Yorba Linda seeks input on naming new dog park

During the 50 years since Yorba Linda was incorporated in 1967, city councils have attached names to 39 parks and other public facilities, occasionally following but often ignoring a 1974 council motion and 1976 resolution regarding name selection.

Procedures are now under way to name the city's newest facility, a dog park on a half-acre upper slope at Jean Woodard Park, south of Eastside Park, north of Esperanza Road. Bids to build the park, estimated at $300,000, were submitted, with an award expected March 21.

Meanwhile, residents are invited to suggest names through an online survey slated for the city website or on hard copies available at city facilities. In addition, the public can suggest names at a March 16 Parks and Recreation Commission meeting beginning at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

The council-appointed commissioners will review survey results and public testimony before making a decision on a name to be forwarded to the council for probable action on March 21.

Council members aren't required to accept the commission's choice. In 1989, the panel ran a naming contest, but the winning Country Trails Park was ignored, and the park west of Village Center Drive was named after YMCA and Girl Scout leader Lucia Kust.

The council first tackled the naming matter in 1974 with a motion “that parks bear the names of trees and other flora indigenous to Yorba Linda and the entire Southern California region.”

The unanimously adopted motion followed one of two naming options forwarded to the council by a then-active beautification committee. The other option was names of birds.

A 1976 resolution “to establish a policy that parks, streets and public facilities shall bear environmentally appropriate names rather than the name of any person, living or dead,” was adopted on a 4-0 vote with one absence.

The resolution honored the memory of the late planning commissioner, council member and mayor George Machado, a key architect of the city's first General Plan and advocate of low-density and slow growth.

A Machado memorial was placed on the horse trail southeast of the Casa Loma Avenue and Imperial Highway intersection after his 1976 death. He often expressed strong opposition to naming city facilities after individuals.

However, the sentiment stated in the resolution “was never established or adopted as part of the City Council Policy Manual,” Parks and Recreation Director Mike Kudron reported to commissioners at a November 2016 meeting.

Kudron also noted that in 2009 the council received and filed a naming policy, “indicating that because this issue does not come to them often, they would prefer to consider the naming of parks and facilities on a case-by-case basis....”

The city has named facilities after nine individuals: Kust, Woodard, Hurless Barton, Roland Bigonger, Nathan Shapell, Jessamyn West, Susanna Bixby, Thomas Lasorda Jr. and Phillip Paxton, all posthumously.

Yorba Linda zoning code revision focuses on temporary signs that often irk city residents

Revisions to a chapter in Yorba Linda's zoning code regarding signage are in the works, with new provisions focusing on clutter caused by temporary signs along roadways that irks many city residents.

The newly drafted section was discussed at a recent Planning Commission session, but any changes would come before future public hearings held by the commission and City Council.

Signage has been a contentious issue in the city ever since tough restrictions were adopted by the council in 1972 and strengthened in 1974. These initial rules for business signs were loosened over the years as new land was annexed and additional shopping areas developed.

Lately, however, citizen concerns have been expressed about temporary signs, and a city survey found that 22 of the county's 34 cities prohibit any signs in the public rights-of-way.

Primary goals of the revised regulations are to comply with a 2015 Supreme Court decision, “reduce clutter from temporary signs” and establish rules “simple to understand and to enforce,” Community Development Director David Brantley reported to commissioners.

Revisions would prohibit signage in public rights-of-way, “with exceptions allowed for non-commercial speech” – such as election and not-for-profit signs – “and real estate signage.” Brantley noted “a compelling government interest in allowing these types of signs....”

Non-commercial signs would have to be removed within five days of the event, and real estate directional signs are allowed only Friday through Sunday, from sunrise to sunset.

One key change would involve removal procedures for illegally placed signs in public rights-of-way. Currently, the city Community Preservation Division must notify the sign's owner 72 hours in advance by certified mail prior to removal, with the owner allowed to appeal.

The revised process would eliminate the advance notice and allow division employees “to summarily remove any illegally placed sign in the public right-of-way.” Owners of removed signs would still be allowed to retrieve them.

This is a noteworthy change, since candidates frequently ignore several of the rules regarding the size and placement of roadside campaign signs, even though copies of the rules are given council candidates when they file papers to run for office.

And in response to complaints from business owners, the proposed revisions would permit “grand opening” banners to be displayed for 45 days instead of the current 30 days. Rules for other special event banners are outlined in the draft document.

Stakeholders involved in drafting the revisions were Susan Wan-Ross, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, and Phil Hawkins, CEO of Pacific West Association of Realtors.

In a letter to commissioners, Yorba Linda resident Hawkins noted support for a “reasonable ordinance” allowing agents to advertise open houses “while also prohibiting excessive sign blight in the community.” 

Yorba Linda City Council members extend influence by serving on county, regional panels

The influence of Yorba Linda's five City Council members extends far beyond city limits through participation on several county and regional bodies with wide-ranging authority.

Since the election of two new council members, the city representatives on these pivotal panels have changed, with new members or alternates appointed to 11 of the 15 boards.

Three of the panels that meet monthly pay per meeting stipends for the members, while the other 12, with meeting schedules ranging from twice yearly to monthly, are unpaid positions.

One key change is on one of two boards providing public oversight for the four toll roads stretching through the county. Peggy Huang replaces Craig Young, who chaired the 15-member panel overseeing the three Foothill/Eastern roads – the 133, 241 and 261. Pay is $120 per meeting.

Unchanged, however, is the city's rep on the county Fire Authority board, Gene Hernandez, the current chair. The panel serves 23 of the county's 34 cities and county territory with 72 fire stations, three in this city. The 25 board members oversee a $323 million operating budget, meet monthly and earn $100 per meeting.

Serving a second two-year term at the county Mosquito and Vector Control District is Huang, one of 35 board members for the 60-year-old agency charged with controlling mosquitoes, rats, flies and Red Imported Fire Ants and providing surveillance for vector-borne diseases.

The district covers the entire county with a $13.5 million budget funded by property taxes and two special assessments. The board meets monthly, with members earning $100 per meeting.

Council members also participate in four organizations that meet monthly to solve common problems, lobby state legislators and other public officials on matters of concern to member cities and seek state and federal funding.

Representatives include Tara Campbell as delegate to the League of California Cities, Orange County Division; Huang as delegate to the Association of California Cities, Orange County; and Hernandez as delegate to the Southern California Association of Governments and the Orange County Council of Governments.

New to the Finance Committee, the council's standing body that meets before regular council meetings to review the city's check register and other fiscally related items before approval by the council, are Huang and Beth Haney, replacing Mark Schwing and Young.

Other appointments: Lindsey to the Trauma Intervention Program advisory committee; Huang as liaison with the Chamber of Commerce; Lindsey and Haney as members of a joint advisory committee with the Yorba Linda Water District; and Haney as liaison with the water board.

More appointments: Lindsey as Santa Ana River Flood Protection Agency delegate; Campbell to a planning forum on north county growth and management; and Hernandez on an oversight board for fiscal matters related to the disbanded Redevelopment Agency.