Council Preview - Jan 21 (Part 2)

Yesterday we looked at the new Police Chief, the Commissioners who got caught playing hooky, and the idea of the City adding a layer of protection for residents of mobile park homes in the event the land owners want to close down. Here are two more items of interest.

CHANGES TO BUSINESS SIGNAGE (Item #15)

Several months ago, The Planning Commission discussed changes to business signage. Click Here for my article on that subject. The Planning Commission recommended the following changes –

• Increase banner display times from 60 days per year to 120 days, with four 30-day permits.

• Increase window sign size from max 4 sq. ft. to as much as 30 sq. ft. depending on the size of the window.

Making the City more “business friendly” is a good thing, and loosening up some of the regulations restricting how businesses can advertise is undoubtedly good for the business and the shoppers. But our City has an aesthetic quality as well, and too many business signs, banners, outdoor entertainment, etc. can dramatically impact the quality of life. Pretty soon we are looking like Costa Mesa’s main strip, or worse, Las Vegas. More can be less. Perhaps these much needed changes are too much all at once, and perhaps the Council should consider phasing them in over time.

REDUCING THE AGENDA (Item #16)

A few months ago then Councilman Robinson observed that he thought a lot of the items on the City’s agenda seemed to be a meaningless waste of time, anachronistic holdovers from a past that was no longer relevant. He asked the staff to come back with a thorough review of what’s on the agendas and some recommendations on how we could streamline the process.

Of course, at the time that Robinson made this observation, we were suffering under the Mayorship of Scott Voigts, who never missed an opportunity to bumble his way through a meeting, resulting in the most overtime sessions on record in a single year as far as I can recall. When your meetings are routinely going past 10 pm, it’s not a bad idea to try to shorten them.

Here’s the staff’s list of the recurring agenda items and how often they appear -

• Certification of Warrant Register (Most meetings)

• Report from Student Liaison (Each meeting Oct - June)

Looking at the list, the only one that appears to be excessive is the NPDES Stormwater Permit report. An annual report is required to the Regional Boards, but there is no requirement for the Council to review quarterly, which the Council has been doing for more than a decade.

Mayor Robinson had a good idea, but in reality, almost all the agenda items seem perfectly appropriate. Time-savings will not be found in slimming down the agenda. The best way to prevent the Council meetings from taking too much time is to avoid putting Scott Voigts back in the Mayor’s seat. So far Mayor Robinson has done a good job moving the meeting along.

THE VOIGTS VOID

The “Voigts Void” remains intact. Recall that the Voigts Void is the dozen plus items of importance that were never resolved adequately in 2013, so we began 2014 with a long list of items that needed to be addressed. To date, none of them have appeared before the Council. Here they are, listed in order of how long we have been waiting for them.

1. Creating a SENIOR CENTER not merely a shared room where seniors play bingo.

2. Building a DOG PARK for the 9000+ dog owners.

3. PROTECTING LAKE FOREST from the dangerous prisoners who escape from Musick Jail.

4. Activating the LAKE FOREST COMMUNITY FOUNDATION so we can help our citizens in so many different ways.

5. Increasing the SPENDING IN LAKE FOREST on our own people and businesses, as they promised.

See you tonight.