Where are the canyons heading?

By Deborah Johnson

This is a critical time for the canyons...pressures on the quality of life, natural beauty and open space are mounting. It's time for a change...bring in a Board with the competency to deal with the important issues.

a) Thousands of acres of canyon land are now protected open space.

b) St. Michael's Abbey will soon move to the canyons.

c) Orange County will convert the former Silverado Elementary School to a local library and headquarters for county parks and other activities. Community representation is important.

d) Silverado Children's Center (SCC) is facing rapidly increasing expenses and declining enrollments, at least of canyon children.

e) Development pressures will increase.

You need a Board that has the time, intelligence, skills and knowledge to negotiate complicated issues. The canyon needs leaders who will show up at meetings, take the time to study issues, prepare financial reports, and make decisions based on community input focused on what is best for the canyons.

The current Board has a history of acting without informing other Board members or the public. Consider the following:

In 2012, the current SMRPD Board began negotiations to secure 700 acres in Baker Canyon owned by the Trust for Public Land (TPL)for open space. The Board has not prepared any detailed studies of how the land would be used, how much it would cost to maintain or how to secure public access. Currently the land is accessible only by traveling on a dirt road through a waste facility plant with heavy truck traffic.

In early 2012, a board member signed a licensing agreement with St. Michael's Abbey about use of the land across from the Silverado Community Center. It was done without a vote by the full Board. Signing the lease cost the community---it lost the ability to secure a permanent easement for parking. And the community has been parking on that land for decades.

In July 2014, The SMRPD wrote a virtual blank check to pay on-going expenses at the Silverado Children's Center (SCC). This was done without a financial analysis of expected income, expenses or enrollment. So far, SCC has cost taxpayers more than $30,000 in the past year...and few canyon children attend. Enrollment has been steadily dropping. The Center also has been cited by the state licensing board in the past few months for serious safety violations.

Finally, the current Board actually seriously considered managing the Green Belt area for the controversial Rio Santiago development project in the city of Orange. It took a community meeting attended by officials from Orange Park Acres to stop the SMRPD. The current Board can barely maintain the Silverado and Modjeska community centers...let alone handle a large parcel miles from our canyons.

This election is critically important to the future of the canyons. With your vote, you are making decisions that will affect your family....your neighbors' families and the future families that will follow us in making the canyons their home. IT'S TIME TO PUT THE CANYONS FIRST.