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The meeting began with a couple of proclamations (an Eagle Scout and Donate Life), an introduction of the new Fire Chief, Robert Fish, and Wildomar Battalion Chief, Shawn Burris, followed by a League of California Cities (Cal Cities) update from the Riverside County division Public Affairs Manager, Jesse Ramirez. (See meeting video at bottom of blog for full details)
There were three big takeaways from the meeting.
1) Wildomar Elementary's Stella's public comment
She spoke about the things she likes about Wildomar and Wildomar Elementary School, and then spoke about the desire to see a Wildomar Museum come to town.
Hey Historical Society, I think she's speaking your language.
2) Community Development Update
I highlighted many of the slides from this presentation in a preview blog for this meeting. It was a somewhat shorter part of the meeting than I'd anticipated.
The presentation was about 6 minutes, and the question and answer portion was about another 6 minutes.
I had questions regarding Walmart, Tres Lagos, and Camelia Townhomes.
Let's Go Down The List
1) Walmart
Community Development Director Robert Flores went over entitlements (see video below for full exchange. Q&A begins at the 6:10 mark).
"Entitlements are usually issued by the city and the property owner... through the entitlement that they receive, they have the ability, if the entitlement has not expired or if they meet all the conditions of approval, and they build the project in accordance with what was approved... they have the ability to build the project as approved. Unless the city revokes the permit for some reason" [
Everyone at City Hall has been watching the responses on Facebook. Personally, I've answered many different comments on Facebook, and some through email or in person meetings.
The facts since 2015 have always been that the project is a done deal.
One that I supported then and that I support now
When I announced that Walmart was going to finally get off its derriere and use its entitlements, I was somewhat taken aback by the comments.
To keep things in perspective: The approval vote was done back when today's high school seniors were still preschoolers.
The video below is from February 2015. This is the council discussion before the Walmart vote. It has 32 views over all that time.
I'm one who always gives the residents the straight answers as I know them. That seems to rankle some. They think I'm not nice enough (or something).
I'm very nice, but I'm not going to lie to you, and I have very little patience with grown adults who push misinformation, needlessly upsetting the community on social media.
It's an election year and I could play it safe, or I could be the type of elected official you want representing you.
The one who asks questions, gets answers, and tells it to you straight... even when the answers aren't what you want to hear.
2) Camelia Townhomes (163 attached condos)
The key for the community here is when the road work will be done. When it's complete, Palomar will connect to Jefferson and Washington will T into Palomar at a traffic signal.
No dates as to when that will occur, but it will be before Camelia is granted rights of occupancy.
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| This is an image I used back in 2017. The orange circle is the location of the future T intersection. Most of the homes on the left side of the image have been built as of 2026. |
3) Tres Lagos phase 3
I asked if there was going to be any further road improvements (to Catt) and though the answer was 'no', the road is already being fixed.
Though I'd have liked to have seen that done by the developer, we all know about the special status of these types of SB35 projects that can, essentially, do anything they want with no requirements for approval that every other development would face. The bad part of Catt Rd is being redone as I'm typing.
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| Ok, I mean the "really bad part" from where Tres Lagos ends and the stop sign at Hidden Springs. |
Rough grading has occurred, and they're looking for permit for precise grading at this point. It sounds as if the developers are still looking for funding before they can start building phase 3.
I inquired about their perimeter wall and if they'll get it in before the next rainy season. The usual order of things starts with perimeter walls going up before the rest of the construction, but there are no timetables at this point.
3) Wildomar Cemetery Master Plan Update: Veterans and First Responders Memorial Stakeholder Engagement Workshop
This took up the lion's share of the three-hour meeting.
It began with a brief presentation and then the original idea was to leave the dais for the workshop before getting into deeper opinions.
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| Here is the location of all the cemetery land. Pay no attention to one of those street names. |
I try to stay away from quoting my colleagues for obvious reasons, so I'll just sum up what I got from this part of the meeting and suggest that you watch this item on the video if you'd like details.
In short, all five members of the city council are interested in having an official Veterans Memorial, but the level of enthusiasm for it being part of the cemetery (currently in the gravel parking lot of the ball fields to the east), varied greatly.
Cities can have more than one such memorial in town, and though one at the cemetery isn't a bad idea, I'd rather have "The Veterans Memorial" in a high traffic area.
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| I'm not sanguine about either option. |
I've been to these workshops many times in the past. Both as a general member of the public and a city councilman, and I can say with a high degree of confidence after participating in the workshop that NOTHING is going to happen anytime soon.
I'd be stunned if something demonstrative happened in less than five years... even ten, for that matter.
(For the record, I left my Cheerios at home. Inside joke you'll understand if you watch the video)
If you're going to watch the complete video, the item begins at the 1:35:00 mark of the video below.
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