomar cityhood promised — haven't materialized, had we stayed part of the county, our lives wouldn't have been better. According to Supervisor Jeffries, those in the county could be feeling the pinch more than the rest.

Let the pro county spin begin anew.

Contact info for Supervisor Kevin Jeffries

District 1 webpage

Personal Webpage

16275 Grand Avenue, Lake Elsinore, CA 92530 

Phone: 951-471-4500

4080 Lemon St., Riverside, CA 92502-1527 

Phone: 951-955-1010 

Also in the latest Jeffries Journal was a flyer for
the Water Safety 5K that will be at Marna O'Brien Park.

•          •          •

I like long walks, especially when they're taken by people who annoy me.

— Fred Allen, 1894-1956

Wildomar Rap hasn't stopped walking in years.