• Community Meeting 20 Acre Park Near Anne Sullivan

Brief recap of the recent community meeting regarding the recently acquired 20-acre parkland that is south and east of Anne Sullivan Preschool.

IF YOU'RE A MEMBER OF THE WILDOMAR CITY COUNCIL, THE BROWN ACT DEMANDS YOU CLICK OUT NOW. SORRY, IT'S THE LAW.

I don't know how to say this without sounding corny, so I'll just risk coming off as a cornball anyway. (lol)

Last night's meeting made me very proud to be a member of this community. 

It had pertinent and thorough information from the presenters, important and compelling questions from the participants, passion and compassion from the attendees, along with good decorum overall... people let people speak, even without the aid of a microphone, and staff listened and took notes. 

There was hardly any shushing at all 😄

To sum it up, I saw a lot of respect for the process and the individuals that make up our community of Wildomar.

Thank you to the lovely and gracious staff of Anne Sullivan Preschool for their kindness and hospitality in hosting this important and timely community meeting.

I streamed the meeting online from my city council Facebook page. (links below)

There was a hitch when I thought that it wasn't recording sound and I switched phones. That created a gap of about a minute between the two segments of video... which lasted for a total of two hours. It's amazing that my phone still had 24% at the end of it. 

As the elected representative of this area, I had two key takeaways

First, the proposed park entrance off Gierson needs to begin where it's currently a dead end, not at the end of a new turnaround as was seen in the concept drawings. Meaning, that's where the gate needs to be located. 

It would be a problem waiting to happen to push the end of Gierson without a gate that can be locked when the park is closed. 

We can't create a beautiful new park and also create an after-hours hangout and the same time. This is an easy problem to nip in the bud. 

Another concern that I heard was regarding the entrance(s).

In case anyone was wondering, those who live on Gierson, that were in attendance, are PRO park, they're just passionate about doing it right the first time.

Their concerns are potentially having but one entrance for a park that's sure to be popular in a city of 37,000, not to mention those from other parts of the region that would like a mini-version of the Santa Rosa Plateau to enjoy.

The most expedient way to open the park would be to start with the entrance off of Gierson, but, out of fairness for all (the nearby neighbors, and people from other parts of the city), both entrances need to come online at the same time.

We can be creative if need be, I have confidence in our staff to figure this out.

There were many good points made about issues regarding this and other future parks throughout the city. The thing we need to remember is that parks cost a lot of money to create. Even basic, passive parks, like the one we're speaking of here. 

Wildomar has had two completely-designed parks already approved that have been waiting for funding for many years now. 

One is a 27-acre park near Ronald Reagan Elementary, and the other is an 11-acre park near David A Brown Middle School. 

The vacant property to the south of DABMS

The vacant property to the south of DABMS

link to a page on the city website with further information about the 11-acre sportspark. LINK

The vacant property that wraps around RRE

link to a page on the city website with further information about the 11-acre LINK 

Below are the links to the live stream videos. 

I apologize if you don't have Facebook, but that was the only way I knew to be able to livestream the meeting.

Last thing, how to pay for it? 

Toward the end of the meeting, it was suggested to review item 3.2 from the December 2023 city council meeting to see various ways to fund the parks, in whole or in part.

Here's a link to the item from the December 2023 meeting going over different options to fund the parks. If this issue is important to you, even if that means you're against it, please take the time to get the information firsthand by watching it.

I'm still learning how to embed the new video format that the city has, so please follow the link... it's really easy.

Once you're on the page scroll to item 3.2 City of Wildomar New Parks Improvement Options and click it.

Link to city page with video of December 2023 meeting video

There will be a parks subcommittee meeting and a city council meeting where this will be discussed and further shaped. It's not too late for you to send in your views, either pro or con, to the city. 

Use this email and ask that it also be forwarded to the subcommittee members. 

wildomarpw@cityofwildomar.org

If you'd like to chat about city matters, let's set something up. Email is the best way to begin.

jmorabito@cityofwildomar.org