JACOBS: Council afire on LAFCO
By PAUL JACOBS -- For The Californian | Posted: July 18, 2010
Tuesday's Temecula City Council meeting was a grand time to see some fire in the old guard behind the dais. What started as a slow agenda item turned out to be a real firecracker of the public process.
This column has directed considerable criticism toward the county Local Agency Formation Commission's heavy-handedness concerning Temecula's application to annex land southwest of the city's existing boundaries. I have been equally irate over the inexplicable contortions Temecula officials have assumed to genuflect and agree to whatever the agency has requested.
Multiple items on the consent calendar of the Temecula council agenda are usually passed with one vote, but an item is pulled for discussion if one or more citizens submits a request to speak form. Three people requested to use the two minutes allotted for public comment on item 14 concerning a modification of the city's sphere of influence.
The modification is an attempt to comply with the latest formation commission demand that the city remove part of the mapped sphere that has been in place since 1991 in order to be granted an annexation request originally applied for in June 2009. The annexation has been rejected and redacted by LAFCO, which incredibly considers the proposed Liberty Quarry in the far southwest corner of the county a "regional" concern.
To my dismay, Temecula officials removed the proposed quarry site from the annexation application, and on June 24, LAFCO sprang the sphere-ectomy demand on the city.
Item 14 began with a staff report that attempted to explain how the loss of the sphere was a gain for the city. Joe Hudson, an esteemed attorney from Fallbrook, earned the approving roar of the council chamber crowd as he vociferously disagreed with that conclusion.
Hudson's comments apparently had a cathartic effect on some behind the dais.
Councilman Mike Naggar suggested adding language to the resolution making it clear the City Council was engaging in LAFCO-directed sphere-ectomy under protest.
Then the gloves came off.
Mayor Pro-Tem Ron Roberts delivered an uppercut that nobody saw coming by calling for a grand jury investigation of LAFCO over Granite Construction's apparent ability to inappropriately exert its will through members of the formation commission.
Roberts has served longest on the council, but it is especially telling that he works for Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone. Roberts works within the belly of the beast, so his vocalization of suspicion is significant.
It is great to see an old lion roar, showing that his position as mayor pro-tem stands not only for pro tempore, it stands for pro-Temecula.
PAUL JACOBS writes from Temecula. Contact him at temeculapaul@aol.com.
This column has directed considerable criticism toward the county Local Agency Formation Commission's heavy-handedness concerning Temecula's application to annex land southwest of the city's existing boundaries. I have been equally irate over the inexplicable contortions Temecula officials have assumed to genuflect and agree to whatever the agency has requested.
Multiple items on the consent calendar of the Temecula council agenda are usually passed with one vote, but an item is pulled for discussion if one or more citizens submits a request to speak form. Three people requested to use the two minutes allotted for public comment on item 14 concerning a modification of the city's sphere of influence.
The modification is an attempt to comply with the latest formation commission demand that the city remove part of the mapped sphere that has been in place since 1991 in order to be granted an annexation request originally applied for in June 2009. The annexation has been rejected and redacted by LAFCO, which incredibly considers the proposed Liberty Quarry in the far southwest corner of the county a "regional" concern.
To my dismay, Temecula officials removed the proposed quarry site from the annexation application, and on June 24, LAFCO sprang the sphere-ectomy demand on the city.
Item 14 began with a staff report that attempted to explain how the loss of the sphere was a gain for the city. Joe Hudson, an esteemed attorney from Fallbrook, earned the approving roar of the council chamber crowd as he vociferously disagreed with that conclusion.
Hudson's comments apparently had a cathartic effect on some behind the dais.
Councilman Mike Naggar suggested adding language to the resolution making it clear the City Council was engaging in LAFCO-directed sphere-ectomy under protest.
Then the gloves came off.
Mayor Pro-Tem Ron Roberts delivered an uppercut that nobody saw coming by calling for a grand jury investigation of LAFCO over Granite Construction's apparent ability to inappropriately exert its will through members of the formation commission.
Roberts has served longest on the council, but it is especially telling that he works for Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone. Roberts works within the belly of the beast, so his vocalization of suspicion is significant.
It is great to see an old lion roar, showing that his position as mayor pro-tem stands not only for pro tempore, it stands for pro-Temecula.
PAUL JACOBS writes from Temecula. Contact him at temeculapaul@aol.com.
Posted in Jacobs on Sunday, July 18, 2010
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