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Mayor Pro-Tem Gelff, Members of the Council,
My name is Mark Nielsen and I reside at 31621 Via Quixote. I am also
speaking as Co-Chair of CAUSE. I first feel compelled to state for the
record that I vehemently reject the scurrilous and libelous allegations
made by certain proponents of this project (not members of this Council)
that citizens of our town acted in a fraudulent and criminal way when
collecting signatures for this referendum. Hopefully we are past this
unproductive sideshow that merely detracts from legitimate public discourse
and the exercise of our democratic process. That being said, I want
to remind this Council that as we have previously stated, CAUSE supports
a public high school for San Juan Capistrano, just not with all the
baggage attached to this ordinance.
We previously offered an alternative, which
I would like to offer again as a means to avoid the delay and uncertainty
of the ballot box and approve a plan with the high school now. This
alternative would allow the City to have a high school at this site,
but would conform the development to the character and policies of San
Juan Capistrano. Specifically, we would urge you to repeal Ordinance
No. 865 and that a new ordinance and CDP according to the following
alternative be adopted:
1. The high school would be built in the
eastern canyon as currently proposed, but the grading
plans would be changed to eliminate the need for an exception to our
ridgeline ordinance for a parking lot.
2. A maximum of 103 homes would be allowed in the eastern canyon south
of the high school. This number of 103 is consistent
with the number of homes that the City would allow
the developer for the whole property without the high school if he did
not have any access to La Pata, nor had any
exceptions to build across the ridgelines. Further, this
number of homes would allow for less landform alteration in the eastern
canyon, and would provide for the larger lots
that are required under the City's Slope Density Policy
and Title 9, Chapter
3. All lots would be a minimum of 10,000 sq. ft in the eastern canyon.
Limiting the number to 103 would also allow
a redrawing of the impact boundary at the far southwestern portion
of the east canyon so as to significantly reduce the impact to the endangered
species and habitat at that location. It would
also allow a more rural design, rather than the
Ladera-like development that would currently be presented to anyone
driving by on La Pata. 3. While we originally
proposed no development in the western canyon, we would agree
to a further compromise of the 15 homes in the western canyon as currently
envisioned. This would give the developer a
total of 118 homes plus the $40-50 million he
will receive for the school.
4. Red curbing and a proctor at Camino Lacouague is not sufficient.
Camino Lacouague should be gated at San Juan
Creek Road.
5. While normally the school district is not subject to any oversight
or written agreements with a city, because this
development is actually being made by a private developer and not
by the school district using a condemnation, the City does have additional
powers as part of the approval process of the
development. The City should require the school district
to enter into a written agreement with it regarding the use of lights,
hours of usage of facilities and attendant noise
so that San Juan High School truly reflects the character
and ambiance of San Juan Capistrano. In addition to such things as low
sodium lights, parking lot lights being turned
off after a certain time in the evening and limits on
the number of nights that stadium lighting can be utilized, there also
needs to be a clear joint use agreement for
the various facilities and a re-evaluation by Parks, Recreation
about the value of the joint playfields versus the dollars for use in
other areas identified in our 7 year CIP.
6. Finally, the issue of traffic is of great importance to our whole
community. If there are creative ways to mitigate
the 6,000 daily trips on Ortega Highway, we need to be exploring
them now instead of after the fact. If the school were to limit parking
permits to only seniors, it would both reduce
the number of vehicles and require more ride
sharing among our town's student population.
In addition, the
funds for mitigation should be applied to a non-traditional public
transportation alternative that would provide
regular bus transportation through town and
down Ortega Highway during both the a.m. and p.m. hours. Such an
approach would have the greatest positive impact
on reducing traffic on Ortega Highway as well as reducing
the safety concerns for brand new drivers competing with trash trucks
on La Pata.
We also believe the City should press the
applicant and school district to support the removal of the San Juan
Creek Road extension from the County's Master Plan of Arterial Highways.
Many in our community are concerned that this development and particularly
the high school location will be used in the future to add to the Ranch's
constant pressure to extend San Juan Creek Road through. Any parent
with students at Ambuehl should be strongly opposed to this extension
as it will only greatly increase the risk to our grade school students
who currently have the benefit of only contending with traffic that
predominately involves parents of students of the school.
CAUSE believes the above alternative provides
a very effective compromise for the City to move forward with a high
school at this site while insuring the attendant private development
and impact of the school is consistent with the character and desires
of San Juan Capistrano as a whole.
Paid for by Citizens
for Mark Nielsen * 27126-B Paseo Espada Suite 725 * SJC CA 92675 * 949.325.0130
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