Foothills Sentry June 2023

Foothills Sentry Page 4 June 2023 JOHNSON MOTORCARS 34 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 @ ramblingroseoc Property rights and wrongs Dear Editor: In my view, if there was any distortion in the April Commen- tary on Sacramento’s over-reach on housing, it was that you may have understated what is happen- ing. The flood of legislation to increase housing density that has been produced in the last several years, and moving through the legislature now, is nothing short of astonishing. The most mind-blowing change of all is that the legislature has removed control over land- use planning and zoning from our local elected officials, and has unilaterally declared an end Guest Commentary to single-family zoning -- with- out Californians getting to vote on that “solution” to the housing shortage. We all agree there’s a shortage, but that doesn’t mean we all buy into the idea that single-family communities are the problem. Last time I looked, that’s what most homebuyers still aspire to. A letterwriter said state ADU law “has stimulated the produc- tion of many modest dwellings that provide housing opportuni- ties within existing neighbor- hoods.” That’s true in some situ- ations. Most of us know someone with a granny flat where granny is happily in residence. But devel- opers have used ADU law to pro- OUSD Board should follow Facilities Master Plan to benefit all students Hopefully, by now you’ve heard about the chaos at Orange Unified School District. The cur- rent board majority, led by Rick Ledesma, has already wasted at least half a million dollars, with zero benefit to our classrooms. This kind of irresponsibility doesn’t stop with just one action, it trickles into the next decision and the next. Playing fast and loose with millions of educational dollars reverberates into every aspect of student life. A recent proposal by OUSD Board Trustee John Ortega is just one example of the continued thoughtlessness. He is pushing to build a 50-me- ter aquatics center at Villa Park High. The existing pool needs repairs, but that isn’t enough for Ortega, he wants to jump the line of ALL other projects in OUSD. When Measure S passed, we were assured that the elementary and middle schools would be next in line to get attention once the high schools received their needed upgrades. Is there a plan to meet the needs of our younger students? Yes, there is. In 2021, OUSD presented the Facilities Master Plan, or FMP. It’s a comprehensive report years in the making, signifying the work of over 1,000 people, in- cluding district leaders, admin- istrators, teachers and parents. Assessments were conducted at all of our elementary and middle school sites to create a practi- cal, realistic, actionable plan for the future of our schools. (High schools had their own FMP.) You can read it for yourself here at ousd.org/departments/facilities- planning. The plan indicates exactly what improvements are needed and which are the most dire. Nearly every school assessed had mul- tiple Category 3 items, defined as needing “Major Modernization/ Reconfiguration/ Complete Re- placement.” A few of these items have been handled since 2021, but most have not, as any student, teacher or parent can tell you. Even a cursory glance at many school sites reveals cracked blacktops, rotting door frames and splintered fascia boards. Many schools have flooded ar- eas whenever it rains due to poor drainage and shifting pavement, air conditioning and heaters that take turns breaking down. Play- grounds are worn out, or not ap- propriate for the age group they serve. Old trees die, are cut down, and never replaced. Most of our elementary schools do not have an indoor multi-pur- pose room. These schools are un- able to hold events in inclement weather, after dark, or in a sound- controlled environment. Some have no event space whatsoever. Assemblies are held on the black- top with no shade, and huge lights have to be lugged out every time there is a gathering at dusk. At schools like these, plays or con- certs are moved off-site or simply not held at all. Many of our schools were built during the 1960s and still have original restrooms, windows, doors, plumbing, mechanicals … the list goes on. So much has changed since then. Earthquake building requirements changed drastically in 1978. In the 80s and 90s, we became aware of the threat that rot and mold pose to our respiratory systems. Today’s risks require secure windows and doors as a vital part of protect- ing our kids from active shooters. And yet many school structures have only seen coats of paint and new carpet during the last 60 years. Parents are pushed to the donation limit, and couldn’t pos- sibly raise the funds needed for new construction. John Ortega’s proposal doesn’t show any such need. The pool at VPHS serves 100 students for an extracurricular activity. Why should it get to jump ahead of the weary campuses with thou- sands of kids waiting on their turn? Why should all the work put into our Facilities Master Plan be tossed out? We just spent millions on a pool at El Modena, does our community really have to bankroll a larger, much more expensive Olympic-style aquatics center before replacing our rot- ting classrooms? The only reason a new pool is on the table is because John Orte- ga promised Orange Regional Competitive Aquatics (ORCA) that he would get it for them in exchange for promotion and votes during the campaign. He used his position on ORCA’s board to ad- vertise directly to ORCA’s mem- bers, a self-serving, sketchy situ- ation at best. This is unconscionable and will not stand. As parents of elemen- tary and middle school students, we demand better. Jennie Sloan, La Veta Elementary Casey Harr, Linda Vista Elementary Jolin Lang, Villa Park Elementary Bryan Nih, Fletcher Elementary e writers are parents of OUSD students. duce the multi-story monstrosi- ties visible in a news clip from San Diego (see the Bad Examples section at RestoreLocalControl. com), wreaking havoc in an exist- ing single-family neighborhood in the East College area. So many special advantages have been added to the ADU laws – and so few restrictions placed on their use – that builders have adopted ADUs as a more profit- able strategy than SB9 projects, which haven’t really taken off yet. There are creative and prag- matic approaches that would help our shortage of affordable hous- ing, such as the steps advocated by Jon Dumitru, the Orange City Councilman for District 2 in his letter in the April Sentry . He stat- ed, “By taking away local con- trol, the state is making it difficult for local governments to address their unique housing needs. Lo- cal governments should have the ability to determine the best use of land within their jurisdictions. We need to work together to ad- dress the housing crisis. Develop- ing Caltrans Maintenance Station properties into affordable housing units is a step in the right direc- tion.” His idea certainly merits a closer look. But the first step to protect our existing communities from being the fall guys for the housing short- age, is to get a proposed amend- ment to the California Constitu- tion on the ballot for 2024. That amendment will enshrine local control over land-use planning and zoning, and allow our local elected representatives to do their job, making the best land-use de- cisions for our communities. See RestoreLocalControl.com for more information, and to learn how to join the fight. Jane Rice Chair, Restore Local Control Foothill Communities Associa- tion Dear Editor: What is the American Dream? It includes many things, but for generations the dream has in- cluded a home and a yard, with a tire swing drawing slow circles in a light breeze, a white picket fence waiting patiently to keep a ball from rolling into the street. A quiet safe place all your own to raise a family. Sacramento politicians, and those who would benefit from kissing the SB9 and SB10 rings, would have you believe that you are wrong about the American Dream of single-family housing, and disrespectfully obstinate of those who know better than you … and dreadfully selfish. They will tell you what your American Dream is. It’s not a home with a tire swing, a picket fence and a quiet safe place to raise your family, and they won’t force you to choose, they’ll just remove the alternatives. Op- pression takes many insidiously veiled forms, and one of them is like a multiple-choice exam where every question has three answers, all the same. This is a false choice. If you were hoping for a single-family home, then go live, work and play where they still have them – you still have a “choice” – they will say. While we wait, they act. Our apathy is their advantage. With each yard we hand over to them with our indifference we approach the event horizon when it is too late and this gluttonous path of theirs tramples right through our American Dream. The path to secure the Ameri- can Dream for future generations is to support a California State Constitutional Amendment for the 2024 ballot that will preserve local control over land-use plan- ning. California needs more housing, but government solving a prob- lem that government created does what all government solutions do – it creates more government problems for the government to solve. Visit RestoreLocalControl.com for more information and to learn how to join the fight to protect and preserve the American Dream. Scott Logue North Tustin Dear Editor: I was glad to see your April commentary “The State Wants to Build in Your Backyard.” This is a sleeper issue until suddenly it’s your neighborhood that is af- fected. Clearly, we need more hous- ing throughout the state – and in many other areas of the country. But we need to find solutions that don’t declare war on existing single-family home communities. This is a time to come together and find real solutions, not en- gage in blame-games that only serve to divide us. Over 100 bills affecting land use in California have been passed since 2016, with many of them modifying laws that were passed previously. It’s easy to get lost in the details of the legisla- tion. What stands out, though, is the intent to put Sacramento – and the development community -- in control of all land-use decisions in the state, removing that control from our local elected officials. From my perspective, that is wrong on several counts. It takes away our ability as voters to choose local representatives who will make land-use decisions in our best interests. It takes away the assurance that homebuyers seek when they rely on zoning codes and General and Specific Plans to select the neighbor- hoods where they want to make a major investment and live with their families. And it threatens to change existing communities in ways our residents never agreed to. Some of our North Tustin neighbors are currently trying to preserve the Tustin Hills Racquet Club from development made possible by some of this new leg- islation. The Foothill Communities As- sociation strongly supports the ballot initiative proposed by Our Neighborhood Voices that would amend the California Constitu- tion to enshrine local control over land-use planning and zoning. The project is underway now to get this initiative on the Novem- ber 2024 ballot. Visit RestoreLo- calControl.com to learn how you can support this effort. Richard Nelson President, Foothill Communities Association Square peg Dear Editor: The proposed redevelopment of the Tustin Hills Racquet Club (THRC) would result in the de- struction of an established rec- reational facility in North Tustin