Spending Developer Fees
by Larry Gilbert

Ever hear the expression that there are people who keep spending money as they still have checks in their checkbook? In this example I refer to the city of Mission Viejo's senior staff with millions of dollars from developers that are "available for appropriation."

Case in point. Proposed CIP 303 "Pavilion Park Playground Replacement $1,303,125." After seeing a table of feel-good projects, I drove to the current park to take photos of the playground and park, located off Jeronimo Road and one block west of Olympiad. There are cities that would die to have the existing playground equipment.

One watchdog in our city has beaten a drum pointing out that if we have millions of in-lieu park fees to spend, why not add restrooms in some of our parks? I've heard people say that they have seen men and boys urinating in a city-owned park which, until a few years ago, lacked restrooms. This particular park is used for several sporting activities.

After taking photos I reviewed our 39 "active" parks that range from one-half acre to 52 acres, with an average of 2 acres to 6 acres. Of those parks nine have restrooms, yet there are five others used by AYSO for games that I would recommend be considered as candidates for restrooms. All of these five parks are also used for either softball and/or football where games probably keep the players in the park for a few hours.

These recommended parks, ranging from seven acres to 15 acres, are Aurora, Barbadanes, Cordova, Pacific Hills and Pinecrest.

If these restricted funds can only be used for parks, I would place a much higher priority on adding restrooms in one or more of these parks rather than spending $1,303,125 for an unnecessary playground replacement. As it's often stated: "If it ain' t broke, don't fix it."

Update – response received:

As a follow-up to my post on Mission Viejo's Pavion Park playground replacement cost, mayor Reardon responded to me, pointing out that this $1.3-million proposal is for "special needs children."

OK. Based on her response, I conducted some research this morning and contacted the Field Supervisor in Escambia County, Florida, where they have just completed their 5th (or 6th) park this past week. This unincorporated area of west Florida (Pensacola) is divided into five districts.

Their supplier of this playground equipment is J.A. Dawson, based in Pelham, AL. Rather than placing all of the equipment in one park, they chose to add this special needs playground equipment in multiple park locations where the users might be upwards of 100-200 per day (max.).

Their total expenditure for all six parks was around $340,000. While I do not have a full apples-to-apples comparison of the installed equipment for those children with special needs, their actual expenditures are surely lower than our starting estimate of $1.3 million. While I support the idea, we should also acknowledge that meeting the needs was accomplished at just over one-fourth of our proposed budget, which raises a flag. I was reminded by the supervisor that "special needs" is not limited to those children (or adults) in wheelchairs. It includes those with hearing and vision impairment as well as those with autism.