Foothills Sentry August 2020

Page 5 Foothills Sentry 7 1 4 - 2 8 9 - 1 0 3 1 7 4 4 6 E . C h a p m a n A v e . • O r a n g e , C A 9 2 8 6 9 Now Open 7 days a week 7 AM -2 PM Zone • Behind Pacific Ranch Market • Stay Connected: Wi-Fi & Cappuccino • Breakfast, Lunch, Acai Bowls • Restaurant seating inside & out Your neighborhood cafe in Orange has an extensive breakfast and lunch menu, full coffee and tea bar, açaí bowls and pastries. Come in and enjoy our homemade pastries, sauces and our specialty - our salsa! Serving food 7 days a week, 7:00am - 2:00pm Located next to Da Bianca Trattoria behind the Pacific Ranch Market. BRING IN THIS AD AND RECEIVE 10% OFF A LUNCH ENTRÉE IN AUGUST August 2020 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 California Rabies Law * Rabies vaccination required for dogs between 3 & 4 months of age *Rabies revaccination required for dogs one year after the initial & every three years thereafter. What to do with 'Sharps'? Beginning on September 1, 2008, State law (Section 118286 of the California Health and Safety Code) made it illegal to dispose of sharps waste (hypodermic needles, pen needles, intravenous needles, lancets, and other devices that are used to penetrate the skin for the delivery of medications) in the trash or recycling containers. All sharps waste must be transported to a collection center in an approved sharps container. County HHW Collection Centers In Anaheim: 1071 N. Blue Gum Street In Huntington Beach: 17121 Nichols Street In Irvine: 6411 Oak Canyon In San Juan Capistrano: 32250 La Pata Avenue from www.ochealthinfo.com      Barbara Doty, DVM News 'The Aedes aegypti (the yellow fever mosquito), Aedes albopictus (the Asian tiger mosquito) and A edes notoscriptus (the Australian Backyard Mosquito) have been detected in Orange County. All three invasive Aedes mosquitoes bite aggressively during the day and lay their eggs in small containers of water. These mosquitoes are not native to California and can transmit Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever. There have been no recent cases of these viruses being transmitted locally in California.' quoted from www.ocvector.org Pet Pix®, pet photographer Thursday Aug 20th & Oct 15th Schedule your pet 714-633-9780 Circulation … 43,400 Published on the last Tuesday of each month and distributed to residences, businesses, libraries and civic centers. 714-532-4406 Fax: 714-532-6755 foothillssentry.com 1107 E. Chapman Ave., #207 Orange, CA 92866 © Foothills Sentry 2020 Publisher/Editor Anita Bennyhoff 1969-2013 Editor Tina Richards editor@foothillssentry.com Sports Editor Cliff Robbins sportseditor@att.net Graphic Designer Aimee Armstrong graphics@foothillssentry.com Advertising Sales Andie Mills advertising@foothillssentry.com 714-926-9299 Office Manager Kathy Eidson officemanager@foothillssentry. com Photos by Tony Richards A 22-unit housing tract that would occupy 10.9 acres south of Mabury Avenue and north of Santiago Creek sailed through the Orange Planning Commission, July 20, with barely a whisper from the public. The project was considered as "Alternate 1" to the 128-unit de- velopment that landowner Milan Capital originally wanted to build on the Sully-Miller property in East Orange. While the land slated for the 128 homes required a zone change from “sand and gravel” to “residential,” the par- cel north of the creek was already zoned r-1-8. Back in 1993, the city coun- cil approved a tract map for 25 houses on that site and changed the zoning accordingly. That tract map expired, and nothing was ever built. The residential zoning, however, remained in place. While Orange residents op- posed the 128-home plan and the zone change that would invali- date decades of land use planning for that area, they supported the Milan Capital’s backup housing plan approved notion of building on the acreage where existing zoning supported it. As Alternate 1 of a previously- approved development, this one piggybacked on the environ- mental studies performed for the larger project. The city staff re- port prepared for the commission declared that the previous Envi- ronmental Impact Report (EIR) had been certified by the city, and that only an addendum was needed. “This addendum,” staff wrote, “along with the certified EIR, serve as the environmental review of the proposed project.” The staff report did not mention that the certified EIR is currently being challenged in court. Nor did it mention the other element of Alternate 1: the continuation of the sand and gravel operation on the remainder of the Sully-Miller property. The “sand and gravel” has evolved into a construction waste dump, and has been desig- nated an Inert Debris Type A Dis- posal Facility (landfill) by the Or- ange County arm of CalRecycle. LEA’s rejection letter cited deficiencies in its “siting ele- ment conformance,” among other things. The paperwork was cor- rected to LEA’s satisfaction, and a registration permit for an Inert Debris Type A Disposal Facility (processing) was issued on June 22. That type of waste facility is considered to be "non disposal," and would have to be listed in the city's Non Disposal Facility Ele- ment, a disclosure filed with the state every year. It wasn't, but Chandler's consultants assured LEA that it would be. Neighboring Orange Park Acres appealed the permit. The appeal letter written by Attorney John Edgcomb noted that call- ing the site an Inert Debris Type ADisposal Facility was incorrect. Edgcomb provided documents indicating the site was not a "non disposal" facility, but was, in fact, a disposal facility. As such, it would have to appear in the coun- ty's waste disposal siting element. LEA notified Chandler Rio Santiago that "since issuance of the registration permit, LEA has learned that the site has not been identified on the appropriate plan- ning document for County of Or- ange. In consultation with Cal- Recycle it was agreed that the site is a disposal facility as opposed to a processing facility. "LEA's approval of the applica- tion was on the basis that the site was to be identified in the appro- priate facility element." It wasn't, and isn't, and the cease and desist letter was dis- patched. The road not taken Back when the site was mined for sand and gravel by Hanson Aggregates, Orange could have insisted it comply with Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA) guidelines. SMARA, legislated in 1975, is intended to minimize the negative impacts of surface mining on public health and the environment. It requires operators to have reclamation plans outlining how the site will be readied for other uses once the mining ceases. Hanson didn’t fol- low SMARA, and neither did the city. When pressed, then-city at- torney Dave DeBerry ruled that SMARA did not apply, despite records to the contrary. The city’s willingness to forego SMARA in 2003 to grease the skids for a housing development cost it the opportunity to have the land returned to its natural state, paid for by someone else. When public opposition to that proposed tract thwarted Hanson’s bid to sell the land to a developer, the Orange Planning Commis- sion voted to shut down the sand and gravel operation. Hanson appealed to the city council and offered to shut it down itself, in exchange for three more years of operation. The city council (with Mark Murphy and Mike Alvarez onboard) allowed the activity to continue as a temporary “noncon- forming use,” but did not take the closure deal. There was no follow up. Blind eye Hanson sold the property in 2008, while a six-acre rock and concrete crushing operation con- tinued. A grading permit was is- sued in 2012 for “backfilling.” “Backfilling,” DeBerry reported, "can continue until it brings the site to its natural grade, con- sidered to be Santiago Canyon Road.” The permit expired in 2014. The backfilling evolved into construction waste stockpil- ing and the “natural grade” sur- passed by 40 to 50 feet in some places. Last September, Attorney Edg- comb advised the city that the stockpiling operation on the Sul- ly-Miller site was not authorized under the city’s ordinances, and that the nonconforming use ap- proved in 2003 was not intended to continue indefinitely. Edg- comb’s letter gave the city several valid ways it could shut down the site. The letter asked the city to “immediately schedule a public hearing to consider the issues.” The city did not respond. Had the city responded in 2003 and accepted Hanson’s offer to shut down, the mess that is now the Sully-Miller site may not have happened at all. "Dump site" continued from page 1 Photos by Tony Richards Construction waste has been stockpiled on the Sully-Miller site without permits or authority.