• City Council Meeting September 2021

To avoid turning this into one of my endless screeds that don't move the needle a blip, allow me to truncate an otherwise long and laborious blog into something more manageable (you're thinking... yeah, I've heard that promise before 🙄). 

I have a couple of points that I hope to get across with this blog

Before I begin, for those that may not be sure, Wildomar Rap is written by Wildomar Third District City Councilman, Joseph Morabito.

The first is that I wasn't elected to lie to you. I campaigned on getting you the answers, even if the answers aren't to your liking.

The empty field on the southwest corner of Wildomar Trail and the freeway was ALWAYS going to be developed. 

It was only a matter of time

It was always going to come with changes in what we'd experienced. Especially those of us that live closest to it. It was always going to come with different sights, sounds and traffic patterns.

If you want the details on the project, please follow the keywords at the bottom of the blog.

A different kind of map of the project that basically shows the buildings over a google earth image. 

Of all the realistic things that could have been heading to that plot of that land, what was approved on September 8th is very acceptable. 

Is it ideal or perfect? Far from it. 

But if you were listening to the meeting you heard the bottom line that if this deal didn't go in, it would then open it up to SB35 and that nightmare. 

Instead of 109 FOR SALE attached homes, known as condos or townhomes, there could have been over 400 low income apartments there. Think about that.

This is the time that I'll bring in Jody Reed again. 

For those of you that don't know, Jody Reed was a baseball player that spent a season with the Dodgers in 1993. He was a decent player, but also one that could easily be replaced. 

He was offered a pretty good deal from the Dodgers, but he thought he was worth more, and turned his nose up at the deal. 

I bet a day doesn't go by that he doesn't rue that decision.

In the end, like the dog that saw his own reflection in one of Aesop's fables where it ended up with nothing after it let go of what it had, in vain attempts at getting something that he thought was better... Jody Reed nearly lost it all on his gamble.

As much as I would have liked to have pressed the developer, and staff, for more complete answers on some questions, in the end, Wildomar avoided being set up for a real chance at another bite of the poisoned apple known as SB35 —and the hundreds of more units in that same area. Let's count our blessings as we curse Sacramento's overreach into every aspect of our lives. Or, be mad at the planning commission and the city council for allowing another bit of freeway frontage to developed by its owner. You choose.

The only other point(s) I want to make is that I wear it as a badge of honor that the developer said, "I take offense to several people including Councilman Morabito saying 'oh, it will never be built.'" 

I wasn't allowed to be part of the discussion because of living so close to the property. I'd love to talk about how that's a stupid state law, but that is something that our state is good at: stupid laws. 

However, I did have a chance to speak before the council, and I made a few graphics that were used while I was speaking too.

I wasn't able to get to all my points, I ran out of time. 

What can I say about that? 

Let me put it this way. I would have done things differently if I had been running the meeting... but I'm sort of an outlier to begin with. I know that I take a different approach.

Still, all five of us care about Wildomar, and have its best interests as our focus. It just manifests itself differently from member to member. 

That said, I would have turned up the heat when the applicant started... how shall we say it politely... misremembering many key facts?

I was glad to see Wildomar's Planning Director finally get fed up and call him out on some of it. 

Had I been at the dais, he would have had a helluva lot more to be "offended" by since fair questions and reasonable skepticism appear to find its way under his skin with such deftness and aplomb. 

I would have pushed on the parking issue where he said "the project is over-parked". 

I'm not sure what that term means, but for that to sound correct, it seems like it would need to be more cars than spaces to accommodate them... right?

What I believe he was stating was that there are MORE spaces than required.

Hold on a sec

As it happens, the council will be looking at revising the parking standards for such developments in the coming months.

Ask yourself, do you think the council will be looking to LOWER the minimum number of parking spaces, or to be raising the number? 

If you said "raising"? Give yourself a gold foil star.

The facts are, city standards call for a minimum number of spaces as 294 at that site (of which 218 of those are from counting two spots from each two car garage), and only 76 "open air" spaces that are also termed as "guest spots".

The lack of adequate parking will affect this portion of Windsong Valley. It's math. Don't be mad at math.

Speaking of Math, let's do some

The project documents asked for 294 parking spaces in total.

The minimum (dare I say bare minimum?) is 294, and you offer to put in 294... explain again how that's "overparked"? 

Sorry little dude, but that's about the worst Jedi Mind Trick ever attempted outside of the time I got over on my little brother for 75 cents when he took a rigged bet on a Rams game that was tape delayed back in 1980. I bet I owe him at least five bucks after all the interest that has accrued. 

"There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, 'Fool me once, shame on... shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again." George W. Bush

I asked the council, "How many of you park a car in your driveway?"

Knowing full well that it is common practice for homeowners to park in their driveway and make the garage into another room or for storage. 

Uh oh, there are no driveways in the condo complex.

There will be issues with parking, and the man selling the project was offended because the public pointed it out. 

"You don't know me" was his retort.

True, I don't know you. My sincerest and most heartfelt apologies if I mistakenly indicated otherwise, but I do know the project on Bundy Canyon that didn't move forward. Last I checked that was yours. 

I was basing my disbelief that four phases will be done in under ten years based on things I've seen, and statements at the planning commission meeting. 

Maybe I'm like a blind man describing an elephant, suggesting that it is like a snake because I could only feel the trunk? (I only know of him for the stunted development on Bundy Canyon)

I'm more than happy to be proven wrong. Start with fixing your beat up perimeter fence to demonstrate good will, that would be a welcomed gesture that the entire city, and your future customers, would appreciate.

In other words, if you don't want to be taken for a duck, stop quacking.

If he's on the fast track, there won't be any visible movement there until early 2023. These things unwind slowly, then all at once. 

That's it, end of blog. 

Wait, false alarm... I'm pretty tired of people saying that they had no idea something was happening in town. If you're reading this, you have the internet. If you have the internet, then you can easily sign up for the city's emails. 

This isn't like when we were growing up and maybe you might read something in the local paper long after it happened. There are multiple sources, FREE SOURCES, where you can stay up to date on nearly everything going on here.

And that's before tapping into one of the council members for a one on one conversation... which I know that all five of us would be happy to have with you.

If you care enough to kvetch about things on Facebook, then please also care enough to sign up for city emails.

Now I'm done. 

Click this link to sign up for city emails

Watch the video below for the whole meeting, which did include a few other items.

•                •                •

Judge of a man by his questions rather than by his answers.

– Voltaire

Wildomar Rap reserves the right to judge answers too, as should you, but the first point is pretty solid too. 

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