The main item for this week’s City Council meeting is the changes to Saddleback Ranch Road. But first let’s consider all those important items waiting to be discussed that aren’t on the agenda.
ITEMS WAITING TO BE DISCUSSED
- Evaluation of Village Pond Park ordinance (Jan 6)
- Report on effects of Council Consensus (Jan 6)
- Programs to support the arts (March 31)
- Discussion of assets and needs (April 21)
- Council use of Attorney time (May 5)
- 25th Anniversary plans for the City (May 5)
- Revisions to City website (May 19)
- Improvements on City owned properties (June 5)
- Animal care alternatives (July 7)
- Cost savings for Police programs (July 21)
- Changes to SVUSD agreement on costs (Aug 4)
- July 4 Parade discussion (July 7)
- Analysis of decline in use of CBDG funds for frail seniors and homeless (Sept 15)
- Review of City Agenda and Meeting policies (Nov 3)
This is an unofficial record of what’s waiting, based on my own notes. Chances are that the official record may include even more items, but even my list shows that there are plenty of items waiting to be dealt with.
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Some of these items are more important than others, and many involve financial considerations, all of them designed to save the City money.
As you can tell from the dates, some of these items have been waiting for nearly a year.
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SADDLEBACK RANCH RD.
This topic has been covered several times. Click below for links to previous articles.
As being presented to the Council in the staff report this week, the new changes will involve –
- · Reducing the width of all medians north of Shady Ridge by up to 2 feet on each side
- · Modifying the southern end of the median near Millwood to allow for five foot striped bike lanes and ten foot vehicle lanes
- · Eliminating the median closest to the intersection of Saddleback Ranch Road and Ridgeline.
- · Installing storm drain catch basins and pedestrian access improvements at several bulbouts.
These changes are estimated to cost nearly $70,000 and require 30 more days. Not included is the cost of removing the median curbs. These changes were agreed upon after the City met with representatives from the six HOAs in the Portola Hills area.
What isn’t clear includes -
- · What is the financial responsibility of the designer for what appears to be flawed plans?
- · Why are the benefits and problems of having any medians, and if they exist, what are the benefits and problems of using drinking water to sustain the landscaping?
- · What exactly is the “speeding” problem on Saddleback Ranch Rd.? There are reports that the changes made very little difference in the “speeding problem”, and there are reports that the number of accidents on this road prior to the changes were minimal or non-existent.
- · Why did it take the City so long to respond and why did it take a recall effort to get the item on the agenda?
- · How the heck did this happen in the first place and what can we do to prevent this from happening again?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.
Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a Town Hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be on Dec 12 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.
