Yjorba Linda's longest-serving councilman--30 years and two months--honored with park name

A five-acre park on northern Lakeview Avenue in the Visa Del Verde region will be named to honor Yorba Linda's longest-serving City Council member and five-time mayor Hank Wedaa, who died Nov. 18 at age 95.

Wedaa's council service totaled 30 years and two months – April 1970 to December 1994, December 1996 to December 2000 and June 2007 to December 2008 – a tenure that can not be repeated unless voters repeal a three-term limit law passed in 1996.

On the council, Wedaa advocated for the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, Community Center and Black Gold Golf Club. As an official at the Southern California Association of Governments, he played a key role in preventing a major airport proposed for Chino Hills.

Wedaa is the 11^th individual to be posthumously honored with his name on one of the city's 44 parks and facilities. Facilities named for individuals are Phillip Paxton Equestrian Center, Sus-anna Bixby Bryant Museum, Thomas Lasorda Jr. Fieldhouse and Virginia DeLand Theater.

Six parks named for individuals include pioneer resident and author Jessamyn West, first city treasurer Hurless Barton, first mayor Roland Bigonger, volunteer civic leaders Jean Woodard and Lucia Kust and developer and philanthropist Nathan Shapell.

Interestingly, during Wedaa's second term as mayor in 1976, he signed a council-passed resolution to establish “a policy” that city-owned parks, streets and facilities “shall bear environmentally appropriate names rather than the name of any person, living or dead.”

The resolution was adopted in memory of early Planning Commission and City Council member George Machado, considered the chief architect of the city's 1972 low-density General Plan.

The resolution noted Machado, elected to the council in 1970 on a slow-growth slate with Wedaa and Rudy Castro, supported a 1974 policy that parks be named for the “trees and other flora indigenous to Yorba Linda and the entire Southern California region.”.

A memorial to Machado was placed on the horse trail southeast of the intersection of Imperial Highway and Casa Loma Avenue after his death in 1976. Council also suggested other areas be designated for future memorials.

However, a city official in 2016 said the sentiment expressed in the resolution “was never established or adopted as part of the City Council Policy Manual,” and noted that a policy council “received and filed” in 2009 stated names should be considered on a “case-by-case” basis.

The council approved a formal policy in 2018 outlining procedures for naming parks and facilities, which was used to name the Checkers Dog Park and Virginia DeLand Theater.

The Wedaa park had been designated as Vista Del Verde II. Planned amenities include playground equipment, picnic shelter, basketball courts, restrooms, parking lot and land-scaping, but timing is uncertain.

Added costs will be about $3,000 for a dedication plaque and pedestal and $300 for signage.