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by Dale Tyler Mission Viejo was master planned to provide a wonderful residential environment, made up of mostly detached single family homes. We have a large number of local parks, abundant sports fields, a community center and a library. The average density of our housing is less than 5 units per acre, which is the envy of most cities in Orange County. Having such amenities and low density housing costs money. The city was planned to have a small portion, about 7 percent reserved for commercial uses that would generate sales tax dollars to pay for all of the things we enjoy. These commercial areas were placed such that they did not intrude on housing and cause noise and light problems for their neighbors. We have the Mission Viejo Mall and other businesses south on Margurite, south of Crown Valley where there are no houses at all. There are other pockets of commercial space, carefully placed to avoid contact with houses as much as possible, One such place is in north Mission Viejo, on Jeronimo, between Alica and Los Alisos. This area is the only place where larger buildings can be built. Unisys is an example of such a facility. There are also smaller local businesses on Via Fabricante and larger office buildings in High Park. All of this area is commercial. Yet, some on the council want to rezone some of that precious commercial space to build high density houses. Why? Some say we need more low income housing. Others say that the city will get cash from the builder in the form of park fees, which are needed because there are no planned park space on the development as required by our laws. All of these so-call reasons miss the primary point, loss of needed sales tax money. We need sales tax money to pay for the repair and maintenance of our existing city parks, streets and other public facilities in the future. By building high-density housing on a part of this commercial property, we are taking sales tax money away from the city in future years, when it will be most needed. In addition, we are also going to cost the city more money by adding more housing. Every residence in Mission Viejo costs the city money in terms of parks, streets and other city services. We are now over the maximum housing limit set by the original planners and we simply cannot afford more houses, if the city is to be viable 10 years from now. A number of articles have been written on this site about the Steadfast plan. Please take a look and call your council members if you want them to stop the Steadfast debacle. Steadfast - California Promise? Also, there is a move in the community to change the way our city approves projects like Steadfast’s Aliso Ridge. Read about the Mission Viejo Right to Vote Initiative here. Your Elected City Council Members |
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