Thursday, May 17, 2012
Resident says if 85 percent of drivers are breaking the speed limit, then it must be safe.
Controversy continues among those who live off of and travel Camino La Ronda. There are those who want the speeding in the residential area to stop, while others say the street – which actually has few homes fronting it – was built to accommodate speeds faster than the 30 mph limit posted. Mike Johnson, who falls into the latter camp, came to City Hall Tuesday to complain that the crackdown on the speeders should end. “When you have 85 percent of the population that goes over the speed limit, that means it’s safe,” Johnson told the City Council. Johnson got those figures from an Orange County Sheriff’s deputy who was stationed on his motorcycle, looking to cite speeders, he said. The city is conducting a study, but it does not comply with …
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Sales tax revenues, hotel taxes and new housing starts act as a finger on the pulse of the area's financial health.
While there’s no San Juan Capistrano economic forecast, watching the amount of money flowing into city coffers could serve as one. And the area’s leading indicators are mostly showing positive signs of growth, according to a report the City Council heard Tuesday. Sales tax receipts are expected to be up 12.5 percent over last year, said Cindy Russell, the city’s chief financial officer. Compared to the same quarter last year, sales taxes are up nearly 22 percent. “Each quarter, we’re seeing that improve a little bit,” she said. So what are you all buying? New cars make up 21.5 percent, but business-to-business transactions are the area of most growth, Russell said, especially in the area of heavy industry. Proceeds from service stations …
What do you think looks good?
The Capistrano Auto Center, which represents six new-car dealerships, is asking the city to come up with special sign rules just for car sales. In March, the City Council gave the dealers the right to apply for special, temporary signs. But that deal expires July 21. So the dealers are asking the council to come up with permanent set of rules. "Operating a new car dealership in San Juan Capistrano is not an easy business proposition, as evidenced by the departure and turnover of a number of franchises in recent years," wrote the managers of six local car dealers in a March 5 letter to the city. "We are overdue to revise the sign ordinance that governs new car dealers in this town," they wrote. The six, representing Capistrano Toyota Scion…
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Pressure is on to ditch the requirement that builders include low-income units in their develoments. But the consequence could result in new zoning that would allow for high-density projects.
Dense, high-rise, affordable housing in San Juan Capistrano? That could be the result should the city do away with a fee for developers to opt-out of their obligation to designate 10 percent of their projects to lower-income housing, said Laura Stokes, housing coordinator for the city. The City Council discussed the future of affordable housing in San Juan Capistrano at its Tuesday meeting. The state requires cities to have a plan that would accommodate new affordable housing in their areas, Stokes said. That can be accomplished in several ways, including: Many cities in Orange County simply deem certain areas for affordable housing through their zoning, Stokes said. But if San Juan followed suit, that means the city could lose control …
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
As required by state law, churches, schools and community organizations in some parts of town will be able to operate homes for the homeless without going to City Hall first for permission.
Schools, churches and others will soon be guaranteed the right to offer emergency shelter. The City Council passed Tuesday the first reading of a new law that allows what the state calls “supportive housing facilities” in areas that are zoned for public and institutional uses. A law signed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007 requires cities to remove the stumbling blocks from organizations which may want to offer transitional housing for the homeless, said Laura Stokes, city housing/redevelopment coordinator. The city also has to identify where new projects could go in “without discretionary review,” according to the law. Twenty-five parcels peppered throughout the city are zoned for public or institutional uses, Stokes said. Only …
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Councilman says the many commissions and committees at City Hall are too cumbersome and has given San Juan Capistrano a bad rep.
To change the city’s bad rep among the business community, Councilman Derek Reeve would like to make the many commissions and committees at City Hall more business friendly. He has scheduled the item for discussion at tonight’s City Council meeting. The agenda item is merely titled, “Discussion Regarding Creating a Business Friendly Process by Reorganizing the City’s Commissions, Committees and Boards.” Reeve wants to make the decision-making process, which often has businesses and developers navigating a labyrinth of city commissions, more streamlined and “accountable,” he told Patch. In his vision, businesses should be able to get in and out of the various application processes within three month, Reeve said. “Everything should be on …
Monday, April 16, 2012
Bryan Ferguson died last August in a fiery accident at Marco Forster Middle School.
The mother of a passenger of a car which careened down a hill at Marco Forster Middle School last year and burst into flames has filed a claim with the city that a road defect is in part to blame for the fatal accident. A claim is often the precursor to a lawsuit. This claim, however, was filed too late, and the city’s insurance adjuster and City Attorney Omar Sandoval are recommending the City Council deny the claim at its Tuesday meeting. On Aug. 16, 2011, a Jeep driven by Alex Goodrich, then 21, of Dana Point, was seen driving at high speeds, then lost control as it sped toward a utility shed at Marco Forster Middle School below the road. Goodrich was able to pull himself out, but his passenger, Bryan Ferguson, also 21 of Dana Point, …
Friday, April 13, 2012
City officials, facing budgeting challenges, thought they'd have to put the annual display on ice this year. But local businesses have stepped up. The show will go on.
The Fourth of July will be just as explosive as ever, now that enough businesses have come forward to fund what has always been a city-sponsored event. Belt-tightening last June knocked out funding for this year’s annual fireworks display. Unless businesses stepped forward to pick up the slack, the nighttime show may have been history. The city came up with a fundraising goal of $32,000, and donors exceeded that amount this month, according to City Manager Karen Brust’s weekly report. According to that report, the following donations have been received: The grand total comes to $33,770. “We are grateful to all of the generosity the citizens of San Juan Capistrano have shown to the city,” wrote in her weekly report, which is often …
Thursday, April 12, 2012
After being evicted by the city, Sierra Soil and Sod has taken its amendments to a new location.
As required by the city, horse manure composter Sierra Soil and Sod has moved out of its 30-year location at the Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park. The move three miles east off of Ortega Highway outside of town, has structurally changed the business. While company officials did relocate what didn’t sell during their version of March Manure Madness, they no longer have the ability to compost new material, said Joanne West, president and general manager. “We had not accepted fresh manure since December 2011, when we knew we were being evicted,” she said. “So all of our existing material had time to compost, which takes several months to process, and was ready to sell.” The new facility, at 31511 Ortega Highway on Rancho Mission Viejo, …
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
She expects the city to pay the fine.
We all know we’re not supposed to text and drive. But according to one visitor to San Juan Capistrano, we shouldn’t be reading banners either. Jaimie Davis of Silverado was approaching the intersection of Del Obispo Street and Camino Capistrano in February when something above started flapping, distracting her and causing her to run a red light. The Del Obispo-Camino Cap intersection is one of two in town that have red-light cameras. Yep, you guessed, Davis got a $533 ticket, which she expects the city of San Juan Capistrano to pay. “There was a banner hung within the intersection that caused a dangerous situation as it was a distraction that startled me by its location and design,” Davis wrote in a claim she filed with the city. A claim …
Alberto Barrera
8:16 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Reading this reminds me of the economic boom scene in The Iron Lady. more ›