Yesterday we discussed the legality of the notice for the Trumark Homes proposal to build 70+ new homes in the Portola Auto Center which currently houses Elite Automotive Services. Today we'll discuss the proposal itself.
BEST USE?
To get their plans approved, Trumark must convince the Planning Commission (PC) and the Council that their homes are the best use of the area. At some point in the past, decision makers decided to zone this area commercial, and for many years it served as a commercial area for auto dealerships and continues to exist for an auto repair company that employs dozens of people, many of whom live in Lake Forest.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
During the development process, City staff asked Brookfield and Trumark to provide a study of the commercial viability of the area in order to determine whether or not the area should be changed from commercial to residential. After all, the economy is improving, and the City plans to add 4,000+ new homes, most of which will be within a 5 minute drive of the existing area. Surely this looks good for the commercial viability of the area?
Brookfield and Trumark refused to do the study. The City Council, most of who benefited from nearly $100,000 from Brookfield, Trumark, and their associates, refused to back their own staff and allowed the study to die. But without this study there is no valid reason to change the General Plan. Unless it can be demonstrated that the best use of the land is commercial vs. residential, there can be no reason to change the zoning.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
THE STRAW THAT BROKE THE CAMEL'S BACK?
Apart from the "best use" issue, the addition of the 200+ homes that are part of the Brookfield/Trumark proposal will add 1,600 daily vehicle trips to the City’s streets. Our city, already troubled by slow traffic, is going to get 32,000 new daily vehicle trips as a result of the 4,000+ new homes already approved. No one has studied what this will do to the current traffic problems, so how can we be adding fuel to the fire with 1,600 more daily vehicle trips when we don’t know what the impact of the 32,000 trips will be?
TWO FOR ONE
A third problem with the Trumark proposal is that, in reality, the Trumark homes only make sense when combined with the Brookfield homes, and the entire area gets re-developed. IF, and this is a big IF, the other two issues already discussed can be resolved satisfactorily.
Trumark's proposal by itself does not stand. There is an existing business there that provides jobs for people in Lake Forest and income for the City. The people who work there already provide customers for the nearby restaurants. Why would we shut down an ongoing business and replace it with the 72 Trumark homes? One can argue that the entire area, some 16 acres, could be rezoned since the rest of the acreage is not being used. But the area that Trumark seeks to redevelop is being used, so it makes no sense to close down this business and lose the jobs and customers. Trumark only makes sense if the entire area is re-developed. It's a "two fer".
SUMMARY
To summarize, changing the zoning for the Portola Auto Center is a bad idea because –
1. We have no idea how bad the traffic is going to be when we add the 4,000+ new homes already approved, so adding 200+ more homes at this point is just plain irresponsible.
2. We have no reason to believe that changing the zoning from commercial to residential is the best use of the land.
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 which 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 200+ 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.
Note to the PC: Please spare us the burden of having to sit through an endless procession of Brookfield and Trumark employees and associates, none of whom live in the City, telling us what a good project this is and what a good company Trumark is. Can’t you just stipulate that we all realize that anyone earning a living from Brookfield and Trumark thinks highly of the company, and spare ourselves from the time-consuming recitations?
