• Spring Meadows Ranch

 

The Kazman Resigns.

I’ve been to three planning commission meetings and I haven’t heard Kenny Rogers’ double, Michael Kazmier, ever say a word. So, though his chair was empty tonight, I didn’t really notice a difference. 

Let’s hope his replacement is a little more vocal. 

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The big topic of the night was the proposed 

Spring Meadows Ranch 

development. 

Shapouri & Associates got up there and did their best imitation of the Twilight Zone episode One For The Angels where the old pitchman cheated death by selling him anything it took to keep his attention.

I was seriously dazzled by this guy... I'm just glad I left my wallet at home, he could have sold me anything... and I'd have gladly paid double.

That will be eleventy billion dollars please

The place has everything. In addition to the houses, there's the community center, a ball field, seven miles of trails, the neighborhood shopping area, 

and don't forget the 

equestrian center. 

The question of public services came up and the salesman… I mean spokesman was quick with:

“We have plenty of land. If we need a fire station or a school, we can do that, tell us what you need and we'll see what we can do.”

(My Dictaphone was broken, so you’ll just have to settle for my paraphrasing) 

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

If that wasn’t enough to convince you, this will reel you in for sure.  He uttered the immortal, 

“I want The Farm residents to use our parks and amenities.”

Thankfully my inner dialog  volume control was functioning properly or everyone would have heard me guffaw like no other. This project is going to have homes that start at $350K to $400K and he thinks his new residents are going to welcome the humble folks from The Farm??? 

 Hardy Har Har! 

Some of my other favorite quotes of his included:

•“I’ll show you the detail… if we get that far.”

•“[For the egress and ingress] from Baxter it would be easier to tunnel”

•“[There’s a] tremendous amount of time to do this.”

•“I’m not saying, “Trust me,” I’m saying, “work with me.””

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

There were six speakers from the public.

Ken Mayes:

He was talking about “Tried and Failed” approaches of the past, dating back to the railroad days.

Miss Miller:

I love this woman. She is pound for pound the most entertaining person I’ve seen give a dramatic performance at city meetings. Someone get her an Oscar already.

George Taylor:

Speaking as a private resident from the farm, he made it clear that he doesn’t want any part of the project… and he doesn’t want them using his roads. 

Rocky Jackson:

President of The Farm HOA, I found him to be pretty reasonable. He said “[I’m] not necessarily ‘against it’”, and even reached out saying he’s interested in working with the developer.

Sheryl Ade:

She was the hot sun that made the developer’s ice cream melt all over his hands. 

He went from a smile to a blank stare while she delivered point after point about the various times the same land had been suggested for previous projects that never got off the ground. 

Her quote of the night was, “You can’t afford this project… unless you want to lose money [speaking of the expensive infrastructure]. I’ve never met a developer that wants to lose money” 

Harv Dykstra:

Was asking about several neighboring developments that are nice, “Why isn’t that in Wildomar?” That he liked the basic idea of it, but the ingress and the egress issues need to be designed to benefit Wildomar first. The way things stand, most of the traffic would lead the residents into Murrieta or Menifee and that’s where many would end up with default shopping destinations.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

There were other issues concerning the project, but mostly the ingress and the egress issues. The place looks bigger than Windsong and there are currently only two proposed ways in or out… unless they sign a peace treaty with The Farm that is… but it was clear that the residents there aren’t overly keen on that... and I'm thinking the jest of the tunnel to Baxter was just that.

As for me, I take Harv's POV here. Why can't we have nice things in Wildomar? Sorry, but I don't want to look like Lakeland Village, and I'd like to live in such a development as this. It's not a question of whether it's "nice" or not. It's a question of logistics, and can it be done feasibly and will the infrastructure actually get put in, and not cost the rest of us a penny more than we already pay?

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The vote was 4-0 recommendation to the council.

In the end, the meeting was really only,

as the developer’s spokesman said, 

“The first step in a thousand mile journey.”

Sounds like one tedious trek he has in store for himself.