Community honors civic leader's 90th birthday

A memorable gathering of a couple hundred mostly longtime Yorba Linda residents celebrated civic leader Hank Wedaa's 90^th birthday at the Community Center last week, recalling his involvement with events that helped shape this community's present-day identity.

Wedaa holds three city records, unlikely to be matched unless voters overturn a term-limit law adopted 18 years ago: 30 years City Council service, five times mayor and three council retirements--twice voluntarily and once by voter choice.

Wedaa entered the political scene during the city's second municipal election in 1970 as part of a slate of slow-growth candidates who won a majority of seats on the governing body. The new council members quickly embarked on crafting the city's first low-density General Plan.

Since the 1970s, development and housing density have remained hot-button issues in council campaigns, except disagreements over two versus three homes per acre have segued into conflicts regarding apartments and condominiums at levels from 10 to 30 units per acre.

A second controversy erupting in the 1970s has faded from most memories today, but the possibility of a regional airport on 25,000 acres in the Chino Hills initially supported by the Anaheim City Council galvanized Yorba Lindans into opposition.

Wedaa, a few leaders in nearby cities and newly arriving residents worked to prevent a four-runway behemoth with 500,000 annual commercial and private flights from becoming reality by forming a citizen action group, Prevent Airport Traffic in Chino Hills, or PATCH.

Although the Federal Aviation Administration gave conditional approval to a smaller project in 1972, the agency ruled in 1974 that federal funds wouldn't be available. PATCH continued to play whack-a-mole as powerful airport proponents tried to revive the plan for several years.

Wedaa's council service ran until a first retirement in 1994. He returned to win a seventh term in 1996 and retired a second time in 2000. His final stint came when he won a special election in 2007, but voters nixed his bid for a ninth term in 2008.

His position as a longtime leader at the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the Southern California Association of Governments, especially for that group's Aviation Committee, allowed Yorba Linda outsized influence on regional issues, including the airport matter.

Since leaving government, Wedaa frequently has been honored for his environmental work, involving air quality and alternate fuel technology. His latest honor will come March 12 at the Nixon library, when the Coalition for Clean Air presents him a Lifetime Achievement Award.

A recent DVD, “Flight to War,” recounts some of Wedaa's World War II experiences as a survivor of 30 bomber missions over Europe by the 467^th Bombardment Group of the 8^th Air Force.

And Wedaa recently donated his collection of rare aviation posters and other war-time memorabilia for a permanent exhibit at March Field Air Museum in Riverside.