Foothills Sentry May 2022

NEWS INSIDE East Orange • Old Towne Orange • Orange Park Acres • Villa Park • Silverado/Modjeska Canyons • North Tustin A Monthly Community Newspaper May 2022 *********ECRWSSEDDM**** Residential Customer Letters To The Editor Page 4 Canyon Beat Page 6 Service Directory Pages 11-13 Prof. Directory Page 13 Classifieds Page 13 Real Estate Page 1 4 Sports Pages 15 The Best News In Town Since 1969 KIDS, DOGS AND OUTDOOR DINING Family focused neighborhoods in Old Towne are destined to share their quiet streets with commerce. See Commercial, page 5 FOLLOW US at Foothills Sentry REAPPOINTED ROUNDS Canyon postmaster trades dark of night credo for the light and leisure of retirement. See Please forward, page 6 TOWNWITHIN A CITY Topics at Old Towne Forum illustrate the growing pains of an historic neighborhood facing urban change. See Old Towne, page 2 ALL IN THE FAMILY Landmark RV park, still owned and operated by its founding family, celebrates the 50th birthday of the business. See Orangeland, page 11 ROOM TO ROAM Sneak peak at new mammal enclosure reveals a habitat fit for feline fauna at the OC Zoo. See New large, page 10 See "County" continued on page 5 Photo by James Black The Orange Plaza Rotary Classic Car show, April 10, featured 400 cars. This 1959 Cadillac was purchased new by Rocky Pebley’s, right, grandfather. It was passed down to his father, and then to him. His son Kevin Pebley, left, will be the fourth generation Pebley to own the car. When Kevin Pebley bought a house, his dad’s first question was “How big is the garage?” See Classic, page 3. County may allow toxic waste to be buried in Orange A Facebook page is claiming the property owner cited for il- legal dumping in Orange has reached a deal with the county to bury toxic materials on the site. The post, linked to Milan Capital Management, the property owner cited by the county for illegally dumping on the former Sully- Miller site, states Milan will be allowed to bury the material in “70-foot-deep silt ponds.” This goes against previous testimony by the county that the only way to remediate the site is to remove all material. In January 2020, a homeowner who lived next door to the site on East Santiago Canyon Road, complained of illegal dumping to the OC Local Enforcement Agency (LEA), an enforcement arm of the state. More complaints followed. After investigating, LEA alerted Milan that it had observed illegally dumped building materials. Milan also failed to produce a full accounting of what had been dumped there, as there were no records for nearly 10 years. The LEA slapped Milan with an immediate cease and desist order. Milan appealed. At the Oct. 9, 2020 hearing, Kathryn Cross, the LEA’s lead enforcement officer, testified that the site is unpermitted, the 40-foot towers of stockpiled materials are deemed illegal disposal, and the stockpiles need to be removed from the property. “I saw it [illegal material] back in February on my visit,” Cross said. “It’s now buried, probably 20-30 feet below and it’s mixed.” Citizens have been complain- ing about the illegal dump for more than 20 years. According to the minutes from a 2003 hearing, the Orange City Council voted to allow operations to continue un- der a previous owner, apparently based on an opinion of the then- city attorney that operations were “a legal non-conforming use.” This continued, even though the city’s sand and gravel ordinance was modified and no longer per- mitted importing and crushing of concrete waste materials. In 2019, the City of Orange sided with Milan, which sought to build 128 homes on the site. The homes would have required methane bladders to stave off tox- ic gas. This provoked the Orange Citizens group to run a successful referendum and ballot measure that ended with voters shooting down the development in the 2020 election. Campaign disclosure forms showed that Orange Mayor Mark Murphy had long been accepting campaign contributions from Milan’s owner, its consultant, the consultant’s attorney and others associated with the developer. In September 2019, the Orange Citizens group sued the City of Orange over its flawed Environmental Impact Report (EIR), which would have allowed Milan’s crushing operation to continue for 15 years. The suit was settled out of court, and the EIR was decertified. Earlier this year, residents contacted County Supervisor Don Wagner about the illegal dump. Soon thereafter, LEA stopped communicating with citizens. Complainants were told an agreement was pending. “This smells of a back-room deal,” said DruWhitefeather, who lives in nearby Orange ParkAcres “It appears the county is ready to reward Milan for the illegal dumping on the Sully-Miller Locals aid Ukraine relief efforts The nonprofit humanitarian organization Not Just Tourists (NJT) ships donations of excess hospital medical supplies to developing countries around the world – one suitcase at a time. Individual global travelers, as well as medical or church mis- sions, volunteer to take an extra donated suitcase full of life-sav- ing medical supplies with them on their travels. In only four years, the Orange County divi- sion of the organization, run by volunteers Karl and Tara Eaton, has managed to save over 25,000 pounds of unused supplies from landfills by redirecting them to 39 countries around the world. These excess medical supplies would, per hospital regulations, normally be thrown away. When the war in the Ukraine exploded, the couple wanted to send supplies there. Because the group does not accept financial donations, the cost of shipping was an issue. A church in See "Ukraine" continued on page 2 Lawsuit challenges constitutionality of state housing legislation by Tina Richards Four Southern California charter cities have filed suit against Attorney General Rob Bonta and the State of California, asking the court to rule on the constitutionality of Senate Bill 9 (SB9) and invalidate it. The filing in a Los Angeles County Superior Court by the cit- ies of Redondo Beach, Carson, Torrance and Whittier claims that SB9 legislation usurps their land- use authority, and is counter to local controls guaranteed by the state constitution. SB9, effective Jan. 1, allows owners of single-family properties to replace those units with two duplexes and two accessory dwelling units. Cities are required to approve these developments regardless of local zoning, general plan designations or other concerns. The legislation effectively eliminates single- family zoning. Although the lawsuit was filed by charter cities, which have more self-governing independence than general law cities, the points raised in the legal challenge ap- ply to all California jurisdictions covered by the state constitution. That includes the general law cit- ies of Orange and Villa Park. Damage control Both of those municipalities reacted to SB9 with ordinances designed to lessen the impacts of that legislation as much as legally possible. While local jurisdictions are mandated to approve split lots and multi-family dwellings within single-family zoning, they are allowed a modicum of discretion relating to setbacks, design standards, floor area rations and height limits. Orange passed a resolution supporting a statewide voter initiative that See "Lawsuit" continued on page 3 NJT volunteers celebrate the swift packing of medical supplies destined for Ukraine. OC coordinators Karl (with beard) and Tara Eaton (with sash) stand on the right. Photo by Tony Richards