CALIFORNIAN July 25, 2010
By PAUL JACOBS
Looking back at the county Local Agency Formation Commission's manipulation of Temecula's annexation process, it is hard to recall a hearing that did not inappropriately involve Granite Construction's proposed Liberty Quarry.
Looking back at the county Local Agency Formation Commission's manipulation of Temecula's annexation process, it is hard to recall a hearing that did not inappropriately involve Granite Construction's proposed Liberty Quarry.
On the first page about LAFCOs at the state website www.ceres.ca.gov/planning/
"It is the intent of the Legislature that each commission establish policies and exercises its powers ... in a manner that encourages and provides planned, well-ordered, efficient urban development patterns with appropriate consideration of preserving open-space lands within those patterns." The next page adds the "orderly formation and development of local agencies based upon local conditions and circumstances."
Note the repeated use of the word "local" and the absence of "regional." Try not to confuse "open space" with "open gravel pit" as the commission tends to do.
Going back to the original annexation hearing of June 2009, LAFCO chairman Russell Kitahara stopped Temecula City Manager Shawn Nelson mid-sentence, concerned the parking structure would close, but then found time for one last speaker in favor of the Liberty Quarry project that has no application before LAFCO.
On July 13, a reluctant Temecula council voted 5-0 to remove an existing sphere of influence from the proposed quarry site to suit the desires of the formation commission in order to annex 4,500 acres into the city boundaries.
Councilman Mike Naggar had the audacity to verbalize dreams of hiking areas, park rangers and Scout troops learning about nature.
That mental planning was more than LAFCO member Phil Williams could tolerate.
"If you're going to master-plan something, that's not open space," he said. In the world of Williams, I suppose a 100-story deep gravel pit is preferable, because moving mountains of material could be bizarrely construed as creating more open space.
Just days before LAFCO's scheduled meeting Thursday, Williams requested a late addition to the agenda to revisit Temecula's third annexation attempt that yields to LAFCO instructions bent on accommodating a gravel quarry application that is much more than just a vocalized thought out of somebody's head.
Concerning Naggar's council comments that LAFCO proceedings have been "bizarre" and Councilman Ron Roberts' call for a grand jury investigation of the commission, Williams called those criticisms "secondary issues," adding, "If they truly feel that there's criminal activity, why not stop everything ..."
Indeed, why not?
Because things are so upside down, let's start with this secondary issue, stop everything ---- including the quarry application ---- and investigate how Granite Construction has been at the forefront of the commission's consideration since Day One.
PAUL JACOBS writes from Temecula. Contact him at TemeculaPaul@aol.com.
Posted in Jacobs on Sunday, July 25, 2010"It is the intent of the Legislature that each commission establish policies and exercises its powers ... in a manner that encourages and provides planned, well-ordered, efficient urban development patterns with appropriate consideration of preserving open-space lands within those patterns." The next page adds the "orderly formation and development of local agencies based upon local conditions and circumstances."
Note the repeated use of the word "local" and the absence of "regional." Try not to confuse "open space" with "open gravel pit" as the commission tends to do.
Going back to the original annexation hearing of June 2009, LAFCO chairman Russell Kitahara stopped Temecula City Manager Shawn Nelson mid-sentence, concerned the parking structure would close, but then found time for one last speaker in favor of the Liberty Quarry project that has no application before LAFCO.
On July 13, a reluctant Temecula council voted 5-0 to remove an existing sphere of influence from the proposed quarry site to suit the desires of the formation commission in order to annex 4,500 acres into the city boundaries.
Councilman Mike Naggar had the audacity to verbalize dreams of hiking areas, park rangers and Scout troops learning about nature.
That mental planning was more than LAFCO member Phil Williams could tolerate.
"If you're going to master-plan something, that's not open space," he said. In the world of Williams, I suppose a 100-story deep gravel pit is preferable, because moving mountains of material could be bizarrely construed as creating more open space.
Just days before LAFCO's scheduled meeting Thursday, Williams requested a late addition to the agenda to revisit Temecula's third annexation attempt that yields to LAFCO instructions bent on accommodating a gravel quarry application that is much more than just a vocalized thought out of somebody's head.
Concerning Naggar's council comments that LAFCO proceedings have been "bizarre" and Councilman Ron Roberts' call for a grand jury investigation of the commission, Williams called those criticisms "secondary issues," adding, "If they truly feel that there's criminal activity, why not stop everything ..."
Indeed, why not?
Because things are so upside down, let's start with this secondary issue, stop everything ---- including the quarry application ---- and investigate how Granite Construction has been at the forefront of the commission's consideration since Day One.
PAUL JACOBS writes from Temecula. Contact him at TemeculaPaul@aol.com.
