HOA "Roundtable" Well Received

The City held a “Roundtable” with representatives from more than two dozen of our HOAs including

• Autumnwood
• Baker Ranch
• Bella Palermo
• Cedar Glen
• Lake 1
• Lake 2
• Los Alisos Skyview
• Oaks
• Portola 2
• San Remos
• Willow Glen
• Whispering Hills

Concerns centered on

• The influx of homeless people
• Landscaping
• Water quality
• Sober living homes
• Proposed new homes on Nakase property
• Parking (esp. guest parking)
• Pest control

Here are some tips from the meeting -

• Homeless - It's not illegal to be homeless, but if a homeless person is unlawfully on private property or engaged in questionable behavior, you should contact the Police. We have a full-time Homeless Liaison Officer. The non-emergency phone number is 949 770-6011. Lake Forest Police Services is 949 461 3548.
• Landscaping (e.g., dead trees, brown grass) - If the problem is on a city street, contact Public Works at 949 461 3480. Mike McConaha is the contact person.
• Code enforcement (e.g., vacation homes, sober living homes, loud parties) - you can contact your HOA and/or the city. The City contact is Darrel Hill at 949 461 3465
• Water quality - is the responsibility of IRWD
• Parking - parking violations should be referred to the Police (949 770-6011). Parking problems should be referred to Public Works (949 461 3480). The contact person is Dave Rogers.
• Toll Bros. proposal to build more homes on Nakase property - The city is conducting studies and expects to have them completed by the end of the year.

I thought the meeting went very well. I had been trying to have this meeting for years but couldn’t get any traction from the Council, but now we are moving in a different direction. Hopefully we will move forward with quarterly meetings between the city and the HOA representatives, with more focused topics. The city is sending a survey to everyone who attended and once we get the responses, we’ll see where we go from here. If your HOA wasn’t represented, please talk to your Board and/or your Manager and get involved.

Meanwhile, next month we are having a similar roundtable with business executives. Future roundtables may be developed for the non-profit and religious organizations in the City.

This is a “New” Lake Forest and part of the process is reaching out to residents, workers, and business owners so that we all work together to make Lake Forest the best we can be.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest where he serves as Mayor. 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 May 17 at 7 pm at the Lake 1 Clubhouse (Ridge Route).