City funds informational materials in landscape maintenance district balloting through Jan. 19

City-funded “outreach and educational documents” will help owners of 1,930 East Lake Village-area homes in Yorba Linda decide if they'll pay higher fees for the upkeep of “special benefit” landscaping in three maintenance zones in balloting beginning next month.

And, based on more recent City Council action, the documents, which will cite potential service cutbacks, also will aid owners of 3,433 residences in nine other zones running red ink make similar decisions in a separate set of elections proposed for Spring 2016.

A $50,000 contract to develop informational materials for dissemination was awarded the Lew Edwards Group, a communications, government affairs and political consulting firm.

The contract fee comes from a $75,000 council-approved appropriation from the city's reserve fund to assist with the state-mandated Proposition 218 process that requires public votes on tax and fee increases.

Distribution of the Edwards Group's materials will involve mailers, fact sheets, the city website and newsletter, Power Point presentations, cable television channel 3 and outreach meetings. The city can't advocate a fee hike but can pay to develop and distribute educational materials.

“Accurate, pertinent and timely information will be essential,” Public Works Director Mike Wolfe reported to the council. He noted printing, addressing and postage for mailers will be handled by a firm separate from the Edwards Group contract.

The group's “scope of work” will cover materials for the 12 of 32 local landscaping zones with deficits. Three of the zones – with the 1,930 single-family residential parcels – are set for separate mail-in ballots due by Jan. 19.

Owners of 3,309 single-family residential properties and 124 multi-family units in the nine additional zones with deficits could vote on increases by a proposed May 17 deadline.

The exact amount of increases for these properties will be noted in a report scheduled for a Feb. 2 council meeting. Annual hikes in the three zones with a Jan. 19 ballot deadline will be $10, $384 and $536, if approved.

Each of the 12 zones will have separate ballots, so property owners could approve from zero to 12 fee increases starting with the 2016-17 property tax billings. Affected are 5,239 of the city's 21,142 single-family residential parcels and 124 of the city's 1,083 multi-family units.

The officially named Street Lighting and Landscape Maintenance Assessment District has 46 zones: a city-wide arterial street lighting zone, a non-contiguous local street lighting zone, three traffic signal zones and 32 local landscaping zones, all charging fees to property owners.

Current fees, allowing annual consumer price index increases, were adopted on an 83 percent “yes” vote in 1997. A 2008 ballot to boost the arterial street lighting fee from $1.22 to $2.53 and arterial street landscape fee from $46.07 to $88.47 lost with a 75 percent “no” vote.

City's golf course on better financial ground

Remember back about 15 years when Yorba Linda was building the Black Gold Golf Club and proponents promised income from the facility would add some $1 million yearly to the city treasury, replacing declining revenue due to the slowing of 1980s-1990s building activity?

For several years this column sadly noted that instead of huge profits flowing to city coffers, taxpayer subsidies were needed to cover expenses at the 219-acre course, which opened in 2001.

Now, however, there's better news on two fronts – a positive net income and progress in water conservation, according to a report from city Parks and Recreation Director Mike Kudron that's backed by an independent, on-site review by the United States Golf Association.

Revenues from the most recently completed fiscal year, 2014-15, were close to $5.9 million, with a net income of $690,288. Some $100,000 was used to purchase a fleet of 89 golf carts and another $86,729 on driving range and clubhouse improvements, leaving a $503,559 net.

Increased revenues exceeded estimates by $52,508 and the prior year by $86,801, despite a 0.2 percent decline in green fee income, representing 598 fewer rounds played, a 1.7 percent drop. But the “average rate per player” was up $1.08 over budget and $1.14 over prior year.

Growth in food and beverage operations and tournament golf rounds contributed to the black ink. Eat and drink income was nearly $2.2 million, up 4.6 percent over estimates. Tournament revenue was $914,189, an 8.4 percent boost on 10,939 rounds, an 11.8 percent jump.

Guest total was 108,684. The breakdown: 55,755 golf rounds; 12,112 practice facility; 9,900 weddings; 12,700 banquets and meetings; 6,500 events and tournaments; 11,717 a la carte dining. A survey of 2,195 customers rated the club's services at 9.3 out of 10.

Playing a key role in water conservation is a nearly complete transition from perennial rye grass to Kikuyugrass, beginning in 2010 to cover 112 turf acres with a grass variety “more suitable” to the area's climate and growing conditions, irrigated by non-potable water.

Fairways are 80 to 95 percent Kikuyugrass, with “wall-to-wall” coverage, including roughs and turf slopes, expected in three years. According to Kudron's report, the course “is in very good overall condition, and irrigation water usage has been reduced.”

Kudron noted: “The warm-season Kikuyugrass' drought-tolerant nature enabled us to eliminate daytime watering of established areas without jeopardizing turf health.” Wetting agents help water penetrate soil and improve holding capacity, and dry spots are hand-watered.

Among recommendations in the golf association's independent report are to plan for bunker sand replacement, due to natural contamination of silt and organic debris after 10 to 15 years, and upgrade portions of the irrigation system “to ensure optimum...performance and water use efficiency.” No cost estimates were given for these projects.

Town Center 'commons' to create 'sense of place'

An important element of Yorba Linda's new Town Center project will be a three-quarter acre “central open space” – or “commons” – envisioned as “the heart of the retail center,” where community members can gather, interact and experience "a sense of place.”

The area, according to a report from city staffer Dave Brantley, “also is intended to allow opportunity for outdoor community and special events.” Brantley, formerly the city's principal planner, has been named community development director to replace retiree Steve Harris.

Current plans picture a space with artificial turf “and decorative hardscape areas organized around a central water feature” that is flanked by building units leased by small retail, food and quick-serve businesses, such as yogurt, ice cream, smoothie, bakery and coffee shops.

Brantley notes developer Zelman Retail Partners has signaled strong interest by well-known brands and operators to lease space, so the open area will include outdoor dining tables, casual seating areas, benches and other features to support “an active, informal setting.”

Also planned are a “garden room with casual seating” – featuring covered outdoor furniture for patrons to “relax and interact” and “enjoy food and beverages” – and several kiosks selling “unique and/or seasonal items” to be positioned on one side of the commons.

A pedestrian pathway will link the Imperial Highway-Yorba Linda Boulevard intersection, the open space-commons area and the proposed 10-screen, 1,100-seat upscale movie theater, as well as the other major anchor tenant, a gourmet-specialty market, perhaps Bristol Farms.

Questions about parking still concern some of the adjacent Main Street business owners and several residents who have observed the Old Towne-Town Center planning permutations for the past couple of decades.

A city-hired consultant determined Town Center needs 1,122 parking spaces during the week and 1,039 on the weekend, and, at build-out, “there will be a remaining deficiency of approximately 316 parking spaces during the week and 245 spaces during the weekend.”

Included in proposals for sufficient parking is a 429-space, four-story structure that would be partially subterranean to allow the height to meet a 35-foot limit for Town Center buildings, to be located on a one-acre, city-owned parcel across a newly built street just north of the open space-commons area.

To alleviate typical anxieties about parking structures, the facility would be well-lighted – “light and bright,” notes a planning document – and include features to “soften the service-oriented feel of such structures,” with color variations and painted murals.

And, as more projects occur within Town Center, including future retail and a potential new library, more parking spaces will be provided. Also noted are several properties that have underutilized parking lots that could expand the public supply by shared-use agreements.

New alcohol outlets might surprise early residents

An interesting aspect of Yorba Linda's new Town Center project will be increased opportunities to consume alcoholic beverages in the center's 15.6-acre commercial district – at a 1,100-seat theater complex, a gourmet market's outdoor dining area and more sit-down restaurants.

Of course, this community is several decades past its reputation as a bastion of temperance, when pioneer resident George Kellogg once held the lone post-Prohibition liquor license and, with widespread public support, sought to ensure alcohol wasn't available for sale in the town.

Eventually, Kellogg returned the license to a state official, since it couldn't be held to prevent the sale of liquor, according to Kellogg's 1972 oral history interview, which puts to rest the inaccurate but still-told tale that the license was controlled for several years by a local church.

Today's active license count stands at 23 off-sale (grocery, liquor stores) and 51 on-sale (restaurants, bars). Many of the proposed Town Center licenses will be for upscale enterprises, as noted by Dave Brantley in a recent report to the Planning Commission.

For example, City Council-selected developer Zelman Retail Partners is negotiating with Regal Entertainment to operate a 10-auditorium movie complex that will sell alcohol and provide “large, leather reclining chairs with foot rests that automatically adjust.”

Yorba Linda officials have examined a four-page list of 38 conditions governing the sale of alcohol in one of three Newport Beach theaters currently serving spirits.

Brantley noted: “Newport Beach has been successful in allowing this new phenomenon... while ensuring that a healthy environment for residents and businesses is preserved, particularly with respect to...issues associated with underage drinking within darkened movie auditoriums.”

A typical condition is “a limit of two glasses of wine or beer per screening” served in “special cups that distinguish alcoholic beverages from non-alcoholic,” with “special training” required for employees.

“Additionally, it is important to note that the price of alcoholic beverages when served in theaters” – $7 to $20 per 12-ounce beer or six- to eight-ounce cup of wine – “has the effect of limiting alcohol consumption in theaters,” Brantley stated.

“Police Services will be assisting with tailoring appropriate conditions of approval for the proposed Yorba Linda facility,” Brantley noted.

The developer also is in discussions with Bristol Farms, a specialty market that would sell alcohol for off-site consumption, have a small cafe serving beer and wine and hold wine tastings on a regular basis.

And two sit-down and some fast-casual restaurants are expected, so up to six additional liquor license approvals “as an accessory to food service would be satisfactory.” A finding of “public convenience and necessity” by the city might be required due to the large number of licenses proposed.