East Orange Orange Park Acres Villa Park Anaheim Hills Cowan Heights Crawford Canyon Silverado/Modjeska Canyon Areas North Tustin
A Monthly Community Newspaper Est. 1969
FCA savors successes;
braces for battle By Tina Richards
The Foothill Communities As- sociation’s (FCA) annual meet- ing featured updates on local is- sues by Board President Richard Nelson, a lively keynote by Su- pervisor Todd Spitzer, and talks by representatives from the OC Sheriff’s Department, Fire Au- thority, Parks and Public Works. About 160 people attended the meeting held March 2 at Hewes Middle School. Todd Spitzer, who is unin- corporated North Tustin’s only government representative, told the audience that as its “mayor and city council” he worked hard to protect community interests, offering, as an example, his at- tempts to reverse the “senior resi- dential housing” zoning designa- by a previous board of supervi- sors.
The designation was created to
allow a senior housing facility to be built on Newport Avenue on property owned by the Catholic Diocese. FCA challenged the de- velopment, won in a lower court, but lost in the appellate court. Last month, Spitzer convinced his board colleagues to start the process needed to undo the senior zoning.
Undoing a deal He cautioned the audience that
the zoning battle was far from over. He emphasized that tak- ing away an entitlement given to a property owner is hard to back out of – especially when the ap- pellate court ruled that it was le- gal.
His next step, he said, was to
ask the board of supervisors to agree to a 10-month moratori- um on building permits, to give county staff time to get the pro- cess moving. Spitzer explained that since the builder had not yet pulled any permits to begin work, the entitlement had not yet been “vested.” “It’s easier to take an entitlement away if you can dem-
See"FCA" continued on page 8 “State of the
City” slated Orange Mayor Tita Smith will highlight the annual State of the City event to be held at Chapman University, Sandhu Conference Center, 571 N. Grand St., at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, March 26. The 2014 Citizen of the Year will also be announced at this time. Tickets are $85 per person,
$750 for a table of ten; sponsor- ships are available. Find registra- tion details on the Orange Cham- ber of Commerce website at or-
angechamber.com.
Photo by Tony Richards
INSIDE
Letters To The Editor Canyon Beat Prof. Directory Classifieds
Services Directory Real Estate Obituaries Soup's On Sports
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Page 21-23 Tuesday, March 10, 2015 NEWS INSIDE
Don’t tread on me
A popular East Orange park is being loved to death by more users than it can handle. See Peters Canyon, page 2
It’s the voters, not the vehicle
OUSD is 0 for 2 in school bond votes; but board majority, skipping self analysis, aims to try again with a different voter mix. See School board revisits, page 3
Photo by Dennis Junor
OUSD votes to let Super Sports' lease
By Tina Richards
District Board voted to termi- nate the lease with Peralta Golf Partnership (PGP) and negotiate license agreements with three existing subtenants instead. PGP owns the Super Sports complex that has offered golf and other recreational activities on the site for 20 years. The lease with the school district expires March 31. During its Feb. 26 meeting, the
board was presented with two op- tions regarding the immediate fu- ture of the surplus Peralta school site. One was to continue the Super Sports lease on a month-to- month basis; the other was to end that lease, but pursue licensing agreements with the tenants who currently sublet from PGP. In previous action, four mem-
bers of the seven-person board had voted to sell the Peralta site outright, but surplus prop- erty sales require a supermajor- Diane Singer, Kathy Moffat and Alexia Delgianni-Brydges voting against the sale, the “yes” votes of Tim Surridge, Rick Ledesma, John Ortega and Mark Wayland weren’t enough.
Stay the course Kent Hawkins of PGP offered
the district $200,000 annually ($16,668 per month) and agreed to pay all maintenance and utility costs. He was willing to accept a month-to-month lease, with a 90- day notice of termination. PGP has been subletting portions of the property to Olive Crest Acad- emy, Arena Soccer Club and the Tennis Specialists. OUSD re-
expire; will retain subtenants ceived separate proposals from those lessees who hoped to stay on the property in the event the PGP lease ended. Olive Crest Academy, a school
for students with behavioral chal- lenges, proposed paying $19,000 a month and agreed to handle regular maintenance and utilities for its site. The district would be responsible for major repairs. The soccer club offered $4,780 a month, and would also pay its utilities and facility maintenance. The Tennis Specialists proposed $2,000 a month, with OUSD tak- ing on utilities and maintenance.
the numbers favored option two: PGP’s $16,668 per month vs. a combined $25,780 per month
See"OUSD" continued on page 9
A blast on the past
Rich history of rural OC is losing to bulldozers and beetles. See Canyon Beat, page 7
A tough row to hoe
Residents asked to approve landscaping fee hike wonder how it came to this. See Santiago Hills, page 13
Beginning in April, the
Foothills Sentry will be pub- -
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