Valencia High School serves YL for 75 years

Valencia High School—hosting a big 75th anniversary bash next month—has a long history serving Yorba Linda students, dating back to the Great Depression years.

Early residents formed the Yorba Linda Elementary School District in 1912 and joined the Fullerton High School District in 1914, but other elementary districts with territory now within city limits merged into the Placentia Union School District in 1933.

Before the Yorba Linda district opened, the few local students had walked to an Olinda school in 1910 and then attended the first Yorba Linda school on Olinda Street in 1911.

Forming the Placentia unified district were the Commonwealth, Richfield, Placentia and Yorba districts. Valencia’s inaugural year was 1933-34, with one senior graduating June 1934: Roy Tillery, who portrayed all of the characters in his senior class play, was given the first VHS diploma by the state Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Some westside Yorba Linda students moved to El Dorado, when the campus opened in 1966, while eastside Yorba Lindans stayed at Valencia until Esperanza opened in 1974.

The Yorba Linda district, eventually including Yorba Linda Junior High and Mabel Paine, Rose Drive and Linda Vista elementary schools, sent grads to Fullerton then Troy high schools, before joining Placentia Unified in 1989, with high school students staying at Troy until 1993.

Now, with open enrollment opportunities, students throughout Yorba Linda attend El Dorado, Esperanza and Valencia high schools, and many will move to the new Yorba Linda High School this fall. Van Buren is the only Yorba Linda elementary school currently assigned to the Valencia attendance area.

But Valencia draws Yorba Linda students to magnet technology and International Baccalaureate programs, and Yorba Lindans in Kraemer Middle School’s GATE program attend several classes on the Tiger campus.

This year, 150 IB and 33 Val Tech students reside in Yorba Linda, according to Principal Jim Bell, a longtime Yorba Linda resident, and for next year, the school accepted another 76 for IB and nine for Val Tech from Yorba Linda, noted Counselor Mark Stanley, also a Yorba Linda resident.

Anniversary events will include individual class activities June 26, an all-day, on-campus celebration and dance June 27, family picnic-in-the-park June 28 and a golf tournament at Black Gold Golf Club June 29.

Black Gold Golf Club has some seeing red

Amid frequent barb throwing among City Council members with obvious political and personal differences, decision-making affecting Yorba Linda’s future is going forward.

In fact, the constant maneuvering between two factions to gain political advantage often results in more complete staff reports, sharper questioning of top management and more open and pointed discussions among council members.

For example, a 35-page, staff-prepared packet regarding the city-owned Black Gold Golf Club presented at a May 5 council session is the best analysis of Black Gold finance data ever made available in a public meeting.

The document, prepared by Parks and Recreation Director Sue Leto and Finance Director Susan Hartman, resulted from wrangling over a less-adequate report offered at a March 3 meeting

At issue are possible general fund subsidies for the 215-acre course, which is not meeting original revenue projections and needs expensive turf renovations to continue branding as a first-class facility.

Mayor Mark Schwing, a member of the council that started building the course a decade ago, noted that an anticipated $1 million profit per year, after bond payments, hasn’t yet been achieved.

Actually, Leto and Hartman are recommending the city advance $1,563,000 to cover renovations and revenue loss due to course closings during the repair period.

Full cost of converting the current rye grass to Hybrid Bermuda could approach $30,000 per acre or a total of $5.1 million, plus $2.5 million in lost revenues from closing.

Council has asked staff to present a more refined estimate of potential conversions costs and income losses at a June meeting, and John Anderson wants to know what the course might bring if sold.

Outstanding bonds and leases total $18,125,000, according to Hartman, and course management officials said the facility couldn’t sell for that in the current market.

Based on discussion May 5, Schwing, Jan Horton and Jim Winder favor the renovation proposal—“We have no choice,” Winder said—while Anderson and Nancy Rikel are opposed, without more information on cost containment, other revenue streams and a possible sale price.

Hybrid Bermuda is tolerant of poor soil conditions, resistant to pests and diseases and needs less water, a plus if water rates increase by an anticipated 40 percent in the next two years, according to city and water district officials.

A bright spot in golf course revenue involves the food and beverage operation, which has outperformed estimates by 215 percent or $923,694 beyond projections in the most recent fiscal year, noted Leto and Hartman.

City council orders up Town Center specific plan

A major step in the new Town Center redevelopment process has been taken by the City Council, a body whose current roster reflects voter unhappiness with a recent past effort to revitalize the 40-acre Old Town area.

The council agreed on April 21 to pay up to $534,476 for a Town Center specific plan and environmental impact report by RRM Design Group and five other firms working with RRM in the planning process.

The specific plan will provide “clear policies, implementation measures, economic development strategies, design guidelines and development standards” for the long-studied Town Center, according to council-adopted requirements.

Also, RRM will prepare three or four alternative land-use plans that reflect nine priority topic areas identified in a report presented by the Town Center Blue Ribbon Committee.

The 24-member blue ribbon body met in open sessions July 2006 to November 2007 to develop guiding principles for Town Center redevelopment, based on community input.

The group was formed after a past council was forced to abandon a Town Center plan when residents petitioned against higher-density zoning ordinances, protested possible eminent domain use and complained about closed-door meetings involving council members, council-selected developers and city management staff.

Four current council members—John Anderson, Jan Horton, Nancy Rikel and Mark Schwing—campaigned in 2006 and 2008 against high-density zoning, taking private property for economic development and the secretive ad hoc committee meetings.

Interestingly, the council won’t implement a key blue-ribbon recommendation to form a citizens’ specific plan advisory committee because the group “provided significant input during the preparation of their report,” so an advisory panel “would not be necessary.”

Council also decided that any cultural arts facility proposed for Town Center should be fiscally feasible, self-sustaining and come from a private, non-profit entity.

Also, two other consultants are completing work on citywide projects with special application to Town Center and the newly approved agreement for a specific plan.

The first is an economic development strategy by Buxton Company “to determine retail leakage from Yorba Linda and to identify business types that likely would be successful … given the demographics of the city and surrounding region.”

The second is a historical resources survey by Galvin Preservation Associates to research and document the city’s historic buildings and settings.

The economic analysis should be completed “in the near future” and the historic survey in August or September. The specific plan could be finished in a year to 18 months.

City IDs sites for potential affordable housing

From a 100-year perspective, the contrast between Yorba Linda’s rural past and a more urban-looking future is striking—especially on the long-established west side of town.

In 1909, the Janss Investment Company began marketing and selling the first Yorba Linda-named land parcels from a site planned a year earlier, with large 10-acre plots advertised as ideal for growing citrus crops priced at $150 per acre.

On April 21, the City Council voted 5-0 to forward a report to the state outlining how the city plans to meet housing needs for various income levels, with a chart showing sites for potential rezoning to 30 units per acre.

The document sent to the Department of Housing and Community Development explains how the city might address Regional Housing Needs Assessment numbers, totaling 2,039 units, allocated to Yorba Linda.

Of 13 identified sites for possible rezoning to multi-family residential at 10, 20 and 30-units per acre, two are on the eastside at Savi Ranch and 11 are on the westside of town.

The site list was revised several times since the initial council presentation in August 2008 and now also includes alterations based on public discussion at a March session.

The latest list has a potential 1,087 low- and moderate-income units on 48.24 acres: six sites on 24.77 acres at 30 units per acre, three sites on 11.2 acres at 20 units per acre and four sites on 12.27 acres at 10 units per acre.

Two of the 30-unit-per-acre sites are at Savi Ranch, each 3.2 acres identified for 96 units: vacant land owned by John Force off Old Canal Road and the old Mitsubishi Motors site.

Other 30-per-acre sites: the 4.11-acre greenhouse on Prospect Avenue for 123 units, 1.68 acres of RV storage at Wabash Avenue and Rose Drive for 50 units, the 4.08-acre St. Joseph’s medical site at Yorba Linda Boulevard and Prospect Avenue for 122 units and 8.5 acres of a 17-acre nursery at Bastanchury Road and Lakeview Avenue for 255 units.

Three 20-per-acre sites: the 4.7-acre “strawberry field” on Lakeview Avenue for 94 units, the vacant 2.39 acres at Lakeview Avenue and Altrudy Lane for 47 units and 4.11 acres of the 17-acre equestrian facility at Bastanchury Road and Lakeview Avenue for 82 units.

Four 10-per-acre sites: 7 acres south of Yorba Linda Boulevard across from the Nixon Library for 70 units, 4.34 acres of the 17-acre nursery site at Bastanchury Road and Lakeview Avenue for 43 units, the half-acre car wash/mini-mall site south of the post office on Eureka Avenue for 5 units and under a half-acre at 3741 Rose Drive for 4 units.

Using 2008 figures for a four-person household, “very low income” is defined as up to $46,500 per year, “low income” up to $74,400 and “moderate income” up to $100,900.