Even More Homes and Booze for Lake Forest?

Here’s another meeting of the Planning Commission (PC) where they consider adding more booze and more homes to the city. Click here for my previous article only a few months ago.

MORE HOMES

Due to an error in the agenda, the Trumark proposal to build homes in the Portola Auto Center that was scheduled for the last PC meeting was re-scheduled for this week. Click here for my previous article about this proposal.

Here is the bottom line –

Changing the zoning for the Portola Auto Center from commercial to residential is a bad idea because –

1.    We have no reason to believe that changing the zoning from commercial to residential is the best use of the land.

2.    We have no idea how bad the traffic is going to be when we add the 4,000+ new homes already approved, so adding more homes at this point is just plain irresponsible. 

The PC should deny the request to change the General Plan. They may wish to go through the plans submitted by Trumark and they can decide to approve these plans subject to –

1.  A study that shows that changing the zoning is the best use of the land (given the changes in the economy and given the 4,000+ new homes scheduled to be built).

2.  A study which shows that the 4,000+ new homes already approved will not cripple the city’s traffic to such an extent that adding more homes into the mix is acceptable.

3. Approval of plans, from Brookfield or anyone else, to finish developing the entire area, not merely the 7 acres where an existing business operates.

MORE BOOZE

Another application is in front of the PC to open another store selling alcohol in an area that already has an “over concentration” of stores selling alcohol. This time it’s next to the Carl’s Jr. on the corner or Muirlands and El Toro.

The census tract where the proposed store would be placed is certified for no more than 3 stores selling alcohol, yet there are already 7 stores in that tract that sell alcohol. These include 2 CVS Pharmacies, El Toro Meats, Mercado El Rey, Nina’s Indian & British Grocery, Ralph’s, and USA Gasoline. And just a hop, skip, and a jump from this tract is another tract that contains, among other stores, Bev Mo, a giant store that only sells alcohol, and Smart & Final, a store that has an alcohol section that’s bigger, in square feet, than the entire convenience store being proposed. IOW, you can’t walk a few hundred yards in this part of town without tripping over another place that sells alcohol. Can this be why Lake Forest has one of the highest rates of arrests for DUIs and alcohol related crimes of any of our neighbors?

The developer claims that if he isn’t given the alcohol license he can’t afford to open this convenience store. Apparently he needs the profit from selling alcohol to stay in business. That’s unfortunate for him, but hardly the concern of the City. If the only way he can stay in business is to contribute to the alcoholism problems in our community, maybe he should be looking for a City where there are fewer stores selling alcohol or where they don’t have such a high rate of arrests for DUIs and for alcohol related crimes.

Let’s hope the PC does the right thing and denies the application. “I’ll drink to that.”