After several long, arduous, and sometimes controversial sessions, the Planning Commission (PC) took a holiday and now returns tonight for a relatively calmer agenda. The PC is still without former Commissioner Tim Hughes and the City Council is considering his replacement from among 15 applicants.
SHEA/BAKER
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The Shea/Baker project has been slowly winding its way through the PC and construction is already underway on some of the early phases of this 2000+ new homes that will be built between Bake Pkwy and Alton Pkwy near the 241 tollway. Tonight the developer seeks approval for an “alternative development standard for mechanical equipment setbacks” for a phase that includes 111 single family homes on 12.5 acres.
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BIG POLE
The only other item on the agenda is a request to add an overhead power pole at 20 Icon in Foothill Ranch, adjacent to the 241 and just off Glenn Ranch Rd. This area is zoned industrial and the site is 9.27 acres. It seems that the newly remodeled facility needs its own high-voltage lines and they thought they could provide it through underground lines, but SCE disagreed and now the developer is seeking to put an “80 -foot tall overhead power pole”. Yup – 80 feet. That’s about the size of King Kong. In addition to being 80 feet tall the pole would have several cross arms, and the width of the pole would range from 17 inches to 9 inches. According to the staff report, the pole would be clearly visible to the surrounding industrial properties, but these companies have “relatively few windows” Moreover, according to the report, the King Kong sized pole will not be visible from Glenn Ranch Rd or from the future Portola Center Development.
NEW COMMISSIONER
Apparently the applications are in and being studied by the City Council. There are already rumors that the "fix" is in and the residents of Lake Forest are going to be shocked once again when the decision comes out. I've asked for copies of the applications so I could share the information with you, and as soon as the City Clerk allows me access I will give you a summary. I've already said that the Council should re-appoint either Dave Carter or Terry Anderson, but from what I see, there may be some equally good candidates among the 15 applicants, so I will wait until I get a look at the rest of the field. But clearly, someone is going to have to bring more to the table than either Carter or Anderson, and that will be a hard thing to do.
