• More Legal Wrangling, City On Sidelines This Time

"Wildomar Project Opponents Must Abide by Their Agreement and Cease Litigation Threats," Developer Sunbelt Communities Says in Lawsuit.

Some people, when they're no longer punching a clock, decide to pick up one hobby or another.

Jigsaw puzzles, crocheting, book clubs, traveling, mentoring, suing their local municipalities —or local developers— costing the residents of their towns many thousands of dollars in legal fees and staff costs, or future homeowners many thousands of dollars in needless costs hidden in the price.

Wildomar has several such accomplished geriatric litigants. They often make up cutesy names to take the brunt of the flak. Names like Alliance for Intelligent Planning (AIP pronounced APE) or Citizens for Quality Development.

Back in October it was reported that the city paid out $120,000 to the group that includes former Wildomar city council member Cheryl Ade, a person that still holds the sole distinction of being the only council member to be voted out of office in Wildomar. (Link to the blog about it) 

That group has also had Gary Andre in it (he may still be in it, but it's hard to keep track of shadowy circles like that.) Suffice to say, if you'd like to play connect the dots I'll be happy to toss some dots out there for you.

• Gary Andre runs for city council in 2014 and claims to be indigent so as to avoid the filing fees, which he later pays anyway the next week.
• Gary Andre is a member of AIP as described by the Press Enterprise "Andre’s group Alliance for Intelligent Planning".
• Alliance for Intelligent Planning gets $120K payout in October 2015.
• Gary Andre, the man that filed as indigent the year before, shows up to a council meeting in a brand new, $27,000 Kia. Complete with a leather bra. (not him, the car)

Interesting dots, not sure if they connect or not, but I'll let the individual do their own sleuthing.

So why is this topical? Because he's part of another group... the one mentioned above: Citizens for Quality Development (better known as Crud).

That group has been trying to derail the 275-home Oak Creek Canyon residential housing project, which is just west of The Farm on Bundy Canyon Rd.

This project was the big news right before I started going to the city council meetings back in 2013. I didn't get to see a lot of the action as it unfolded. Yet, back in November of 2014, there was a settlement agreement between the developer and opponents of the approved 275-home Oak Creek Canyon residential housing project in Wildomar.

However, when you're dealing with Gary Andre things never go smoothly. There's always a hitch. If he's got your phone number he'll be calling you half a dozen times a day.

True to form, at the February 2015 planning commission meeting he showed up with another laundry list of demands (Click this link to the blog covering it).

Today Sunbelt Communities issued a press release. Here's an excerpt.

Sunbelt Communities said it had no choice but to ask the California Superior Court to set aside requests by a group calling itself Citizens for Quality Development for inordinate additional soil testing in and around the development site. Sunbelt has already accommodated numerous requests from the opponents for project changes, including a payment of $60,000 to their lawyers.

link to full press release.

“The motives behind the call for more unnecessary testing are obvious: additional legal fees for the opponents’ attorney, with no additional benefit for prospective homeowners of an already approved project,” said Larry Markham, a spokesperson for Sunbelt Communities. 

“This has become a meaningless exercise spurred on by opponents’ repeated threats of litigation, and we have no choice but to ask the Court to put an end to it,” Markham said.

It's good to see the developers finally standing up to theses mindless lawsuits. Let's hope that the rest of them take a cue here and stop looking to settle with any of them from now on.

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Recently I was referred to as a "sheeple" for "lumping together" all the various lawsuits that are going on in the city. Fine, though drawing that conclusion is akin to a child's crayola drawing being confused with the Mona Lisa.

I have no skin in the game when it comes to development in Wildomar. I have a house and if no more houses were built, it wouldn't affect me (isn't that part of the NIMBY mindset?) I'm not pro developer any more than I'm anti developer. I'm pro sanity, and that is a quality that seems lacking in the Lawsuit Lennys of Wildomar.

I don't come equipped with an agenda, and I think that confuses many people that know me. As long as you're a straight shooter, I can get along with you even if I don't agree with your views. For all that, if you are one of those that loves to repeatedly sue the city, then even if I happen to agree with some of your points I have minimal respect for you. 

It's a shame really, because the right to sue city hall is a terrific privilege that we all enjoy and should guard well. When the system is abused, it gets people looking to curb their own rights just to stem the parade of garbage that gets pushed onto them.

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Oh yeah, you completely disgraced yourself and almost destroyed an entire town!

― April Ludgate, Parks and Rec

Wildomar Rap tip of the day: Sit back and relax, the ride isn't half as bad as you're making it out to be.

• Planning Commission Meeting October 2015

Apartment project vote ends in a deadlock and is sent on to the council to sort out.


2.1 Villa Siena Apartment Project
This is for 170 units on Prielipp Road.

The big questions revolved around a zone change request by the applicant from a density of 5-8 units per acre to 14-20 acres per unit.

What are some of the pros and cons of higher density?

Traditionally, the pros were that apartments were the places that young people would have as their first homes, along with those that couldn't afford to buy, or even rent, a house. Also people that only had temporary plans to be in a given area. Usually not a place that people would set down roots.

The cons include higher volumes of traffic, and uses of emergency services compared to less densely populated areas.

Do the traditional roles still apply to apartments these days? 

When I was first on my own, a one bedroom apartment (really a unit in a triplex) in San Clemente cost $500 a month. A small  house in the same area would easily have been over $750 a month, even if you could find one, and a tract house would easily have been  more than $1000 a month. Therefore, someone that was just starting out in life, their best bet was to rent an apartment.

Fast forward to today in Wildomar and a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 1800sf house in Windsong is being advertised for $1695 per month. On the same website (realtor.com) there is an apartment, in the same area as the proposed project, that is advertised for between $1757-$2096 for a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1215sf apartment for rent.

I'm not sure who is renting apartments at that price. Certainly not the average high school graduate like back in the 1900's.

At least the way it shakes out in Wildomar, apartments are more expensive than houses to rent, and not a solid option for those on the lower end of the economic scale, even if you're generally in favor of such projects.

Does that mean we're supposed to nix all proposed apartment projects that come through the planning department? Seems unreasonable to suggest such a thing.

The area that this is proposed for, will be a bustling area in the next ten years once the MSJC campus goes in, and the Rancon Medical And Education Center. There is also an assisted living area in the works just to the west of this project.

It all comes down to your philosophy of how Wildomar should develop in the years to come. Unless you're a No Appartments, None of the Time type of person, they have to go somewhere in the city. If you look at that area, it's already pretty much developed in a non rural and non tract home way. It's near the Inland Valley hospital and Kaiser Permanente, Southern California Edison, and other large tilt up style commercial buildings near the freeway.

Seems like a natural place for very high density housing, unless you're against all such projects in the first place, considering there is already plenty of VHDR apartments already in that area.

Ok, with all that said, the final vote was a draw. 2-2 with commissioner Gary Brown being absent (hope he's not ailing). Based on the last meeting that this came up in, I'm plunking down my chips that he'd have gone with a "no" vote had he been in attendance.

Thing is, the commission could vote 5-0 on an item and the final decision rests with the council, and they can overturn it. It'll be interesting to see how they deal with this at the November 12th meeting.

"No" votes were from the newest member of the commission John Lloyd and Chairman Veronica Langworthy. The yes votes were from Stan Smith and Dan Bidwell.

Longtime resident out at The Farm, George Taylor, spoke during the public comments section and after he reminded us about the Wildomar being the "high density capital of the world" and the "fast food capital of the world" he made a fair point worth considering.

Apartment dwellers do not put down roots and statistically crime normally goes up in high [density] areas. Changing from 5-8 units per acre to 14-20 certainly doesn't help that cause. When we talked about the traffic study and we talked about the environmental impact —really it's the human impact that is the problem.

— George Taylor

It's going to be interesting to see how that end of town functions ten years from now once it's mostly built out.

2.2 Zoning Ordinance Amendment
This was in relation to the recent lawsuit that we settled, that cost us $200,000. ($120k to the AIPs attorneys, and $80k for our guys). Nothing more to report on this that wasn't said at the city council meeting but I did want to share commissioner Stan Smiths thoughts on it (click here for a link to that blog and video of the council comments).

Personally I think it's a travesty on the part of this Alliance. We have individuals that come in here, and pretend that they're friends of the city, and they turn around and sue. It's really all about money. In my opinion they're not interested in what happens in, or benefits Wildomar.

— Planning Commissioner Stan Smith

3.0 Election of a New Vice-Chairman
This is to fill only a few more weeks when they'll be electing a new chairman and vice chairman in December. Though there was a tongue in cheek move to place absent commissioner Gary Brown into that spot, Dan Bidwell was happy to take the post for the remaining duration of the term.

Before the meeting began, new commissioner John Lloyd had already been sworn in. I was hoping to get a pic of it in real time, but scheduling made that impossible.

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"Some people see the world as it is and ask why. I see the world as it could be and ask where will they all park." ― George Bernard Shaw

Wildomar Rap is ready to wash windows, the car, plan a day at the beach, or whatever it takes to dare the rains to come. We're all Summered out for 2015.

• Notes From the City Council Meeting September 10, 2014

Where to Start... how about at the beginning?

I got to the meeting about a half an hour before kickoff and saw Candidate Gary Andre chatting outside the back entrance with Les Chapman. I went up and joined the chat. I thought that Andre was there to attend the meeting... you know, because he's running to be part of the council and all... but I was wrong. He was there representing his homies, the AIPs (pronounced like the primate —APEs) with what's known as a "document dump".

The APES have spoken.

It seems that the Alliance for Irrepressive Pompous asses (I'm pretty sure that's what AIP stands for) threatened more legal action against the city, and since Candidate Andre still actually lives within our city, he drew the short straw to deliver it —last minute style per usual.

Actually, if it weren't for the APEs, and Miss Miller, this would have been a much shorter meeting, and I'd be telling you about the proposed widening of Bundy Canyon. Very exciting proposition, that every sane person in the area would be completely for.

I'd also be telling you about the Freedom Swing getting final approval with a ribbon cutting ceremony set for Saturday September 27th... and how the much maligned PV Maintenance (Needlessly castigated by Captain Caveman Zak) is donating the cost of installation of the swing.

Maybe I'd tell you about the fact that Ben Benoit and City Manager Gary Nordquist were asked to come to Sacramento by the governor's staff Friday (do I need to remind you about SB 69 and that we have been cheated out of what every other city gets?) I'm hoping they aren't asking our team to make the trip just so that they can extend their hand, then quickly withdraw while saying "Psych!"

The limp fish handshake is almost as bad as the psych version.

I'd be telling you about the slurry project that is coming to Windsong Valley later this month, or the new sidewalk coming to George Avenue. 

I could tell you about the Proclamation —Adult Literacy Awareness Month (September 2014) made by the council, and that we all met the new librarian for the Wildomar Library. She reminded us that she has a couple of more semesters until she can officially be called a librarian... thank goodness for bureaucratic red tape.

I could elaborate on how Bob Cashman didn't "get it" again when it comes to zoning and California law. In agenda item 1.11 and 1.12 he seems to want to continually rehash the whole MUPA (Mixed Use Planning Area) overlay scheme that all cities have to stomach. After seeing him do this several times, I'm nearly convinced that he is grandstanding for someone. Who, I can't even imagine.

But instead, most of the meeting was eaten up by lawsuit threats and Miss Miller doing her Vaudeville act —six times no less. I get it, they don't have lives, and they find it great sport to waste everyone's time, and the city's money, with their gags. Too bad they don't stick to things like hand buzzers, exploding cigars, whoopee cushions and squirting flowers like other oafs in their strata do.

Property of the Alliance.

The following video is of the city council discussing agenda item 3.2 Bundy Canyon Road Improvement Project Final EIR.



In this video you'll hear Mayor Pro-Tem Ben Benoit discussing part of APE's problem with this project. Imagine it if you will, Gary Andre, and his out of town scabs, suggesting that this project be put off... or even cancelled altogether.

A project that was supposed to begin in 2008 —until the economy collapsed.

If that isn't comedy gold all by its lonesome, they are claiming that parts of the EIR, that are a whopping 4 years old, are TOO OLD to use. This is the same group that clings to an over sized scrapbook that a few people worked on before we were a city... and claim that we need to stick to the plans they made for us back then.

Ideas that some well intentioned citizens cobbled together can be timeless in their view, and above revision, but a professional EIR has a shorter shelf life than DeJong's chocolate milk in their world. I get it... they are slapstick clowns of the first order... too bad they are so incredibly tone deaf as to not get the message that NO ONE is entertained with their bucket of confetti level antics.

I like the way that Council Member Tim Walker didn't pull any punches when discussing the APEs. In the above video, his comments begin at the 10:30 mark. He talks about threatened lawsuits and document dumping while calling Gary Andre out by name.

Gary Andre Picks Up Key Endorsement

Candidate Andre had a banner night. First the Docu-Dump, next being mentioned —by name— from the dais multiple times, and then he picked up Miss Miller's endorsement. She spoke for more than 15 minutes cumulatively (just one song tonight).

I posted a video of her telling you who to vote for.

She did manage to mispronounce both Melissa Melendez's name along with that of Gary Andre. From now on, out of respect for Miss Miller's preferred pronunciation, his name is Gary Adee... as you'll see in my mock campaign ad. The second half of the video shows how far gone she is.

Sorry, but unless you are also a resident of Backward Land or Upside Down World, you pretty much can assume that anyone she is endorsing has something seriously wrong with them somewhere down the line.

Lastly, I finally got to meet Candidate Israel Leija. He looked a bit like a fish out of water. First time at a city council meeting and all... I hope to see him at the candidate's forum, though I was hearing he may not get out of work in time to attend it. I guess we'll see.

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Shake. Shake. Shake your sillies out.

He who has a thousand friends hasn't one to spare. While he who has a single foe shall meet him everywhere. Ralph Waldo Emerson's ghost loves Wildomar Rap.