• Planning Commission Meeting October 2018

Though Cannabis was on the agenda, the real topic of the night was the reincarnation of Spring Meadows Ranch as Wildomar Meadows, adjacent to The Farm. 

A proposed development that has up to 2000 dwellings as of the October 2018 Planning Commission meeting. 

(Jump to the 2:30 mark in the video) 

The blue star indicates the location of Wildomar Meadows.

But before we jump into high gear here, this was just a GPIP (General Plan Initiation Proposal). Long ago I came up with a four panel cartoon that attempts to explain what a GPIP is in actuality. 

The way I read it, a General Plan Amendment is where an applicant asks the city to change the General Plan to accommodate their project (the answer will either be a 'yes' or a 'no'). A GPIP is where an applicant asks the city -if they can ask the city- to change the General Plan to accommodate their project.

The idea seems to be to get a sense of the city's thoughts on a proposal (both the planning commission and the city council) before jumping in with both feet and going through an expensive and lengthy ordeal to then get shot down a year or two into the process.

This graphic was from the PowerPoint, please excuse the light reflections.

From the Agenda Packet
DESCRIPTION: The Applicant, Erik Lunde (Wildomar Meadows, LLC) has submitted a GPIP application as part of a proposed/future 792-acre Specific Plan (SP) project. 

The project site is located within the Farm Specific Plan (eastern portion) and is part of Planning Area Nos. 11 – 16. The proposed general plan amendment would change the existing land use designations for the entire project area. 

The current land use designations are as follows: 
     • Estate Density Residential (EDR) – 409 acres; 
     • Very Low Density Residential (VLDR) – 97.4 acres; 
     • Low Density Residential (LDR) – 123.5 acres; 
     • Medium Density Residential (MDR) – 130.5 acres; 
     • Open Space-Recreation (OS-R) – 4.8 acres; 
     • Rural Mountainous (RM) – 26.7 acres; and 

The new land use designations needed to accommodate the specific plan would consist of the following: 
     • Medium Density Residential (MDR) – 234.3 acres; 
     • Medium High Density Residential (MHDR) – 189.7 acres; 
     • Open Space-Conservation Habitat (OS-CH) – 169.1 acres;  
     • Open Space-Recreation (OS-R) – 162.0 acres; and 
     • Open Space-Water (OS-W) – 13.5 acres. 

The developer's representative, Joel Morse, spoke to the commission. He made it clear that this project is at the earliest of stages and that what he'd like to hear from the commission (and later on, the council) is, "Yes, go and explore this further." (Jump to 8:10 mark of video)

There were four public comments 
• George Taylor had borrowed minutes and when he was finished the sizable audience applauded. He made it clear that he wasn't opposed to the project, but wanted to make sure that the concerns of The Farm community were respected along the way. (Jump to 16:00 mark of video)

Wildomar Rap side note

It was nice to see Planning Commission Chair John Lloyd allow George Taylor to finish his prepared statement, even though it went over time by more than 45 seconds. This is a good practice if the speaker isn't rambling, vamping or filibustering.

The next speaker was Planning Commissioner Michele Thomas, who had recused herself from the item and sat in the audience as a resident of Wildomar and The Farm.

• Michele Thomas spoke as a private citizen, supports proposed access to Clinton Keith from Sunset. Concerned about water supplies and waste water. Wants to the project to go through considerable modifications before being approved.
• Ken Mayes touched on the discussed "new fire station" that the applicant mentioned, the proposed southern ingress/egress and the 42 acre park that is currently in the center of the project.

Wildomar Rap opinion time

I was curious about the park too. Is it just going to be a private park, or will it be a city park? It's not as if most people from the west side of Wildomar would use it, but I'd like to know what the thinking is. 

• Bree Plageman was concerned about additional traffic in The Farm community.

The light blue line shows the current route needed to get from The Farm to Ronald Reagan Elementary and the hospital. The green line shows the proposed route that would reduce travel time to many key areas of the city.

As I said at the top of this item, there's no point in getting deep into something that has no real details at this point. The applicant seemed very willing to work with The Farm residents and staff to make this a project everyone could be pleased with.

What I noted was that there was no dedicated areas for retail. 

The project is massive and somewhat landlocked yet they don't have a shopping center with a market and other basic amenities? 

Link to 2013 blog covering Spring Meadows Ranch

The last time this came around in 2013, there were plans for a small retail area. I'd hope that something akin to that would be part of any massive project such as this. 

•                •                •

Item 2.1 Zoning Ordinance Amendment
This dealt with the prohibition of all things cannabis in the commercial realm. (part of the blame goes to the county for the slow movement on this item)

Back in Spring the council opted to wait for the County's lead on the matter. It was assumed that decisions would have been made by July or August, but the County is still mulling it over. 

"Before you is a code amendment to prohibit all things cannabis. This was a direction given by city council at its last council meeting. The current moratorium ends in December, so this code amendment is needed. [...] Council will be talking about this particular item next year and provide additional direction to staff to either continue with the prohibition or come up with some type of regulations."

—Matt Bassi Planning Director

There were no speakers on this item, but Chair John Lloyd asked, "If we don't pass something, it reverts back to the state standard?" 

To which Assistant City Attorney Erica Vega replied, "Correct."

Planning Director Bassi added, "It leaves us (Wildomar) open to all sorts of issues we don't want to deal with."

Chair Lloyd continued, "I understand that the Mayor and several others are working towards trying to identify if there's a process, but mostly they're relying on the county, and the county is expending tremendous funds and resources trying to research this."

(This item begins at the 50:00 mark of the video)

There were two other items on the agenda, both were requests for EOTs (Extension of Time) for projects that were approved before we were a city.

The first was on land located near city hall and the other was at Waite and Cherry. For more details use this link to jump to the 53:45 mark of the video.

•                •                •

Can princes born in palaces be sensible of the misery of those who dwell in cottages?
– Stanislaw Leszczynski

Wildomar Rap wonders the same when it comes to people that have lived on 2+ acre gated estates for 30 years when it comes to understanding life in tract housing.

This blog was produced for viewing on a desktop or a laptop. Though it's been optimized for smartphones, the formatting can look odd on a smartphone or if you get this delivered through email (such as missing video links). Link to proper format.

• Bob Cashman calls it in... again!

The meeting started nearly 10 minutes late trying to hookup a remote for Councilman Bob Cashman. He was on business in Montreal. On the one hand a person might think, “Hey, this guy’s a gamer… he’s on the phone, participating in his duly elected post, though he’s three time zones to the east… what a guy!”

Until you realize that it was on the city’s dime.

You remember, we don’t have many of those in Wildomar —dimes to spare. In our modern age of Skype, and other nearly free forms of dependable communication, our city had to foot the bill —long distance phone bill, so that Bob Cashman could participate the old fashioned way... and in a specially rented room too.

He definitely participated, and he put out his points about the Housing Element in the General Plan Amendment… thing is, call me blind, but I didn’t see why he had to be present at added expense. Things happen, he had to represent his company in a foreign country… people have to miss meetings all the time. I didn't detect any life or death votes on the agenda.

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News Items From the Council Meeting

1)

CDBG (Community Development Block Grants)

A series of speakers looking for block community grants. There were $16K available, and four groups were vying for it... actually according to a UT article they had applied for $60K.

The Assistance League
H.O.P.E. (Helping Our People in Elsinore) 
A local chapter of Habitat for Humanity
Merit Housing 

In the end, the city council allocated the grants this way. $7K for H.O.P.E. $4K for The Assistance League; and $2,500 for the other two groups.  

Read this article in the UT San Diego about the community block grants in Wildomar.

2)

 Spring Meadows Ranch

The council voted 4-1 (Bob Cashman dissenting) to accept the Planning Commission's recommendation on the project. Which namely is that the project, which is only in concept stage at this point, may continue in the process. 

Previous blog on Spring Meadows Ranch

3)

New Mayor for 2014 

By unanimous choice, Marsha Swanson was chosen to hold the title of Mayor next year. By the same vote, Ben Benoit was chosen to be Mayor Pro Tem. He was nominated by Bridgette Moore, and though he was happy for the nomination, thought it might be council member Moore's turn for the post. After a brief discussion, where Bridgette was happy for the post to go to Ben, the first nomination was made official.

______________________________________________________________________________

Some Thoughts On What Went On

  

1) The Farm and Spring Meadows Ranch

If Spring Meadows Ranch becomes a reality, it will be bigger than the Windsong Valley section of town (which means it wouldn't be done being built for 20 years). Its early conceptual drawings show several parks (purportedly Public Parks) an equestrian center, community center and a local shopping area.

I get it, residents of The Farm don’t want their bucolic lifestyle altered, but are you really telling me you want to be cut off from the shopping, and other amenities there, by refusing to allow access to the three roads you have there? 

IMN2BHO People can be pretty shortsighted. 

Still, the biggest issue should be the fact that Bundy Canyon isn’t anywhere close to being able to handle all that additional traffic, and until the ingress and egress issues are resolved, with a modern approach, it should stay as a pie in the sky project.

2) Future Agenda Items

Ben Benoit suggested a couple of Future Agenda items. The ones that I applauded dealt with the city being billed for council members that are out of town  (hint, hint check out the title of this blog for clue as to which one) needing special rooms and long distance calls. 

Also, it seems that one council member (I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count) demanded a hard copy of the agenda. Something that took 3 reams of paper and multiple hours of city staff overtime to prepare it before a plane trip.

 ===========================================

3) Parks Commission

Marsha Swanson added "Parks Commission" to the future agenda. Noting that the current format made it difficult to have direct communication with interested people/groups. It sounds as if the City Council may not be here to suppress the will of the people after all... gorsh dern it! ☺

4)Windsong Park Fence

Also put on the future agenda was the fate of the Windsong Park fence. I've been against the fence remaining. The subject was part of the impetus that got me more involved in the community. I know some would like it to stay (Hi Monty), and we'll see how this unfolds. If you have an opinion this meeting would be key attend. The date hasn't been set yet, nor the location (though it has been suggested to be held at the park itself).

☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺

Last, though it was first... the council meeting started by recognizing the efforts of the local, under 12, girls soccer team that had advanced further than any previous team in Wildomar.

Click to view picture of the team

Click to view image of team at the council meeting

Christmas in Wildomar City Council Chambers      Picture Courtesy of Grace Morabito

• Spring Meadows Ranch

 

The Kazman Resigns.

I’ve been to three planning commission meetings and I haven’t heard Kenny Rogers’ double, Michael Kazmier, ever say a word. So, though his chair was empty tonight, I didn’t really notice a difference. 

Let’s hope his replacement is a little more vocal. 

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The big topic of the night was the proposed 

Spring Meadows Ranch 

development. 

Shapouri & Associates got up there and did their best imitation of the Twilight Zone episode One For The Angels where the old pitchman cheated death by selling him anything it took to keep his attention.

I was seriously dazzled by this guy... I'm just glad I left my wallet at home, he could have sold me anything... and I'd have gladly paid double.

That will be eleventy billion dollars please

The place has everything. In addition to the houses, there's the community center, a ball field, seven miles of trails, the neighborhood shopping area, 

and don't forget the 

equestrian center. 

The question of public services came up and the salesman… I mean spokesman was quick with:

“We have plenty of land. If we need a fire station or a school, we can do that, tell us what you need and we'll see what we can do.”

(My Dictaphone was broken, so you’ll just have to settle for my paraphrasing) 

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

If that wasn’t enough to convince you, this will reel you in for sure.  He uttered the immortal, 

“I want The Farm residents to use our parks and amenities.”

Thankfully my inner dialog  volume control was functioning properly or everyone would have heard me guffaw like no other. This project is going to have homes that start at $350K to $400K and he thinks his new residents are going to welcome the humble folks from The Farm??? 

 Hardy Har Har! 

Some of my other favorite quotes of his included:

•“I’ll show you the detail… if we get that far.”

•“[For the egress and ingress] from Baxter it would be easier to tunnel”

•“[There’s a] tremendous amount of time to do this.”

•“I’m not saying, “Trust me,” I’m saying, “work with me.””

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

There were six speakers from the public.

Ken Mayes:

He was talking about “Tried and Failed” approaches of the past, dating back to the railroad days.

Miss Miller:

I love this woman. She is pound for pound the most entertaining person I’ve seen give a dramatic performance at city meetings. Someone get her an Oscar already.

George Taylor:

Speaking as a private resident from the farm, he made it clear that he doesn’t want any part of the project… and he doesn’t want them using his roads. 

Rocky Jackson:

President of The Farm HOA, I found him to be pretty reasonable. He said “[I’m] not necessarily ‘against it’”, and even reached out saying he’s interested in working with the developer.

Sheryl Ade:

She was the hot sun that made the developer’s ice cream melt all over his hands. 

He went from a smile to a blank stare while she delivered point after point about the various times the same land had been suggested for previous projects that never got off the ground. 

Her quote of the night was, “You can’t afford this project… unless you want to lose money [speaking of the expensive infrastructure]. I’ve never met a developer that wants to lose money” 

Harv Dykstra:

Was asking about several neighboring developments that are nice, “Why isn’t that in Wildomar?” That he liked the basic idea of it, but the ingress and the egress issues need to be designed to benefit Wildomar first. The way things stand, most of the traffic would lead the residents into Murrieta or Menifee and that’s where many would end up with default shopping destinations.

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There were other issues concerning the project, but mostly the ingress and the egress issues. The place looks bigger than Windsong and there are currently only two proposed ways in or out… unless they sign a peace treaty with The Farm that is… but it was clear that the residents there aren’t overly keen on that... and I'm thinking the jest of the tunnel to Baxter was just that.

As for me, I take Harv's POV here. Why can't we have nice things in Wildomar? Sorry, but I don't want to look like Lakeland Village, and I'd like to live in such a development as this. It's not a question of whether it's "nice" or not. It's a question of logistics, and can it be done feasibly and will the infrastructure actually get put in, and not cost the rest of us a penny more than we already pay?

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The vote was 4-0 recommendation to the council.

In the end, the meeting was really only,

as the developer’s spokesman said, 

“The first step in a thousand mile journey.”

Sounds like one tedious trek he has in store for himself.