Foothills Sentry November 2021

Foothills Sentry Page 4 November 2021 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 Sentry Stefan Dear Editor: I need to tell you how much my wife and I enjoy receiving the Foothills Sentry each month. Since we moved to the NE part of Orange three years ago, we have found your publication to be an excellent source of local news. We find articles in there that the OC Register wouldn’t touch, and if they do, yours are more de- tailed. Please do keep up the great work! Stefan A.D. Bucek Orange Keeping house Dear Editor: I was sickened when I read “Voters prepare to take on state zoning legislation with ballot initiative,” in the October issue. It is indescribable how this SB9 legislation takes all neighborhood zoning laws from cities and coun- ties in California. housing in Orange and other OC cities, and wonder, “Who can afford to live there, and how are they going to fill them when they are built?” Now they want to take over single-family residences. Our single-family neighbor- hoods are already plagued with rentals to university students and/ or families who come and go. Our neighborhoods already have parking issues. Imagine every home demolished and replaced with duplexes, four-plexes or, horror of horrors, an apartment complex? Where will all these ve- hicles park if every unit has two or more persons with separate ve- hicles? It’s beyond belief that this state can take away our rights without the “impacted” having a voice. This action reeks of a demented form of “eminent domain” where our single-family neighborhoods are targeted by real estate inves- tors, builders or private entrepre- neurs who only wish to expand their profits and have no interest in the longtime residents they im- pact. Those of us who love our City of Orange are at risk of every- thing we value being turned up- side down. I suppose this take- over makes our land monetarily pleasing IF we want to sell our property. What of those who wish to live their lives here? Orange is going to drastically change IF this state zoning legislation is not stopped! We need to protect our property rights! California, as a whole, needs to be worried … all we can do is VOTE! Protect our cities, counties and California from tyrants that have only their own interests in mind. We matter too! Mary Keough Orange Dear Editor: Thanks for your article on SB9 and the initiative effort to shore up local controls. SB9 does NOT allow up to six units to be devel- oped on a single-family parcel. It allows a duplex with, perhaps, a Detached or attached/Junior Ac- cessory Dwelling Unit (DADU or JADU.). There is a provision in the law for a lot split of a single- family parcel, provided it meets a number of strict criteria. If split, each resulting lot could support a duplex and perhaps a DADU or JADU. Developers ARE required to provide parking in most circum- stances, though it may be reduced if the site is within a certain dis- tance of viable local transit. Both SB9 and SB10 were in- tended to gently increase density in existing single-family neigh- borhoods in urbanized areas to help ease California’s devastat- ing housing crisis. The fact is, they will both have an extremely limited impact, due to restrictions within the bills, but also because the financial/market feasibility of the vast majority of potential ad- ditional units in the state is not viable. (Per Terner Center for Housing report, projecting the total of potential new units may be 700,000 on California’s 7.5 million single-family lots, or less than ten percent.) SB9 allows for municipalities to augment the law with addition- al objective planning or design standards, provided they don’t prohibit the production of at least a duplex on any single-family site, including those created by lot splits. Also, a lot split requires a property owner to remain a resi- dent of the site for at least three years, which will limit the impact institutional investors or develop- ers have to significantly alter the nature of any given neighbor- hood. I acknowledge the tension between local agencies and the state legislature. There are clearly battle lines being drawn between municipalities and the state, and litigation is certainly on the hori- zon. As with the ADU law, it will take a couple of years for inter- ested parties to discern where SB9 projects are possible, viable, and desirable. In that same time period, we will see the laws tested by lawsuits, with possible refine- ments ahead. California needs more housing, and the SB9 approach is just one tool in the production toolbox. At best, it will only produce a drop in the bucket. Daniel P. Gehman People For Housing OC Orange Fuming over fuel Dear Editor: As a resident of Tustin Ranch, I would like register my unhappi- ness and opposition to the deci- sion to build a mega gas station at the Costco location. This is closer to our homes and we are worried about the increased traffic, pollution and noise this is going to generate be- ing next to the 5 freeway. The peaceful and heathy living of residents has been compro- mised and I sincerely hope this decision can be reversed by the officials of Tustin City Council and Costco. Gopal Murugesan Tustin Dear Editor: I write to you with concern about the Tustin Costco gas sta- tion that is planned in Tustin Ranch. My concerns are primar- ily about the health of my chil- dren and the children at the three schools that are within one mile of the site. Exposure to emissions from idling cars, day in and day out, will lead to tragic health out- comes. Don’t we, as adults, have responsibility for our most vul- nerable, to ensure children are not exposed unnecessarily to excess pollution? My concerns are multi-faceted, though notably I am disappointed in the City of Tustin not fully as- sessing the environmental im- pact. The lack of an Environmen- tal Impact Report and the finding of excessive levels of perchloro- ethylene are extremely alarming. After the Huntington Beach oil spill, can we really forgo properly assessing one of the largest Cost- co gas stations ever to be built, including plans for three 40,000 gallon tanks to be buried within feet of a flood channel flowing di- rectly to Newport Back Bay? We need to wake up to the con- sequences of fuel emissions and what environmental harm the fuel industry is causing. We need to think ahead for the future of our city and of our planet. Kimberly Tsai Tustin Dear Editor: Thanks for writing about the mega-pump Costco issue. We are a peaceful community here in Tustin Ranch near Costco. There are numerous communi- ties on Tustin Ranch Road off of El Camino, Bryan, Irvine Blvd. There are three schools within a mile. We have two gas stations -- Shell, Chevron -- already in this area, and The District Costco Gas station is just three miles away. What is the need for another one to disrupt the peaceful residential life around here? A gas station in this area means a lot more traffic, chaos, chance of accidents, air pollution, noise pollution and so many more un- accounted disruptions. Who is the one benefiting the most? Probably the corporate business clan, and the revenue collection department of the city. Why should Tustin Ranch suffer for their benefit is my ultimate question. Swati Dedhia Tustin Dear Editor: I have been a resident of Tustin Ranch for the last 15 years, and am very concerned about the con- struction of the mega 32-pump Costco Gas Station in Tustin Ranch. The primary areas of concerns are the safety of my kids, walk- ing/biking/driving to the middle and high schools. Also, the traf- fic congestion and pollution this mega gas station will bring to our quiet community. We don’t need the inconve- nience of this gas station and believe the issue deserves more attention. Raj Dadlani Tustin Speed demons Dear Editor: “Three cars just passed my kitchen window driving 75 mph in a 25 mph zone. I don’t think they will make it through the next turn.” I was on the phone with Heidi Grande, who lives near the end of Silverado Canyon at the end of a short, straight section of road. She was right. They didn’t. One of the drivers lost control at high speed, skidded off the roadway, went up the steep slope, then came back down and crashed through the wooden barrier placed at the side of the road. After the tow truck came and removed the car, the driver’s friends drove down the canyon past me. “Take it to the track!” I shouted at them. Just a few weeks later, another speeding car went off the road at the exact same spot. But this time, an off-road vehicle was coming the other way. The result was a serious col- lision. Welcome to the Silverado Speedway, which apparently has become the latest location for various OC car clubs to race their modified vehicles. In spite of blind turns, canyon residents pulling out of their driveways, people and dogs walking at the side of the road and other “minor inconveniences,” these irrespon- sible drivers continue to use our community as a racetrack, oblivi- ous to the danger to Silverado residents. Earlier this year, one of them came flying up the canyon at high speed, crossed over the double yellow lines, then hit one of my neighbors head-on, as he was driving to work. The result? My neighbor’s ankles were broken, his van was totaled, and the driver of the car that hit him (not a can- yon resident) died on the spot. There is now a roadside memo- rial there. After several dozen serious in- cidents, one resident managed to stop four speeding cars to take photos of their license plates and the drivers themselves. The driver of vehicle four jumped out of his car and punched the photographer in the face, then got back in his car and drove into him in an at- tempt to escape. Fortunately, the resident wasn’t seriously injured. Locals have taken to filming the racers and calling up-canyon to warn residents of their im- minent high-speed arrival. The agency responsible for patrolling the canyons is the CHP, yet they never are seen here, unless they are responding to an accident. Maybe they have their hands full just taking care of the speeders on Santiago Canyon Road. I have spoken with Supervisor Don Wagner about the situation, as have many other residents. The result was one of those signs that reads a vehicle’s speed and then asks them to “slow down.” It was present for two weeks, then van- ished. Residents here are setting up a meeting with the CHP to discuss what can be done. Meanwhile, the reckless driving continues. Mike Boeck Silverado Canyon Two crashes occurred on the same stretch of Silverado Canyon Road within weeks of each other.