Foothills Sentry - December 2024

Foothills Sentry Page 2 DECEMBER 2024 jadtec.com 714-282-0828 HELPING YOU PROTECT WHAT MATTERS MOST! ACO 4202 "Mills Act" continued from page 1 derstands what the future budget looks like. He suggested taking no action until “we can get our heads around what the next budget cycle looks like.” “And,” he said, “I’d be saying this if it were to cost the city one dollar or a million.” Mayor Dan Slater reminded his colleagues that the action item for the meeting was to vote on those contracts and not dissect or re- think the Mills Act itself. “These contracts have been in process for quite some time,” he said. “We can place a moratorium on future contracts, but that’s not tonight.” Pay it forward Arianna Barrios noted that Mills Act contracts are a “rare op- portunity for economic develop- ment – in its purest form. If you create something beautiful, people will come. And they do,” she said. “Look at the Richland Hotel. We can’t afford not to move forward.” It is economic development, Ana Gutierrez agreed. Regarding the contracts awaiting approval she said, “These people have al- ready done all the work, way before the deficit was identified. They went through the steps, they paid their fees.” Some of the ap- plicants, it was noted, started the process last February. “This is the nightmare scenario I’ve been worried about,” Denis Bilodeau advised. “I’ve been say- ing the city should stop accepting applications. The city has been lax in enforcement, and I don’t support evergreen contracts.” Explaining that he rehabilitated his 1914 home in six months, without the Mills Act, he stressed that, “Ten years should be enough to get property squared away. We shouldn’t enter in to anymore ev- ergreen contracts.” He also said the city was going to have to adopt a cap on Mills Act contracts. As older ones ter- minated, new contracts could replace them. “I don’t want to vote this down tonight. I think it should be brought back.” One squeaks through Of the 14 contracts, one was a commercial property, The Hobbit restaurant on Chapman Avenue. The former farmhouse is nearly 100 years old, and requires a lot of work. Its new owners told the council they had been depending on the Mills Act to make their investment viable. The council approved that contract, 4-3, with Dumitru, Bilodeau and Gyllen- hammer voting no. A vote on the residential con- tracts failed, 4-3, with Kathy Tavoularis joining the dissenters. Dumitru reiterated that he is not against Mills Act contracts, but that the council needs to un- derstand the city’s financial future before rendering a decision. He suggested deferring the vote until December. Staff advised that De- cember would be too late, as time is needed to get the paperwork to the county assessor before the holidays. It would be possible, however, if a decision is made at the Nov. 26 council meeting. Dumitru motioned to continue the vote until that date, with the caveat that a thorough budget analysis be presented at that time. City Manager Tom Kisela cau- tioned that a thorough analysis might not be possible by that date. “But we will do our best.” The vote to postpone the deci- sion until Nov. 26 passed, 5-2, with Barrios and Gyllenhammer opposed. Santiago Creek finally getting some attention The Santiago Creek Commis- sion, established by the City of Orange to advise the city coun- cil on issues related to the pres- ervation or enhancement of the creek’s ecological, scenic, histor- ical and recreational resources, is, after three meetings, developing a vision for the waterway, one seg- ment at a time. The Orange portion of the creek, running from just below Santiago Oaks Park to Hart Park, was separated into workable seg- ments by the commission. Seg- ment 1 runs from below Santiago Oaks Park to Santiago Canyon Road; Segment 2, from Santiago Canyon Road to the 55 Freeway; and Segment 3, from the 55 to Hart Park. While the “vision” can be sweeping, the reality of what might be is, at least for now, hampered because the bulk of the creek in Segment 1 is privately owned. Because the details have not been finalized on the creekside acreage traded to the city by Chandler LLC, the committee has been instructed to hold off on that property. By agreement between the city and Chandler, that parcel must be kept natural. At its Oct. 23 meeting, the commission was introduced to Segment 1 via a slide presenta- tion by Commissioner David Hil- man. His slides illustrated that the Segment 1 portion of Santiago Creek is the most scenic and un- blemished, and, as such, a natural asset to the City of Orange. He suggested that a first step might be identifying what plants and wildlife are actually there. If any formal surveys of the area’s bio- diversity have been done, no one is aware of them. The consensus between mem- bers of the public and com- missioners was that Segment 1 remain wild and natural with, perhaps, a creekside trail and sig- nage, but little more. A long-term goal could be a pedestrian/eques- trian trail along the length of the creek. It was noted that there is grant funding available for bike paths. Other considerations include the possibility of Native Ameri- can sites on the property; that it is actually a flood control region; and that any vision for its future should contain a management component. City staff is taking all of those points under advisement, and will return to the commission’s Janu- ary meeting with a vision draft. The upper section of Santiago Creek features a waterfall, currently off limits to visitors.