What a City Councilman Does

I wanted to give you some idea of what comes across my desk and how, as a City Council member, I try to assist individuals in our community. Here are the projects I’ve been working on for the past few months, in no particular order.

PARKING IN RAYMOND WAY

Several residents of Prothero Mobile Park are concerned with the parking on Raymond Way obstructing their line of sight when they try to make turns. I met with the residents twice, looked at the area myself several times, shared this on Sept 9 with Public works and am waiting for them to conduct a study of the area.

PARKING IN BENNET RANCH

Residents from Bennet Ranch reported in early August that service vehicles from the nearby auto repair shops are being parked on their streets, taking up much need space. I’ve been working with Code Enforcement and the Police trying to rectify this problem. There seems to be a little progress. Meanwhile the City is busy revising our permit parking policies. It goes to the Council in October.

SPEEDING ON OVERLAKE

Residents on Overlake are concerned with the speed of cars on their stretch on land. I have been working with Public Works to get speed tests done so that we can see whether or not something can be done to slow down what many believe to be excessive speed. The accident data bank doesn’t tell us very much and Public Works is trying to get it so that it is more useful. Historically the City has been opposed to speed bumps, so it’s not clear what we can do if we find out that speeds are excessive, apart from increased surveillance. Right now tests are still ongoing.

PARKING SIGNS

The residents who live near Jeronimo and Cherry have problems parking, so the City agreed to make some changes to the parking area. Months went by and nothing was done, so I prompted the City to do what they said they would do, which they did, but the result wasn’t satisfactory due to problems with the signage. Residents approached me and asked for some changes and I turned it over to the Assistant to the City Manager in August. The City is working with one of the local HOAs and also sent a letter to 400 homes in the area informing them about the new changes.

HOMELESS IN VPP

Residents who live in VPP reported problems with homeless people living in the park. It came up at a Sept 6 City Council meeting and when I didn’t hear back from the staff I sent an e-mail to the Police Chief asking for more information. On Sept 15 the Chief informed us that the Homeless Liaison Officer is working with the two known homeless people.

UNREASONABLE PLANNING REQUESTS

A nonprofit animal rescue group has rented a space in Lake Forest and, according to them, is doing some minor changes. The Planning Dept. is treating the request as if it was a major overhaul and requesting thousands of dollars of work for them to do before they submit their plans, which, according to them, are relatively minor. I tried to get this situation resolved a few weeks ago but apparently it remains an issue. I recommended that the applicants come to the Council, report the issue, and ask for a variance. They did and they are working on it right now, and my understanding is that the project will go forward without the onerous demands of the City.

MYSTERY AT LAKE FOREST ELEMENTARY

A few weeks ago a mysterious outbreak happened at Lake Forest Elementary (LFE). I was alerted to it via Lake Forest Town Square and though it was over the weekend, asked the City Manager to get involved. He did, got the information, and ordered an inspection of Pittsford Park that adjoins LFE. City staff found nothing, nor did LFE staff nor the experts from the Health Dept. and Vector Control. Meanwhile I asked the City Manager to carefully consider before we spray any of our parks, and also to issue warnings if we do.

EXTENDING OLD TRABUCO RD

I’ve been talking with people from the Santiago de Compostela Church about the idea of extending Old Trabuco Rd so that it connects with Trabuco. This would make access to the church much easier, and it would also allow East-bound traffic to avoid the Lake Forest Drive & Trabuco Rd intersection, which gets 50,000 vehicles a day. As a preliminary step I asked the City to find out who owned the piece of land between the end of Old Trabuco and Trabuco – approximately 850 feet long. It turns out the City owns it! I will take the next step and ask the City to do a preliminary study of the costs and benefits, and if that looks good, we will have to talk to the people who live on Old Trabuco and see what their thoughts are.

WHISPERING HILLS

Many residents complained about the terrible look of Whispering Hills. In June of last year I got the Council to agree to a plan to “beautify” the area until we could finally make a decision about what to do with it. It was a scar on the City for two decades. It took Public Works over a year to finally make the modest changes, but, quite frankly, it’s still not acceptable to me, although it is much much better than it had been. I’ve been in touch with the Parks Dept. and we’ve scheduled a Council meeting on Oct 18 where further upgrades can be planned for.

NOISE FROM IRWD

Residents were upset with the amount of noise being generated on IRWD property in Portola Hills. IRWD was approached but nothing changed. Working with the City Attorney and the City Manager, they applied some influence to get IRWD to be a better neighbor. Finally IRWD discovered that the noise came from “a malfunctioning piece of equipment” and the problem seems resolved.

MEDIAN ON SRR

Residents are concerned with a new median on Saddleback Ranch Rd starting at Glenn Ranch Rd. and extending toward the entrance to the Oaks. Apparently the decision to create this was done years ago so at this point there is little that can be done.

STREET SWEEPING

Residents from several different parts of the City are upset with the street sweeping. Apparently too many cars remain on street sweeping days and the results are that the streets aren’t being cleaned. I’ve asked the residents to give me relevant information so that I can talk to Public Works and get this problem solved.

SUMMARY

If you take the position seriously, being on the City Council is a full time job. The most important part is not showing up at the Council meetings, though that is essential, but in my opinion, it’s being in touch with our residents and helping them solve problems which impact their way of life.

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 in November at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.