Yorba Linda submits new housing plan to state for review; ballot measure planned for November

 

Pending the state's review and anticipated acceptance of Yorba Linda's revised housing plan to provide opportunities for 2,415 housing units by 2029, City Council members are expected to formally set an election date for a required public vote on the matter at a July meeting.

The planned ballot measure would be held in conjunction with the Nov. 7 general election that is expected to have a large turnout because of the potential rematch of Joe Biden and Donald Trump in the presidential contest.

A previous ballot measure seeking adoption of a different zoning plan to achieve the state-mandated 2,415 housing unit number was decisively defeated with 75% of voters opposed in November 2022.

Since then, the city “has engaged in one of the most robust, communitywide outreach programs in recent history to garner feedback from all members of the community” on zoning changes needed to meet the state mandate, notes a recent report to the council.

The report, by city Planning Manager Nate Farnsworth, says that 375 residents attended seven workshops on the topic, including 120 at a Planning Commission meeting, 75 at a Community Center meeting and 50 at East Lake Village and Travis Ranch School sessions.

Topics of discussion at the seven October and November workshops were the rezoning recommendations developed by a 17-member Housing Policy Resident Working Group duirng six May and June meetings.

As a result of the public workshop sessions, working group members made several revisions to their initial recommendations. Lengthy reports detailing the initial and revised recommendations are available on the city website.

The state review of the city housing plan is expected to be completed by April, with reviews by the city's Traffic and Planning commissions set for April and May, both in public sessions. More public outreach and informational meetings are planned before the November vote.

According Farnsworth's report, if the state determines the revised housing plan “is not in substantial conformance with state law,” the city “will need to make further revisions and resubmit” for further review.

And according to Farnsworth's report, many residents, including residents in the Bryant Ranch area, “appear to simply oppose the state housing mandates and want the city to fight the state.” Similar comments were made at workshop sessions.

But, Farnsworth reports, the Orange County Council of Governments, of which Yorba Linda is a member, sued the state over the housing numbers issued for the Southern California region.

“Unfortunately, this case lost at the trial court and appellate court levels, and the California Supreme Court refused to even take up this case,” Farnsworth's report says. Other cases, including a related matter in Huntington Beach, have been dismissed.

“Preliminary results have certainly broken in favor ot the state and housing advocates and not local governments,” Farnsworth notes.

New 'Little Free Library' at Jessamyn West Park in Yorba Linda renews memories of community's early history

 

The recent approval of a request from the Yorba Linda Woman's Club to place a Little Free Library at Jessamyn West Park renews several memories of this community's early history.

Founded in 1912, the Woman's Club has long been associated with education projects and support of libraries, and author Jessamyn West's connection with Yorba Linda extends well beyond her 1909-1926 residency.

In 1913, the club donated $5 and books to the community's first library, located in a small room in the grammar school building on School Street, and in 1959 the club furnished the landscaping for a new library at Lemon Drive and Olinda Street (now an In-N-Out restaurant).

West, whose father Eldo was a superintendent of the area's mutual water company and a founding school board member, was one of the first patrons of the early library, paying $1, she later said, for one of the first library cards.

West's Quaker family moved from Indiana to Yorba Linda when she was age 6. For an interview in the weekly Yorba Linda Star newspaper in 1979, West recounted that her first paid writing appeared in the Star, for which she wrote the Social Notes column in 1923-24.

West attended Yorba Linda Elementary School, Fullerton Union High School, Fullerton Junior College and Whittier College before marrying and leaving the community. But West returned frequently for events, including speaking at a library grand opening and on other occasions.

West's most famous book, “The Friendly Persuasion,” was a collection of short stories that had appeared in various magazines and was published in 1945. She's also credited for the screen-play for the 1956 film version starring Gary Cooper.

The Woman's Club request for a Free Little Library in the city park named for the author that opened in 1984 was in a letter to the Parks and Recreation Commission. Club members will assist with the location and stock and maintain the library for a one-year trial period.

The library will be registered with the non-profit Free Little Library organization, with the motto “Take a Book. Share a Book.” The group's website lists more than 150,000 libraries that have shared 300 million books

Previously, the commission approved two other free little libraries, one in 2018 at Veterans Park, requested by Girl Scout Troop 3199, and the other in 2019 at Box Canyon Park, requested by resident Michelle Zenk. Others have been installed on private properties.

Perhaps some of the library stock will include West's novels with a Yorba Linda background or associations, such as 1953's “Cress Delahanty,” about the title character's experiences age 12 to 16, and 1961's “South of the Angels,” about a Yorba Linda-like community in the 1920s.

West's Yorba Linda-based short stories include “Love, Death and the Ladies Drill Team” in a 1951 “The New Yorker,” collected in a book of the same name, and “The Mysteries of Life in an Orderly Manner” in a 1948 “The New Yorker.”