Residents' wishes are evident on Town Center
Seven months ago I wrote that the Town Center Blue Ribbon Committee “must reach consensus on a plan or downtown development could be delayed for decades,” noting a divided report “would doom the wide-based support any…project needs to succeed.”
That’s still partly true for the committee, which soon begins a second year of meetings to develop “conceptual recommendations and guiding principles” for the historic Old Town area for eventual presentation to the City Council.
But if the 24-member group can’t report back with full or near unanimity or the proposals they forward are high-density or create unsolvable traffic problems, the newly realigned council is likely once again to assume active control of the planning process.
A new council majority—John Anderson, Jan Horton and Hank Wedaa—are critics of the downtown development plan created by Michael Dieden, Greg Brown and Walter Marks of the disbanded Old Town Yorba Linda Partners.
Only council holdovers Allen Castellano and Jim Winder favored the high-density mix of commercial and condominium projects proposed in 2005-2006, when the Partners held an exclusive negotiating agreement with the city.
Although blue-ribbon body members haven’t taken a scientific sampling of citizen opinion about Town Center, they do have 900-plus responses to an official survey.
And they can judge voter sentiment by 8,647 signatures on the Right-to-Vote on Land-Use Amendments petition, 9,790 and 9,771 signatures on petitions to overturn the past council’s Town Center zoning ordinances and 6,921 votes cast for Measure B.
Add to that telling mix 8,293 votes for Horton and 6,684 votes for Anderson in the November 2006 general election and 3,749 votes for Wedaa in this month’s special election, and the committee should have a good idea of basic wishes for Old Town.
That’s especially true since the money spent opposing the petitions, Measure B and the Horton, Anderson and Wedaa candidacies far exceeded the cash used to support them.
Committee members need to stop sniping at each other over where they live, who they supported in past elections and other matters to finally see the writing on the wall, as expressed by thousands of Yorba Lindans on three petitions and in three elections.
A FINAL NOTE
Blunt-spoken veteran Councilman Hank Wedaa quickly zeroed in on a major planning blunder during his return to the governing dais last week, when he criticized the Coffee Bean building at Yorba Linda Boulevard and Lakeview Avenue.
The no-setback structure was one of several recent ventures he disparaged as contrary to the sensible standards used by past councils in approving new business buildings.
Maybe the city should employ eminent domain and seize the out-of-place project to change the streets just enough to allow for nicely landscaped pedestrian walkways.
That’s still partly true for the committee, which soon begins a second year of meetings to develop “conceptual recommendations and guiding principles” for the historic Old Town area for eventual presentation to the City Council.
But if the 24-member group can’t report back with full or near unanimity or the proposals they forward are high-density or create unsolvable traffic problems, the newly realigned council is likely once again to assume active control of the planning process.
A new council majority—John Anderson, Jan Horton and Hank Wedaa—are critics of the downtown development plan created by Michael Dieden, Greg Brown and Walter Marks of the disbanded Old Town Yorba Linda Partners.
Only council holdovers Allen Castellano and Jim Winder favored the high-density mix of commercial and condominium projects proposed in 2005-2006, when the Partners held an exclusive negotiating agreement with the city.
Although blue-ribbon body members haven’t taken a scientific sampling of citizen opinion about Town Center, they do have 900-plus responses to an official survey.
And they can judge voter sentiment by 8,647 signatures on the Right-to-Vote on Land-Use Amendments petition, 9,790 and 9,771 signatures on petitions to overturn the past council’s Town Center zoning ordinances and 6,921 votes cast for Measure B.
Add to that telling mix 8,293 votes for Horton and 6,684 votes for Anderson in the November 2006 general election and 3,749 votes for Wedaa in this month’s special election, and the committee should have a good idea of basic wishes for Old Town.
That’s especially true since the money spent opposing the petitions, Measure B and the Horton, Anderson and Wedaa candidacies far exceeded the cash used to support them.
Committee members need to stop sniping at each other over where they live, who they supported in past elections and other matters to finally see the writing on the wall, as expressed by thousands of Yorba Lindans on three petitions and in three elections.
A FINAL NOTE
Blunt-spoken veteran Councilman Hank Wedaa quickly zeroed in on a major planning blunder during his return to the governing dais last week, when he criticized the Coffee Bean building at Yorba Linda Boulevard and Lakeview Avenue.
The no-setback structure was one of several recent ventures he disparaged as contrary to the sensible standards used by past councils in approving new business buildings.
Maybe the city should employ eminent domain and seize the out-of-place project to change the streets just enough to allow for nicely landscaped pedestrian walkways.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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