Foothills Sentry January 2022

Foothills Sentry Page 4 January 2022 JOHNSON MOTORCARS 31 Years of Specializing in the Service and Repair of Mercedes-Benz Gary Johnson 714-997-2567 982 N. Batavia # B13, Orange, CA 92867 gary@johnsonmotorcars.com Substance Control stated that “any disturbance of hazardous material changes that material to hazardous waste, and hazardous waste is not to be placed at the property.” They also learned that green burial sites are not necessar- ily planted over with lawns and shade trees. Gravesites are cov- ered over with gravel or dirt. Bodies are not embalmed and not placed in caskets so they will biodegrade quickly. Green buri- als must take place within 24-48 hours of death. The cemetery developer says he expects 20-25 burials per month. Plans for this project indicate 3,500 plots, 12 inches apart, with few walking paths and an estimat- ed 25-30 years to reach capacity. When queried about placing graves in a landfill, the Green Burial Council wrote, “The short answer is ‘no.’ This sounds like a disaster for all involved, and not well thought through. Who in their right minds would want to be buried at a former landfill.” A knowing “no” The Local Enforcement Agen- cy also opposed the idea, writing in a letter to the landowner, “giv- en that burial plots will be within the landfill cover and that landfill cover maintenance requirements have not been met, the proposed land use for the former disposal site to a proposed cemetery is not approved by LEA or CalRecycle. Their path of discovery led them to Realtor.com, where they found that proximity to a cem- etery devalues homes by some 12.3 percent. “In this neighbor- hood,” Silvia San Nicolas says, “that’s an aggregate loss of about $14 million.” “I’ll be looking at the gravel, graves and headstones from my kitchen window,” Ann Chavez re- ports. “What’s that going to do to my home value?” They also learned that the site was being monitored for methane emissions. The YMCA building had methane monitors installed. When they reached a certain point, the pressure was released. That building recently burned down, and, as far as residents know, no one is monitoring the methane there. Amethane vent at the adjacent dog park is, however, inspected annually. “We don’t know what that means,” Sharon Galasso says, “but we do know that when it was monitored, methane was escap- ing. It probably still is. Methane gas is toxic, are we breathing it?” Fire when ready The YMCA building fire was one of four recent blazes on the site. It has been saturated with water from fire hoses. “How did all that water impact the con- taminants in the landfill?” Eric Gilbert asks. “If that property is disturbed, how many more toxins will be released?” After three months of research, the residents were ready to bring their case to the city, and did so in public comments made at the Dec. 14 council meeting. The members of the leadership team each took their three-minute comment win- dow to tell the council about site settling, dioxins, arsenic, lead, flooding, coffin flies and beetles, traffic congestion, the neighbor- ing school, and the land’s history as part of the Peralta expedition. Because the comments were not related to an agenda item, the council could not respond. The property is zoned as rec- reation/open space, with a small part zoned for low-density resi- dential. That zoning will have to be changed to accommodate the cemetery. “Recreational/open space zoning means the public has access,” Gilbert says. “While some cemeteries are park-like and people are comfortable walk- ing through them, this one isn’t. It won’t look like a park; There won’t be public access.” “It’s always been used for rec- reation,” Sharon Galasso adds, “and that’s what should be put in there. A place for kids to play, a place for people to enjoy.” The City of Orange must allow the project to continue though the normal process. See "Cemetery" continued from page 1 area was $4.9 million for the quarter prior to the pandemic. It was $12.7 million in the last quarter, translating into $126,875 in sales taxes paid to the city. It is not clear, however, whether the higher gain was due to the Glas- sell closure, more people being out and about with pandemic restrictions lifted, or students re- turning to Chapman University. Wheels in motion Monaco observed that Old Towne is a piece of a larger city and that the Paseo is a “beauti- ful asset to this entire commu- nity.” Noting that he wanted to “respect the [study] process,” he made clear that he doesn’t want “anecdotal complaints, flippant remarks; I want data.” Kim Nichols agreed that when the environmental study and de- sign guidelines were finished, the council could “make a respon- sible, reasonable decision. We care about the historic district, we also care about the success of area businesses.” See "Paseo" continued from page 1 With the Paseo decision post- poned until at least April, the council focused on parklets. As part of the design study, the city’s consultant had submitted render- ings of what a parklet could look like. The renderings, however, did not inspire a lot of specific discussion, as council comments centered around the concept of parklets in general and the value of building one as a test case. Chamber of Commerce Presi- dent and real estate broker Al Ric- ci suggested installing a proto- type downtown, so people could see what it was. “We want to put one in, with K-rails for safety, but boxed in with flowers. Hopefully, it will keep everyone happy.” He also reported that Home Depot is willing to donate some of the con- struction materials, and the cham- ber would pay for the rest. “Parklets are a nonstarter for me,” Monaco stressed. “They don’t solve anything.” Council- man Jon Dumitru cited the safety concerns of having cars motoring alongside diners separated from traffic by only a K-rail. Park the parklet idea “Let’s just stop,” Kim Nichols advised. “Let’s wait for the stud- ies to be done.” She noted that it is unfair to businesses to tell them one thing (parklets), then change it to another (Paseo) two months later. Ana Gutierrez said she liked the parklet idea, but understood that it is unfair to businesses to ask them to invest in something that could change. Mayor Mark Murphy suggest- ed putting the single unit together and getting public input. “Let’s at least let staff work with the cham- ber on design revisions. It has to be safe; it has to have no traffic impacts. If that’s amenable to the rest of my colleagues, that’s what I’d like to do.” “I don’t want to build one,” Monaco said. "Home Depot isn’t going anywhere. Parklets will be part of the environmental re- view. It will come back to us. We don’t need staff working with the chamber until we have data.” Arianna Barrios motioned to build a prototype parklet for pub- lic input. Ana Gutierrez seconded it. Monaco offered a substitute motion to continue studying par- klets and bring it back as part of the process. That motion carried, 6-1, with Gutierrez opposing. Young Women of the Month announced The Tustin Area Woman’s Club named Eileen Chen, Gillian Alegre and Paula Villalobos as the Young Women of the Month for December. An outstanding high school senior is selected every month of the school year, based on academics, extracur- ricular activities and leadership. Eileen Chen of Foothill High has written, illustrated and pub- lished a book, “Paper Magic,” along with other award-winning plays, stories and poems. They can be found on her own corner of the internet at PaperMagic.org. She is also on the varsity tennis team and president of the FHS National Honor Society. Eileen plans to one day create television shows that will give kids a “better handbook for life.” Tustin High’s Gillian Alegre is pursuing the biomedical field, and interns at Medtronic. She has maintained a 4.7 GPA while be- ing involved in Link Crew and serving as president of the Tus- tin High National Honor Society. Outside of her academic career, she enjoys distance running, bak- ing and playing with her dog. Paula Villalobos of Beckman High has been involved in the Medical Certificate Program and Link Cru organizations all four years. She holds leadership po- sitions in both, and enjoys being able to positively influence un- derclassmen through these clubs. Paula’s dream career is to be a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon. Eileen Chen, Foothill High Gillian Alegre, Tustin High Paula Villalobos, Beckman High The first 2022 meeting of the Conservative Patriots of Orange County (CPOC) will be held Thursday, Jan. 20 at the Elks Lodge in Santa Ana. Speakers will be Gina Gleason, executive director of faith and public policy advisor to Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, and Don Dix, chairman of the Republican Party of Riverside County. They will focus on “How the grassroots, faith-based community and of- ficial party apparatus can work together to realize success.” Two California initiatives of in- terest for the November ballot are School Choice and Our Neigh- borhood Voices (SB9 and SB10 housing). Learn about these, and how you can help. CPOC will be taking formal positions on these initiatives. Registration opens at 5:30 p.m.; the meeting begins prompt- ly at 6 p.m. A dinner buffet pre- pared by the Elks Lodge gourmet chefs will be served. The cost is $25 per person, cash or check. To make reservations, contact Peggy Baranyay at (714) 828-1289. The Conservative Patriots of Orange County is a new, locally focused organization chartered on Oct. 12, 2021 as an autonomous 527 political not-for-profit entity. It emerged from the recent dis- solution of the Orange Republi- can Women, Federated (ORWF), which served this area’s Republi- can Party interests for many de- cades. The Santa Ana Elks Lodge is located at 1751 S. Lyon St. Visit conservativepatriotsofoc.org for more information. Conservative Patriots of OC host inaugural meeting Residents researching “green burials” learned that most gravesites are covered with gravel or dirt, not landscaping, as depicted in this photo of a similar cemetery.