City hires help with landscaping plans

When Plan A fails, hire a consultant to help develop Plan B.

That’s the course of action Yorba Linda officials are taking in an attempt to eliminate deficits in citywide assessment districts for street lighting and landscape maintenance.

Plan A, of course, was to ask property owners to boost arterial street lighting fees from $1.22 to $2.53 and arterial landscape maintenance fees from $46.07 to $88.47 per year, along with Consumer Price Index increases and added three percent hikes for 10 years.

That option failed miserably, defeated by a 75 percent mail-in “no” vote earlier this year. Even the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District voted against the fee hike for 17 school parcels in the city, Superintendent Dennis Smith said.

The current $695,000 deficit is expected to rise to $894,000 by 2011-12, according to city figures. The 2008-09 arterial lighting and landscape budget was estimated at $2,205,870, including personnel, water, electric, contract maintenance and other expenses.

Costs for the citywide districts do not include expenses for the nine districts maintaining landscaping that benefits specific areas. Two are starting to face shortfalls and the other seven will experience deficits in seven years, a pre-election city brochure stated.

The city’s arterials include all or parts of Imperial Highway; Fairmont and Yorba Linda boulevards; Kellogg, Rose and Village Center drives; Buena Vista, Lakeview, La Palma and Valley View avenues; and Bastanchury, Esperanza and Richfield roads.

Immediate efforts to save money by reducing watering times won’t be enough to erase the current deficit, according to a report City Engineer Mark Stovall gave City Council members Tuesday night.

“Our goal is to reduce the watering costs 15 to 20 percent through fine tuning our irrigation controllers to optimize the watering cycle without damaging trees, shrubs and plants,” Stovall noted, estimating annual savings for arterial areas at $80,000.

Stovall stated the city would use a consultant to help prepare a comprehensive study that will outline additional efforts to eliminate the arterial district deficits and control costs in the local assessment zones.

The study will review budget balancing steps, such as “fine tuning” watering times, reducing tree trimming cycles, renovating landscape and irrigation to improve water efficiency and, “if necessary,” reducing maintenance district areas.

The city has held costs down by using long-term maintenance contracts, according to Stovall. He noted three of five contracts expire next year, which will have to be rebid, “and we anticipate that maintenance costs will rise significantly.”

A FINAL NOTE

Six miles of landscaped medians and rights-of-way have been added since a 1997 vote set current rates, and a plan to trim trees less often was reversed when costs actually went up.

So far, $200,000 from street lighting and energy funds and about $1.8 million from the city’s more-than-adequate reserves has covered the deficit.

District starts drawing boundaries

A 10-month-long process to establish attendance boundaries for the new Yorba Linda High School is now underway, according to a timeline developed by Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District officials.

The task began this month with gathering demographic data and enrollment projections and ends February 2009 with a decision by the district’s elected trustees.

The 65-acre campus, now under construction at Bastanchury Road and Fairmont Boulevard, is scheduled to open to 9th and 10th grade students September 2009.

Three teams with school, city and parent representatives will review options and make recommendations to Superintendent Dennis Smith, who will present a final plan to the five-member board of trustees.

Currently, 3,878 Yorba Linda students attend the district’s three full-service high schools, 2,498 out of 3,334 students at Esperanza, 1,066 out of 2,652 at El Dorado and 314 out of 2,506 at Valencia.

According to a policy now in place, “Every effort will be made to establish contiguous boundaries and desirable school size,” which officials say is 1,600 to 2,000 students at each high school.

Among seven other criteria are using major traffic thoroughfares and natural barriers as boundaries, incorporating entire elementary and middle school attendance areas in high school boundaries and complying with state and federal regulations regarding the racial or ethnic composition of attendance areas.

Working on recommendations are a core team of district administrators; a resource team of middle and high school principals and Placentia and Yorba Linda city staff personnel; and an advisory team with a parent from each middle and high school and representatives from the superintendent’s community and teacher advisory councils.

The recommendations will be presented to the public in community forums scheduled in November. The teams will review input from the forums before passing a plan to Smith in December or January 2009.

Meanwhile, an election for three trustees is scheduled Nov. 4, including a seat to be held for five months by an appointed replacement for fourth-term trustee Craig Olson, whose resignation is effective June 25.

Seats held by fifth-term trustee July Miller and second-term trustee Carol Downey also are on the ballot. Karin Freeman’s fifth and Jan Wagner’s third terms run through 2010.

A FINAL NOTE

The 1,088-home La Floresta development on the former Unocal site north of Imperial Highway and west of Rose Drive straddles the Placentia-Yorba Linda and Brea-Olinda unified school districts.

Developers want to merge the 54 Placentia-Yorba Linda district acres with the 65 Brea-Olinda district acres, so all of the children in the project will attend BOUSD schools.

But PYLUSD officials are opposed, saying the proposed transfer doesn’t meet nine conditions outlined in the state Education Code. The Orange County Committee on School District Organization will hear the matter June 4.

City Web site has documents for investigation

While an upcoming inquiry into the failed 2005-06 Town Center development process might not provide proof of criminal behavior on anyone’s part, the probe will uncover enough ugly politics to disgust most Yorba Lindans.

Individuals would have to pass on information contrary to their self-interest for a criminal prosecution to occur. But documents released by a former downtown developer reveal a dark side of behavior not in keeping with the city’s professed standard of gracious living.

Greg Brown, whose former firm held an exclusive negotiating agreement with the city, provided the documents, which include notes he took at closed-door council committee meetings and e-mails involving developers, consultants, lawyers and council members.

Much of the material details disreputable activities familiar to residents shopping at city grocery stores in December 2005 and January 2006, when petitions circulated to reverse higher density Town Center zoning.

The documents are now on the city’s Web site, but the 112 pages aren’t in chronological order, making the sequence of events difficult to follow.

To access, go to www.ci.yorba-linda.ca.us, click on “city council meetings” under “quick links” and click on “agenda” for May 6. Scroll down to click on item 15, click on the document name in upper right corner, click on “all pages” and scroll to the documents.

E-mails to Brown from Dennis DeSnoo, a consultant hired to thwart the petition drive, are especially disturbing. Brown has said city leaders told his firm to hire DeSnoo, an allegation denied by then-City Manager Tammy Letourneau.

DeSnoo bragged about his “15-year history of successful elections in Yorba Linda,” including all of the then-current council. He worked for Ken Ryan and Jim Winder in 2000, Ryan and Keri Wilson in 2002 and Allen Castellano and Mike Duvall in 2004.

Open-meeting law violations are apparent, since knowledge of events at closed-door council and council committee meetings was passed on to insiders who didn’t attend.

And attaining Castellano, Ryan, Wilson and Winder approval for a developer-funded letter to residents opposing the petition drive without prior action at a public meeting might violate a prohibition against serial meetings.

Interestingly, Councilman John Anderson pegs the cost of the downtown debacle at $4,422,692, noting some of the expense could be applied to a future project.

A FINAL NOTE

The May 6 council meeting was not good for developers. Anderson said the Old Town Yorba Linda Partners firm is included in the Town Center probe, and Jan Horton called DeSnoo, Brown and former Brown partner Michael Dieden “snakes.”

Also, council adopted a new policy regarding developer requests to delay scheduled public hearings. Continuances won’t be granted automatically, and developers will be told to attend at the advertised time.

Previously, developers would phone in delay requests and not show up at the meeting, to the dismay of residents who arrived ready with testimony on the proposed developments.

Choices to be made June 3 for Yorba Linda reps

“Ho-hum” generously describes the interest of Yorba Linda’s 42,003 registered voters in the third of a record four elections this year.

A June 3 vote will select nominees for one Congressional and three state legislature seats and choose individuals for two county positions and 18 party posts representing the city.

Even the names of two former City Council members on the ballot hasn’t brought much excitement to the election, which pales in interest in contrast to the two contests resulting in approval for a $200 million school bond and defeat for an arterial landscape tax hike.

Certainly, more attention is expected when Yorba Lindans pick three council members, three water board directors and seven school trustees in November.

Only a few June 3 races are contested. For Republicans, Assemblyman Bob Huff faces former Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy to replace Bob Margett in the Senate; and Larry Dick faces Curt Hagman to replace Huff in the Assembly’s 60th District, which includes east Yorba Linda.

For Democrats, Ed Chau, Ron Shepston and Michael Williamson want the chance to tackle five-term Congressman Gary Miller, who has no opponents in the GOP primary.

Also unchallenged is former Councilman Mike Duvall, who is seeking his second two-year term in the Assembly’s 72nd District, which includes west and central Yorba Linda.

Unopposed Democrats are Diane Singer and John Macmurray in the 60th and 72nd Assembly districts and Joe Lyons for the Senate, which also has a lone Libertarian contender, Jill Stone.

Also running to represent Yorba Linda are incumbent Bill Campbell and challenger Donald Ritze for county supervisor and incumbent Ken Williams and challengers Robert Douglas and Jerry Winant for the county education board.

And 30 area Democrats and Republicans are after 18 slots on party central committees, including former Councilman Mark Schwing, seeking his sixth GOP term.

Matters will heat up in July when signups begin for three council seats, two Yorba Linda Water District positions and a director’s chair in the Orange County Water District on the November ballot.

Also, four North Orange County Community College District and three Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District trustee seats are scheduled for a Nov. 4 vote.

Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Representation, which backed the last three council winners, interviewed candidates for the council and local water board seats and plan to make endorsements by June 1, according to YLRRR leader Ed Rakochy.

A FINAL NOTE

A $1,250 campaign contribution that’s bounced back and forth between Councilwoman Jan Horton and a county firefighters union has found a receptive home with the Orange County Fire Historical Society.

Horton accepted the donation after her selection as the city’s representative on the county Fire Authority board. She defended the contribution at a council meeting before trying to return the money.

But the union didn’t cash her check, so the parties agreed the dollars would go to charity.

Questions an investigation should answer

Great care must be taken as a long-sought investigation into the misdeeds occurring during the recent failed Town Center redevelopment process finally gets underway.

The independent inquiry should not disrupt current Old Town planning, which will be based on the well-researched guiding principles and recommendations developed by the 24-member Town Center Blue Ribbon Committee during 18 months of public meetings.

And the investigation should be wrapped up well before the next City Council begins a search for a permanent city manager in 2009, so highly skilled candidates aren’t dissuaded from applying for what is a desirable and nicely compensated position.

Despite a 5-0 council vote to direct city staff to develop a “request for a proposal” for the inquiry two weeks ago, there’s sure to be plenty of discussion from council members and the public Tuesday night, when the report is scheduled for presentation.

Questions regarding who will conduct the investigation, how the inquiry will be handled, what the process will cost and how long the procedure will take all require solid answers.

At minimum, a local investigation should provide accurate responses to questions raised by Councilman John Anderson, who suggested a probe at the April 15 council meeting.

First, were city staff members involved in an aggressive, behind-the-scenes campaign to prevent residents from signing petitions seeking a public vote on Town Center zoning?

Second, did city staff suggest Old Town Yorba Linda Partners developers fund a petition suppression campaign in return for an extension of an exclusive negotiating agreement?

And third, did four council member signatures on a developer-funded letter not discussed beforehand at a public council meeting constitute a violation of state open-meeting laws?

According to evidence provided by former OTYLP principal Greg Brown in the form of notes he took during closed-door council committee meetings and e-mails among council members, developers, consultants and lawyers, the answer to all three queries is likely “yes.”

But, of course, current and past city leaders who deny Brown’s allegations deserve a hearing, and an independent investigation is the best method to arrive at the truth, if the inquiry doesn’t turn into a witch-hunt and disrupt now-transparent Old Town planning.

A FINAL NOTE

An appointment to replace fourth-term trustee Craig Olson on the Placentia-Yorba Linda school board will have an impact Nov. 4, when the seats now held by Olson, fifth-term trustee Judy Miller and second-term trustee Carol Downey are scheduled for the ballot.

The appointee—probably named June 25, when Olson’s resignation is official—would be designated an “appointed incumbent” on the ballot if he or she seeks an elective term.

Olson, Miller and Downey were appointed to terms in 2000 and 2004 because nobody ran against them. Olson, a Placentia dentist, and his wife, Lynette, will supervise an employment resource center in Mexico on a 23-month Mormon Church mission.