• 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. 

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.

• Planning Commission Item: Wildomar Trail Town Center

I'm going to try to make this blog quick (famous last words).

Thank you to the planning commission for really going deep into the proposed Wildomar Trail Town Square development and getting many important questions addressed.

To get more details on Wildomar Trail Town Center use this link to the blog covering it.

Let's start with the planning commission recommending approval of the four phase development... which rests with the city council at 6pm on Wednesday, September 8th. 

Take a look at this slide from the presentation and then sit back and thank our lucky stars that we are getting 109 townhomes, and NOT 227 apartments (which a large number had the low income designation).

Be careful what you wish for. Consider this, if the city council derails this project, it leaves those 227 RHNA units on this property. 

You'll find a link to the video of the meeting if you'd like to hear the staff presentation, the applicant's presentation, questions from the public, answers to the questions and solid input by the commission members.

To keep this short, this won't be an exhaustive review of the meeting, just highlights that stuck with me.

In no particular order...

There will be no improvements to the Wildomar Trail overpass or on and off ramps... That's a Caltrans thing, and they thought there wasn't a need. NOT EVEN FOR A TRAFFIC SIGNAL HEADING EAST. 

To me, that is one of the biggest affronts imaginable. We pay ridiculous amounts of gas tax, but somehow something as obvious as better traffic control isn't understood by whatever matrix is coming out of Sacramento? 

Where the city does have control, Wildomar Trail will be a four lane road along with turn pockets into both developments at the new street of Margaret.

It's already challenging to get to the freeway in the AM rush, but I was glad to hear that the city will be putting in an additional lane for right turns only onto the southbound onramp at Wildomar Trail. 

That will help some, but once Wildomar Trail Town Center and Baxter Village (the spot with the hotel and medical building) come fully online, it's going to be a nightmare if Caltrans holds that line.

Plus, imagine how much easier it would be to put in the improvements now, and not after they are desperately needed... and to think, some people want the government to get more control over our lives??? Well, this is what that looks like in action when they are. 

There were a few things that the developer didn't want to agree to that were part of his conditions of approval. One of those was a 10 foot sound wall where the carwash is slated to go. 

I get it, those are probably very expensive, but the residents don't want to hear your jet driers and I was glad that the commission didn't agree to any of his challenges.

I had nearly two dozen questions and concerns, but half of them were answered with the presentation and first round of commissioner questions.

1) what are their plans to mitigate rodents as they disturb their habitat with grading?

Before grading vector control will be onsite. For those that don't live right near the field, you may not understand how many rodents live there at night then invade the nearby houses in the daytime. I'm glad that this is a priority.

There will be no parking along Cervera or Wildomar Trail.

3) What is the timeline for completing Wildomar Trail improvements? 

I was happy to learn that the entire stretch from Cervera to the freeway will be completed before they can start doing business.

Also, the entire 26 acre, 4 phase project will be graded at once instead of piecemeal. 

There was a concern about privacy between the homes on Hunwut that will share a wall with the townhomes. The commissioners got the developer to plant the vegetation that will be along the shared wall with phase 1. 

Knowing how slow these types of projects can take, that is an amazing get. Phase 4 could take many years before it's built, and that means according to the conditions on this project, the trees and vegetation will have many years' head start.

Something most other neighborhoods don't enjoy when new developments come in next to existing homes.

Another thing that I was very concerned about was the Cervera green belt. 

The developer initially was going to remove the trees when he graded with no particular timeline to replace them. 

I was yelling at my computer as I was hearing that over the zoom platform... much to my delight Commissioner Eric Filar really pressed that point.

Written into the conditions was that the Cervera green belt will also be dealt with during phase 1. 

Part of my comment said, "When will it be planned, and will you take input from the residents? This needs major league community outreach before anything is done. There cannot be a lag between removing what has existed for 30 years and planting new vegetation and trees."

I asked about a left turn pocket on Cervera to enter the proposed townhome community, but didn't like the answer I got. I'll have to bring it up at the city council meeting. It sure sounded like they weren't going to make any changes to the lane striping, and that's after extending Prairie into the new area.

There were a few questions that I asked that didn't get answered. 

I'll be speaking as a resident at the city council meeting and I'll be sure to ask the mayor to get his pen ready so that the questions get answered this time.

1) What about the turn pocket on Cervera, something must go there before they can build those townhomes?

2) Will there be walkable connectivity between the commercial retail and Cervera? 

3) I asked the developer by name about his trashy fence along Wildomar Trail, but he must have been inundated because he didn't answer that one. 

"Mr. Kofdarali, have you seen the condition of the perimeter fence on your property? Some of it is very beat up and looks terrible. I know that you want to be a good neighbor, can we get that fixed and maintained until it gets taken down?"

That fence looks like crap, and he needs to show that he cares as much as he claims by sinking that gimme.

He actually shared his phone number during the meeting, I'll just give him a call and see if I can scratch that one from the list.

The last question I have, more of a bonus question that came to me after hearing residents speak on it... Mr. Kofdarali, why can't you put your gas station and car wash closer to Wildomar Trail, and not so close to the backyard of existing homes that have been there for more than 30 years?

Last note, I don't get why people in my own neighborhood, that live within 100 feet of my house, have not asked me questions about this. I brought this up to all that would listen in 2018, and even in 2019, before Covid. 

I've written blogs on this, and posted on social media multiple times

I'm here on your behalf, you should use me as a resource. I'm very easy to get ahold of, and would be happy to meet with you, or just exchange emails if that's all you want. Showing up at a city meeting without pressing me first is very odd. 

When I speak on September 8th, I'll have three minutes. If someone that is attending wants to donate their 3 minutes to me, I'll be happy to speak for you if you're on the shy side.

Anyone that is reading this, please email me and we can set up a meeting or a phone call. 

Penultimate last note 

I received zip, zero, nada emails or calls about this project (facebook posts don't count in the real world), and very little input on social media either. I got more people wanting to comment about who parked in a handicapped parking space or if there is a gate across the private dirt portion of Wesley than I did over this very weighty matter. 

That tells me that you don't really care, and that's what it tells the rest of the council too. We all want to hear your thoughts on the issues, but if you'd rather just announce that you're moving instead of emailing me, I guess that's an option you'll be exercising. 

There were a lot of concessions tonight. It was because of the public's input which was then pushed by the commissioners. That made for a good one-two combination the community is well served keeping in mind.

• Wildomar Trail Town Center

I've lived in Wildomar for twenty solid years. We moved here in the Spring of 2001. 

Those were the pre 9-11 days where things were far simpler both in the nation and in W'mar. The field that will be the site of Wildomar Trail Town Center was more like a dog park in those days. 

Our dogs loved running there.

The entrance to Windsong Valley didn't have a traffic light, and not even a four way stop. On the days that the pepper tree was overgrown and it was high traffic time, getting out of Windsong was almost as dicey as getting across Clinton Keith from Hidden Springs at morning rush hour is in 2021.

From the moment I moved here I knew that something would eventually be put into that field. 

You may have seen this sign if you've entered the Windsong Valley neighborhood from Wildomar Trail. 

Being a realist, that it was someone else's property, and right on the freeway (though with poor line of sight visibility), that something other than a nature reserve would be going in there. 

My joke was always, as long as they don't build a tire fire (like in the Simpson's hometown of Springfield), I'd be good with it.

It's a toss up between a tire fire and a Sriracha factory as worst potential development options, unless an international airport is being considered too. 

But if you look at the proposal, it's really the best of all possible options

Mixed use project with a gas station and mini-mart along with 41K sf of commercial retail (phases 1 and 2). 72K sf of professional office space (phase 3) and a 109 unit FOR SALE town home community (phase 4).

The water basin near the corner of Cervera and Wildomar Trail will be part of phase 1.

From what I can see in the images, there are two drive thru pads and one restaurant pad too. Also, the bend in Wildomar Trail will be smoothed out a bit too. Look at the top part of the yellow portion to see it.

If you look at the configuration of the maps, you'll see that there is a rather healthy buffer between the commercial areas and the existing Windsong Valley neighborhood. 

The buffer consists of a parking lot, and a water quality basin.

I have heard concerns about traffic from the 109 homes onto Cervera. I don't share the same concerns, but if this is something you want the planning commission, or the city council in a subsequent meeting, to discuss... please, PLEASE email your concerns to the planning director and ask him to distribute them the various members.

mbassi@cityofwildomar.org

As for me, the only question I'd have when it comes to the ingress and egress to the town homes from Cervera is if there will be a turn pocket for those turning left. If not, I can envision some potential issues. 

There is the same buffer between the town homes and those that we find throughout the rest of the neighborhood... which is minimal, but we're already used to that. 

If I haven't already made it clear, I live close enough to this development that I could throw a baseball into it even with my aging arm. Therefore, I won't have a vote on this.

You can see the RV Fueling Area that is part of the gas station, and also the car wash.

But I still have some questions.

1) what are your plans to mitigate rodents as you disturb their habitat?

Seriously, as someone that lives at ground zero of a daily squirrel infestation, I want to know that there is something in place to keep them from moving their living quarters here too.

2) Will there be an ongoing rodent mitigation plan that the new center will be obligated to keep up from here on out?

I can't stress this enough, we don't want any more rodents in our neighborhood from that field, and considering the several water quality basins I'd like to know that there is a real plan in place to not allow new colonies of rats with fuzzy tails to take hold. 

3) What is the timeline for completing Wildomar Trail improvements? 

I sure hope that there will NOT be any certificates of occupancy issued before the entire frontage of Wildomar Trail is improved from Cervera to the freeway.

4) What is the potential timeline for breaking ground on Phase 1?

I'd love to see this begin soon, and that goes for the projects on both sides of Wildomar Trail in that area. 

5) Will there be walkable connectivity between the commercial retail and Cervera?

6) What is the plan for the Cervera buffer between the neighborhoods and Wildomar Trail? (I used to refer to this as the Cervera green belt, but it's time to give up the ghost on that one)

This has been a sticking point for many for a very long time. It's too complicated to go into here, but I'm looking forward to a real plan that will make the entire stretch look attractive again, though I know it's unreasonable for it to be grass.

I would like to know the specific plans and the specific time tables.

The town homes that are on Cervera's edge are in Phase 4 and I do NOT have confidence that it will be built anytime soon.  

I'd love to be wrong, but I've seen time tables for similar things stretch to well more than a decade with no actual forward movement.

Also, everyone should be celebrating that high density low income units that were originally slated for there have been moved to the other side of the freeway. 

I want these built post haste because who knows what Sacramento will do in the interim, they may allow far more units and much higher than three stories if this gets delayed too much into the future.

If you have opinions or concerns I invite you to email either the planning director as mentioned above mbassi@cityofwildomar.org or the other four council members individually. 

I'm more than happy to receive an email from you (jmorabito@cityofwildomar.org) but I have no vote here, so it'll just be a conversation between neighbors at that point. 

Gotta love the protections that Sacramento has laid out for us all. Since I live within a literal stone's throw from that field, and somehow could make money in the value of my home going up, I cannot even get first hand info from staff, much less be able to vote on this. 

Here is a link to the city page with the agenda packet listed. It's far larger than usual city agendas. If you're interested in more details, use this link to navigate the contents.