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Health & Fitness

Planning Commission Preview - Oct 24

There are three items on the Planning Commission agenda.

JACK IN THE BOX

Jack wants a new sign at his store on 23812 El Toro Rd near the intersection with Rockfield. Three signs were approved, and now Jack wants a fourth one, so that people coming from all directions can be lured to his delicacies. Overall signage will be 25.5 square feet with a 1’9” logo. Personally I don’t find it very appealing, but if Jack wants it, and it’s his property, and it conforms to our business code, probably Jack should have it his way.

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SYCAMORE PLAZA

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Just a mile or so up the road, at the intersection of El Toro and Trabuco, Sycamore Plaza (where Stater Brothers is) wants to spruce up their act too. They want to change the exterior façade to the Bank, The Starbucks, and the main Stater Bros. adjacent units. Owners of the center have been battling with code enforcement (insufficient handicapped stall signage and deteriorated parking lot striping) and the remodel will also address the violations.

IMHO - The old look is pretty dated, and the proposed new look, while dull, is uniform and more up to date.

 

PARKING

In addition to the traffic problems in the City, parking would be high on everyone’s list. A month rarely goes by when someone isn’t before the Council complaining about parking in their neighborhood. Parking problems have at their core, several factors:

·  People using their garages for storage rather than parking

·  The recent economic downturn increased the number of people living  together, and hence the number of cars for each house/unit. It also increased the number of inoperable vehicles which are usually left in driveways.

·  As home based businesses have grown, people stay home more often, occupying space, and their customers visit their homes, thus occupying even more space.

Of course, residential parking is only one aspect of the problem. We have major parking problems for many of our public resource buildings, such as the Post Office on Raymond and the El Toro Library. Now imagine the 13,000 new people who are going to move into our community.

Here are some highlights from the City’s report –

·  68% of the 26,000 housing units are single family, with 54% detached.

·  27% are multi-family units with 21% consisting of 5 or more units

·  There are 21 apartment complexes that range in size from 40 to 390 units and hold an average of 186 units.

·  5% of the people live in mobile homes, almost all of which border Muirlands Ave.

·  The average household size is 2.93 persons. Renters usually have more people per household than do owners, and the largest households can be found in Foothill Ranch

The PC will look at some data provided by the staff and discuss ways in which the existing parking standards can be improved. It’s great to see the Planning Commission doing some real planning, and kudos to the staff for putting together a report that will be useful to anyone interested in the subject.

If you care about this issue, check out the report at the City’s website and be sure to show up at the PC at 7 pm and participate in the discussion.

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