Yorba Linda terminates emergency pandemic proclamation, approves Packing House eatery

 

Yorba Linda's City Council has terminated the Proclamation of the Existence of a Local Emergency that was adopted 16 months ago during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“One of the city's main reasons for proclaiming a local emergency was to safeguard the city's ability to access federal and state emergency funding to recover costs associated with COVID-19,” Assistant City Manager Dave Christian reported at a July 20 council meeting.

“Because the city has already received both federal and state relief funds during the past year related to the COVID-19 emergency, there does not appear to be any reason to continue proclaiming a local emergency,” Christian added.

The emergency proclamation was issued March 16, 2020, by City Manager Mark Pulone, who was acting in his role as Director of Emergency Services. The proclamation was ratified in a resolution at a council meeting a day later on a 5-0 vote.

The local proclamation was adopted 12 days after Gov. Gavin Newsom's March 4 declaration of a state emergency as the state's response to the then-developing pandemic. Yorba Linda's proclamation has been upheld at council sessions since the original adoption 16 months ago.

The city's resolution approving Pulone's proclamation said that “the city's ability to mobilize local resources, coordinate interagency response, accelerate procurement of vital supplies, use mutual aid and seek future reimbursement by federal and state governments will be critical to successfully responding to COVID-19.”

The resolution also stated that Pulone “believes and has concluded” that “conditions of extreme peril warrant a proclamation of local emergency.”

Pulone's proclamation had stated he was “empowered to adopt rules, policies and regulations to protect the public, to protect life and property and to ensure the availability of essential city services.”

* * *

In addition to a Brix on Main restaurant that will occupy the 1927 Main Street building long home to a hardware store, the Planning Commission has approved plans for a restaurant in the space formerly occupied by Caduceus Medical in the Packing House Shopping Center.

Also approved for the new Lone Wolf Brewing restaurant is a permit allowing the manufacture and sale of beer and wine for on-site consumption. The eatery will feature artisan pizza and Italian food in family-oriented indoor and outdoor dining areas.

Managing partner Joe Ruiz told commissioners the restaurant will be the firm's flagship brewery with 20 taps, including beers from local brewers. Patrons will be able to view the brewing operation, and classes and tours are planned for the future.

Also approved at the Packing House center is a beer and wine license at Furai Chicken.

And larger signage at the soon-to-open In-N-Out Burger on the old library site has been approved, increasing an allowable 42-inch high, 20-square-foot size to 72 inches and 48 square-feet.