We are going to take a little break from active posting on this blog during the holidays. We’ll see you after the New Year. Until then, we wish all of our readers a safe and happy holiday season!
|
|||
We are going to take a little break from active posting on this blog during the holidays. We’ll see you after the New Year. Until then, we wish all of our readers a safe and happy holiday season! From the City of San Juan Capistrano:
The reconfigured Ortega Highway reopens today. Below is an Ortega interchange update:
A big congratulations to the students of Santa Margarita Catholic High School for doing the right thing and confidentially reporting an apparent threat against the school. Story from NBC News here. It’s a relief to know that the threat was not credible, but it is nevertheless disturbing that threatening gun violence is becoming a common way of expressing adolescent grievances. If they do not already, every high school in the County ought to have a text-a-tip system in place. It can save lives. There is an important City Council meeting scheduled for tonight in San Juan Capistrano. On the agenda are several items that are generating a lot of resident input and opinion. First, on the agenda is a two year renewal of the management agreement between the City of San Juan Capistrano and Blenheim Facility Management, LLC regarding the operation of the city-owned Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park. From what we can gather, the current City Council favors renewal of the management agreement while the incoming majority is likely to be opposed to it, at least in its current form. Several residents have filed correspondence with the City opposing the renewal of the management agreement on the grounds that San Juan residents funded the acquisition of the park but are largely prohibited from using it, save the four movie nights and a couple other scheduled events during the year. On the other hand, San Juan’s equestrian community supports the Riding Park as managed by Blenheim as one of the last equestrian event facilities in South Orange County — a fact made painfully clear as we watch the bulldozers destroy much of what used to be The Oaks equestrian center. In an attempt to address these concerns, among the modifications to the management agreement being proposed for this renewal period are:
The second major item on the agenda is further consideration of the San Juan Hotel and Villas application. City staff is recommending that the City Council deny the application for an amendment to San Juan Historic Town Center Master Plan. As a reminder:
Of course, City Council is permitted to disregard the advise of the staff and amend the Historic Town Center Master Plan to approve the project. In addition, the hotel developer is asserting that an amendment to the Historic Town Center Master Plan is not required. That legal argument is here, if you are interested. Resident correspondence on the hotel issue is split between support and opposition. The Council is also tonight considering an extension of the license agreement for the Ortega Equestrian Center on city-owned property at the west end of Cook Park. Renewal of the Ortega Equestrian Center license is also generating a significant amount of resident interest, with most of the correspondence filed with the City in support of the OEC and renewal of its license. In fact, several residents who oppose the Blenheim renewal are publicly supporting the OEC renewal (and for longer than the city-proposed two year term). The full City Council agenda is available here, including staff reports on all of the agenda items including supplemental exhibits and correspondence received from residents and stakeholders. All of these issues are likely to bring vocal residents to Council chambers tonight. Regardless of how the Council votes, there will be residents both elated and outraged at the outcome. The fact that this is likely the last meeting of the current majority on City Council only adds more intrigue and controversy to tonight’s vote. It is certain to be another standing-room-only City Council meeting in San Juan Capistrano. Tonight’s public City Council meeting starts at 6 PM. Get there early! More I-5/Ortega interchange news:
Plan accordingly! All Ladera Ranch residents who have not yet signed up for the Ladera Alerts text message program ought to do so. Created by Ladera Ranch residents, Ladera Alerts provides a means of fast communication among Ladera Ranch residents in the event of an emergency. According to the website, “[t]his free service was created in an effort to communicate vital information quickly and efficiently via cell phone texts, to inform/organize the community to help resolve local emergency situations as quickly as possible.” Ladera Alerts was recently the subject of an article in the Orange County Register, which is available here. According to the article, “[t]o use the site, residents need to sign up at laderaalerts.com with their phone number and neighborhood. So far, more than 110 residents have signed up. When members need help, they report it on the website, which sends a message to two cellphones. The information is verified and then sent out to members via a text message on their cellphones.” Ladera Ranch is known as an old-fashioned community, where kids still play in the streets and neighbors know more than each other’s names. The new Ladera Alerts puts technology in the hands of residents, allowing them to help each other out faster and more efficiently in the event of an emergency. This is a reminder for anyone who wants to participate in the Dana Point Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. Online registration closes at the incredibly specific 11:55 PM on Monday, November 24th and prices will increase for on-site registration. More information and registration is available at http://turkeytrot.com/register. Due to (among other reasons) the severity of the California drought and as a result of following the debate over San Juan Capistrano’s groundwater plant, we’ve been getting more involved in water-related issues here at the Rancho Ortega Blog. One water agency we are following closely is the Santa Margarita Water District. The Santa Margarita Water District is the second-largest water agency in Orange County, serving more than 165,000 people in Coto de Caza, Ladera Ranch, Rancho Santa Margarita, Mission Viejo and San Clemente. One of SMWD’s mandates is to reduce our dependency on water imported from the Colorado River and Northern California. To that end, the completion of the multi-purpose basin at Canada Gobernadora will serve the dual purposes of environmental protection and capturing urban run-off in Gobernadora Creek for re-use, freeing up more expensive drinking water for residential uses, so this announcement that SMWD is beginning Phase 2 construction of the basin is good news for water-watchers. The full press release is below:
More information about Santa Margarita Water District is available here. The next meeting of the Ladera Ranch Civic Council will be held on Monday, November 17th at 7 PM, located in the board room at the Santa Margarita Water District building. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet with new Fifth District Supervisor Lisa Bartlett. Former Supervisor Patricia Bates was a good friend to Ladera Ranch and we have reason to believe that Supervisor Bartlett will also be a champion for residents of Ladera Ranch. More information is available at the Civic Council website here. |
|||
Copyright © 2023 Rancho Ortega Blog - All Rights Reserved Powered by WordPress & Atahualpa |
Recent Comments