Residential
density – the number of single-family homes and condominium and
apartment units allowed per acre – is the longest-running thread in
Yorba Linda's political history, and 2015 will see more key
decision-making on a matter that remains a hot-button topic.
More
development on parcels voter-approved in 2012 for higher densities,
new homes on adjacent land under county control and a second revision
of an original 1971 General Plan that cemented the city's low-density
identity will contend for City Council attention this year.
These
density deliberations are likely to again fill the council chambers
with large numbers of residents with differing views on an issue
often called “the electrified third rail” of local politics.
Interestingly,
this year marks the 30th anniversary of density decisions
for the site now home to the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum,
a topic for my recent Yorba Linda Historical Society presentation
based on oral histories, council minutes and back issues of the Yorba
Linda Star.
The
issue drew large audiences to council meetings in 1985, which led to
decisions effectively precluding condominium development on property
the city later donated for construction of the Nixon library.
Richard
Nixon's father, Frank, purchased the nine-acre property on the
northeast corner of the Eureka Avenue-Yorba Linda Boulevard
intersection in 1912, and sold the land after moving his family to
Whittier in 1922, seeking better prospects than those provided by his
lemon grove.
Flush
with the $50,000 proceeds from a bond issue passed by a 5-1 margin in
1925, the Yorba Linda School District bought 5 ½ acres of the
property from William Atkinson for $10,500 and built a K-8 school for
$51,801. The district added the remaining acreage in 1948 for
$15,500.
Safety
questions lingered after the 1933 earthquake, and the district
eventually razed the school in 1954 and constructed a new facility to
be named after native son Richard Nixon.
That
school closed in 1981 and the site put up for sale.
Four
years later, a prospective buyer, Harold Lynch, offered $1.2 million,
if the land could be rezoned to high-density residential, allowing
him to build 61 condominium units on 6.1 acres.
A
small land buffer would separate the condos from 1.1 acres with the
home the Nixon Birthplace Foundation, formed by residents in 1968,
had bought from the district for $125,000 in 1977.
City
staff recommended approval of 10 units per acre, but the planning
commission agreed to 6.7. Both were non-starters for the council,
which discussed 3 units per acre before approving 4 units on a 4-1
vote.
With
just 24 condo units possible, Lynch lowered his offer to $650,000,
which the school district termed “totally unacceptable.” The
city paid the district $1.3 million for the land in 1988 and agreed
to remove the school and grade the site.