This was the final meeting of the year.
800 NEW HOMES ON NAKASE PROPERTY
The proposal for LSA Associates to prepare an environmental document, at a cost of $233,670 (paid for by Toll Brothers) was postponed until after the special election.
LSA received the highest points on the city’s evaluation, but they were more expensive than the other 2 highly regarded companies ($209,003 and $232,910).
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
FWIW – LSA Associates is a generous donor to City Council campaigns, having given $500 to Andrew Hamilton (3/2/17), $250 to Andrew Hamilton (9/30/15), and $250 to Scott Voigts (10/5/2015). Toll Brothers, the developer seeking to create 800 new homes on the Nakase Property, is an even more generous donor. They recently spent $68,500 trying to keep Andrew Hamilton in office. According to the City Attorney, giving money to campaign committees is not illegal, even though it may be against the city’s code of ethics.
GENERAL PLAN UPDATE
The Council reviewed the prior proposal for a general plan update and asked for a quicker, more focused plan. The current proposal is for a plan that costs $990,232, and will take 28 months to complete. When we started negotiations the cost was $1.5 million and the time was 5 years. I objected to the time and expense, and it paid off.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
APPOINTMENTS
All the appointments were put off until after the special election.
SVUSD UPDATE
The SVUSD representative couldn’t make it so the discussion was postponed.
NOISE ORDINANCE
Several complaints were received about the noise coming from Peppinos Foothill Ranch outdoor entertainment. The city studied the problem and found that the decibels were in compliance with the city code.
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 twitter handle is @DrJimGardner. 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 Thursday Feb 15 at 7 pm at the Beach and Tennis Club on Ridge Rte.
