Foothills Sentry July 2024

Foothills Sentry Page 8 JULY 2024 Happy Independence Day! dan@DanSlater.com 714-744-2202 1537 E. Chapman Ave. Orange, CA 92866 DAN SLATER Orange denies developer's appeal to approve incomplete housing project application By Tina Richards A developer’s appeal to short- circuit Orange’s established pro- cess to approve housing project applications, was denied by the city council at a meeting called specifically to consider the issue, June 5. Integral Communities, operat- ing as "The Orange JCP Project Owner, LLC, Peter Vanek," owns a portion of The Village at Orange property, and wants to build 167 housing units with 42 ADUs (ac- cessory dwelling units) where the closed JCPenney stands. Vanek submitted a land-use project ap- plication to the city planning department in June 2023. That application and two ensuing revi- sions (September 2023, February 2024) were deemed incomplete by planning staff. Vanek claims his application is not incomplete. He asked the city to overrule planning staff’s assess- ment and accept the paperwork without further delay. At issue is Orange JCP Project Owner’s fail- ure to apply for a General Plan Amendment (GPA) and zone change, and to redesignate the property’s current commercial status to residential. Vanek, rely- ing on recent state legislation that streamlines a developer’s ability to build housing, says he doesn’t need a GPAor zone change to pro- ceed. The city’s planning process says it does. Subject to interpretation After planning staff determined the builder’s revised application to be incomplete, Vanek appealed to the Orange Planning Commis- sion. Arguing that state legisla- tion (SB330) precluded the need for a General Plan Amendment or zone change, the project’s at- torney insisted that his client had met all the necessary require- ments. The city’s position is that SB330 does not override local General Plans and zoning, that jurisdictions are still required to apply appropriate development standards to each project. With- out a General PlanAmendment or zone change, the property would become a legal (or illegal) non- conforming use. That outcome is contrary to state law and public policy. Further, “nothing in the law says a city cannot process in a normal fashion an application that purports to have protections under the Housing Accountabil- ity Act.” Orange is not precluded from requiring that a project sub- mit the desired General Plan des- ignation, zoning classification, and pay the attendant fees. The planning commission de- nied the appeal May 20. Presum- ing that Vanek’s company would take the appeal to the city council, staff made the necessary arrange- ments to hear it -- before the ap- peal was received. Fast and furious State law requires that a juris- diction reply to a builder’s appeal within 60 days. Vanek’s original appeal was filed April 10. The 60-day window was due to close on June 7. To meet that deadline, the city posted public notices of the pending appeal (as required) and attempted to find a hearing date when enough council mem- bers (four) could attend to make a quorum. The appeal to the council was filed June 3 and notice of the pre- arranged June 5 meeting went out the next day. Councilmembers Ana Gutierrez, Kathy Tavoularis, John Gyllenhammer and Mayor Dan Slater were in attendance. Jon Dumitru arrived later, before the meeting ended. Project Attorney Travis Van Ligten was angry. “I’m not pre- pared,” he told the council. “I only had 24 hours’ notice. You’re supposed to have 10-days’ notice. I object to this hearing. It doesn’t follow due process, it’s a sham.” When told that notice had in- deed been provided 10 days be- fore, via a posting on the proper- ty, he pointed out that, “You can’t give notice of an appeal before the appeal is filed.” Lost in the ozone Nonetheless, he stated his cli- ent’s basis for the appeal. The project, he said, did not need to ask for a General Plan Amend- ment and zone change because those check-off boxes did not ap- pear on a government-required list of objectives, and were not found in the city’s planned de- velopment application. Because the government code does not mention either procedure, those changes are not required, he in- sisted. “We are not seeking a zone change,” he said. “We don’t have to.” Further, he noted, the letters his client received from the city were signed by Senior Planner Chad Ortlieb and not by Planning Director Russ Bonim. Because communications between Orange and the developer are, according to written procedures, supposed to come from the planning direc- tor, Ortlieb was not authorized to sign them. The letter, Ligten stressed, was invalid. “We receive hundreds of plan- ning applications,” Bonim point- ed out. “Typically, the project planner acts on behalf of the di- rector. It’s common practice.” Following the rules Ortlieb and Bonim explained that Orange JCP Project Owner, LLC, was advised early on of its need to ask for a General Plan Amendment and zone change. The city’s land-use project ap- plication information packet in- cludes a requirement to note the “existing” and “proposed” Gen- eral Plan designation or zoning classification. Further, the need to identify the “proposed” designa- tions and pay the appropriate fees was included in all three letters calling the application incom- plete. Staff assured the council that the planning application does re- fers to a GPA and zone change; that state legislation does not bar the city from following standard practices; and that, by law, “all development applications must still be processed in a manner that provides clarity, and that proper- ties are correctly designated and classified.” The council denied the appeal in a unanimous vote. Dumitru asked if that meant the clock was restarted. "No," was the answer. The project application remains incomplete until all requirements are submitted. Orange’s oldest Boy Scout Troop turns out three new Eagle Scouts Boy Scout Troop 241, founded in 1963 and the oldest troop in the City of Orange, recognized three new Eagle Scouts last month – Will Carter, Casey Garcia and Paxton Lavigne. The three were honored in a joint Eagle Ceremo- ny, May 14 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, which has hosted Troop 241 for its weekly meetings for the past 36 years. As part of earning their Eagle rank, each Scout is required to plan, lead and execute a service project that benefits a nonprofit organization. Casey Garcia led a team of vol- unteers to build a cabinet to hold band instruments for the music department at St. Paul’s Lutheran School. He starred on the Can- yon High Comanche’s varsity la- crosse and football teams. Garcia earned an academic and sports scholarship to Dominican Uni- versity in San Rafael, California, where he will pursue a business degree. Paxton Lavigne, who started as a Cub Scout at St. Paul’s and bridged to Troop 241 when he From left, new Eagle Scouts, Casey Garcia, Paxton Lavigne and Will Carter. became a Boy Scout, organized and oversaw the construction of four large mobile planter boxes for the students at the Savanna Elementary School District in Anaheim. He built them to be of varying heights so they could be used by kids of all ages, and put them on wheels so they could be rolled from classroom to class- room. Lavigne graduated summa cum laude from Orange Lutheran High, and will attend California Baptist University to study me- chanical engineering. Will Carter chose to build a Ga- Ga Ball Pit for Covenant Chris- tian School. He recently gradu- ated from Orange Lutheran High School, and will go to Chico State to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering. Carter, Garcia and Lavigne are the 162nd, 163rd and 164th Scouts, respectively, to earn their Eagle Rank from Troop 241. For more information about Boy Scout Troop 241 (ages 10- 18), please visit troop241.org . Interested Cub Scouts (ages 5-10) can visit cubpack241.org . The Woman’s Club of Orange donated $1,000 to the Orange Public Library’s History Center. Aida Cuevas, archivist and history librarian, left, receives the check from Woman's Club member Kathy Thomas. Book Carnival to host book signing Author John McNellis will dis- cuss his crime thriller “Scout’s Honor,” Sunday, July 14 at the Book Carnival. McNellis is a former practic- ing lawyer and co-founder of a real estate development firm that owns property in Orange. “Scout’s Honor” is his second novel and features complex, flawed and morally questionable characters. McNellis’s talk begins at 2 p.m. The Book Carnival is at 348 S. Tustin St.