Yorba Linda accepts federal funds to provide breakfasts, lunches at Community Center

 

Yorba Linda's City Council has approved using federal funds apportioned to the city by the Orange County Board of Supervisors to pay for the second-round of a “meal gap” program to benefit residents dealing with food insecurity and local restaurants seeking more revenue.

The funds, totaling $216,000, come from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 signed on March 11 by President Joe Biden after party-line approvals on 50-49 Senate and 220-211 House of Representatives votes.

This second-round funding provides breakfast and lunch meals each weekday at the Community Center through Nov. 30 or until funds run out. Meals can be eaten in the center's Imperial Room or taken home. Breakfast is 8:30-9:30 a.m.; lunch is 11 a.m.-noon.

City Manager Mark Pulone told council members that the first-round program was “wildly successful” at a June 23 meeting before council's 4-0 approval for second-round funding.

The $100,000 first-round provided lunches on Mondays and Thursdays, with 15 local restaurants providing 7,642 boxed meals to drive-thru recipients. The drive-thru operation has been eliminated this time because the parking lot is now being used for other center activities.

Parks and Recreation Director Mike Kudron told council members that the second-round could draw more residents and restaurant participation because breakfast and lunch are offered Monday through Friday.

Participating restaurants must have a valid city business license and an Orange County Health Care Agency permit and meet all agency requirements for serving off-site meals.

The restaurants must be able to serve 100-140 meals on scheduled distribution days, provide staffing to distribute the meals and include a main course and sides at a fixed rate of less than $20 per meal. Reimbursements can include taxes, but not gratuities or service fees.

Included in the program's allowable expenses will be replacement of the center's make-up air system for $10,000 and four new warming ovens for a total $12,000.

“The goal of the program is to help facilitate compliance with COVID-19-related public health guidelines, specifically food delivery to vulnerable populations, such as seniors,” Kudron told council members in a report at the June 23 session.

Just before council's vote to approve the second-round, Mayor Peggy Huang said, “This is a great program” that “helps our restaurants,” adding she “liked to see that we have the money for it.”

Two other city food programs include a twice-a-month grocery distribution and a weekday senior lunch program. Information on the latter, which has changed because of pandemic restrictions, is available at 714-961-7181.

The grocery program distributes stable and perishable items on the first and third Thursdays of the month in the center's Imperial Room from 8:30-9:30 a.m. The program is intended for low-income households, but no ID or income verification is required.

Historic Yorba Linda Main Street hardware store to become Brix on Main restaurant after 84 years

 

One of Yorba Linda's most historic commercial buildings – home to a hardware store under various ownerships for 84 years – will be remodeled into Brix on Main, a restaurant with indoor, two-level outdoor and patio dining areas. Opening is projected for January 2022.

The renovation on the building located at 4901 Main St. is considered an “adaptive re-use” for the structure built in 1927 and identified as of local historical significance, although the building isn't eligible for national or state historical registers.

The new outdoor dining spaces will be located on the premises of a recently demolished 1960s, 1,378-square-foot structure, which was attached to the main building and was the longtime location of Main Street Coins and Collectibles and Turn-Key Remodel.

Demolition of the addition to the south-facing wall of the former hardware store removes non-historic renovations “in favor of new improvements to the building that are more supportive of the historic architectural character of the original building,” Jim Sowers, a city building official, told the City Council last month.

The original 2,219-square-foot former hardware store space will expand an additional 700-square-feet on the first floor and 447-square-feet on an existing mezzanine to create a true second floor, Associate Planner Jaime Cerda reported to the Planning Commission in April.

Cerda said a new two-story freestanding outdoor covered patio with a 667-square-foot first floor and 989-square-foot second floor will be added to the south side, and a 1,200-square-foot uncovered patio area will extend south to the corner of Imperial Highway and Main Street.

The two-story patio and uncovered dining area is expected to become “a focal point of one of the most significant intersections in town,” according to Cerda's report to commissioners.

Planning Commissioners also approved permits allowing alcohol sales and participation in the city's parking in-lieu fee program, which will allow the restaurant to buy the 18 added required parking spaces by making payments to help maintain the nearby city-owned parking structure.

The 1927 structure was built by Ed Kaub and designated a historic site by the council in 1993. One of the longest hardware store owners (1953-1974) was David Anderson, who purchased the stock from Robert Parker and lived with his wife and two daughters above the store.

The last hardware store owners beginning in 1999 were Art and Becky Brown, who moved their stock to a Lemon Drive store in 2011 before closing in 2016. The building was vacant two years until Adania Cornejo opened a boutique featuring women's clothing in 2013.