• Community Meeting

A lively community meeting was held at the multipurpose room at Sycamore Academy. 

The topic was the proposed development of 163 single family condos at the city line between Wildomar and Murrieta where Washington curves into Palomar.

In the graphic above you can see the project in question, another project to the west that is slated to encircle the SDA church, along with the proposed 3-way stop sign where Palomar will meet up with Jefferson (the orange circle). Eventually the sign would be a signal.

This had been discussed at the social media site called Nextdoor. I had jokingly tossed it out there that if I were to make a betting line on how many people were going to show up, I'd place the over/under at 7 people.

Was I ever wrong. 

I counted 43 people, though most appeared to be residents of Murrieta. In addition to the audience members, there were also about 6 members of the developer's team. The key members of that were Larry Markham and property owner Bill Lo.

Before the meeting started people were looking at several exhibits.

This is still in the early stages so there's no point into getting into the proposed details of the project beyond 163 units. This will be coming to the planning commission next week.

What I can tell you is that this meeting was attended by many concerned people that weren't ready to have that many town homes so close to their neighborhood.

Developer Bill Lo listens patiently to resident Pete Kee as Larry Markham looks on.

At times the meeting was a little out of order where people were talking over each other, other times there were four to five people trying to talk at once. 

Hey folks, I'm about a mile and a half from this project, and so it won't really be affecting me. But if you can stomach a nickle's worth of free advice allow me to suggest that you get your ducks in a row and leave the emotion, comedy and pot shots from the crowd at home if you want to be taken seriously.

The homes that are in the area directly adjacent to the project were built back in the 20th century, and the original concept was that a similar track of single family homes would go where Camelia is slated to go.

Yes, things change, but that doesn't mean the locals are going to be happy about it. I'm sure if such a situation were being proposed a few feet from me I'd be right there rattling the saber of legal action too.

The thing is, though this is higher density housing than what's near it, it's not a bunch of apartments. The price point for these is starting over $300K.

No matter how you slice it, that is NOT low income housing. 

This is the very type of project that is needed in the city of Wildomar. I have no position here, but if you're against it, you're going to have to come with something more than what smacks of nimbyism and class warfare.

One thing that I was detecting was an air of superiority from the Murrietans. If you expect your grievances to be taken seriously by the officials in Wildomar, you'd better stow that garbage post haste.

Over the din I heard one man say:

We'd prefer not to have any project, but if we were to have one it would be rural residential.

The next planning commission meeting looks to be a lively affair indeed.

Oh, I almost forgot two things I thought were worth mentioning. 

First was the complaint by some that attended about the notices for the project/meeting being addressed only to the women.

I doubt that is true, and Larry Markham said as much when he told the crowd that the mailing addresses came directly from the tax rolls. Still, what difference does it make if it was sent to the womenfolk?

I guess the rest of the assembled didn't hear it the way I did, but that only told me how little the men that complained thought of their wives. 

One guy said something like, "You sent the notices to the women and they're just going to throw it out like it's junk mail." (Insinuating that it was a ploy on the part of the developers hoping that it would go unheeded).

Not sure what kind of women are in Murrieta, but them is fightin' words in W'mar.

Lastly, why do people go out of their way to attend an important community meeting, just to proceed with loud private conversations among themselves?

By talking to the person in the next seat while the presenter is talking means you aren't hearing what you ostensibly came to learn. Plus it means you're distracting those near you. 

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We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.

– Epictetus 55-135 AD



Wildomar Rap tip of the day:
In public settings, where decorum is a must, tape your mouth shut if you don't have sufficient self control to accomplish the task unaided.