For those who are eagerly awaiting decent cell service in the canyons, there's some reason to be hopeful.

Verizon no longer is looking at the Children's Center as its central switch site because of issues obtaining a sublease there. Verizon now is looking at the Silverado Community Center for its site. They have just done the preliminary review there.

IRWD is converting the northern segment of its Irvine Lake Pipeline to recycled water.

During the months of December 2016 and January 2017, contractors' trucks will be utilizing E. Santiago Canyon Road near Jamboree and the 241 Toll Road to transport dirt and materials. Traffic delays are possible on Santiago Canyon Road during peak traffic hours.

​For more information, please click here to visit the IRWD site.

Announcing Canyons Emergency Preparedness Academy
by Bruce Newell, Reserve Firefighter
 
One of our common Community goals is to increase our safety, our preparation for all risks and our resilience after an emergency. If we experience a major earthquake, a fire or a flood, do you have a detailed plan for yourself and your household? 

(please click "Read More" below/right to view the rest of this post.

A Saturday Morning "un-parade," outstanding entertainment, skits, a saloon, ​and a tribute to our very own Cowboy Hall-of-Famer: Rusty Richards made 2016 one of the most successful Silverado Country Fairs ever.

Click to visit our 2016 Country Fair page for highlights and financial results.

The email below was received by ICL director Janet Wilson on Oct. 27th, 2016 from our 3rd district supervisor Todd Spitzer.

Sup. Spitzer's email was a response to a legal opinion that ICL submitted to his office earlier this summer from noted local land-use attorney John G. McClendon, laying out why the SMSP is enforceable. The opinion was commissioned by a coalition of groups including the ICL, Rural Canyons Conservation Fund, the Saddleback Canyons Conservancy and the Canyon Land Conservation Fund.

Sup. Spitzer states he has directed county staff to comply with, and enforce, the Sil-Mod Specific Plan's provisions. You can also view the directive letter he sent to O.C. Public Works director Shane Silsby below.

Hosted by OCPW and chaired by Sup. Spitzer, the county held a roughly 2-hour meeting on Tuesday 10/18/2016 at the Calvary Church in Silverado on Santiago Canyon Road accidents and safety.

OCPW director Shane Silsby and his staff prepared a slide presentation with statistics, charts and maps, as well as proposed road improvement. These are available for download using the link below.

The chart at the right is from the second slide, and shows the percentage of fatal accidents grouped by cause over the last five years.

At the April 2016 ICL meeting, Sup. Todd Spitzer and other county officials presented their view that the Sil-Mod Specific Plan is no longer seen as a binding, enforceable land-use and development document. The county's legal rationale was that the Plan had originally been passed by resolution instead of by ordinance.

In response to this, ICL along with three other canyon groups, voted funding to obtain a legal opinion from local attorney John McClendon, a senior partner with the Irvine law firm of Leibold McClendon and Mann. His analysis details why the county's view is legally incorrect.

This opinion has been sent to Sup. Spitzer. You can view it at the right (click the box at the lower right to view full-screen.). You can download it to your device using the link below.

The original Sil-Mod Specific Plan itself is available by clicking here.

Verizon Wireless has made permit applications with the county for new wireless infrastructure in the canyons. There are applications for 18 cellular antennas to be placed on existing electric poles, with some poles being replaced. A small, central fiber switch site will be leased from the Children's Center/SMRPD at the far north side of that property.

ICL had a public meeting with Verizon Thursday April 21st at the Silverado Community Center. About 20 people attended, including four representing Verizon.

ICL also will be presenting this matter at it's May 3rd public meeting at the Modjeska Fire Station, and soliciting additional membership comments. ICL will be following up with a comments letter that county planning has requested from ICL.

At the end Feb. 2016 we conducted a survey on this website asking whether ICL should weigh in on the fate of the R.V. storage lot at Irvine Lake. To recap: the Irvine Company had transferred its 75% ownership of Irvine Lake to O.C. Parks and did not renew any leases.

At the time we conducted the survey, O.C. Parks was negotiating with Serrano Water District, the former recreation manager, which desired to retain the R.V. lot leases and the revenue from it. The issue was rendered moot two days later when O.C. Parks sent vacate notices to all 2000+ R.V. owners with vehicles stored there. But we still wanted to share the results of the survey with you.

Click on "Read More" to continue reading this post, including the survey results.

On Feb. 19th, 2016, I met with Vincent Sanchez, the district representative for our 45th district congresswoman Mimi Walters. The meeting was at his request.

Mr. Sanchez has been reaching out to various canyon groups in congresswoman Walters' district, including SMRPD and other groups in Trabuco Canyon.

Click the "Read More" link to see the rest of this post.

Trabuco Canyon's Saddleback Canyon Riders club, aka Equestrian Trails (ETI) Corral 357, is submitting a comments letter to OCTA regarding its proposed resource management plan for the Ferber and O’Neill Oaks Preserves. They are focusing on five sections in the proposed RMP.

As many of you know, OCTA's purchase with Measure M/M2 funds and their subsequent closure of these properties has been a hotly debated topic for more than a year. OCTA's mandate for resource conservation and mitigation intersecting and conflicting with historically open access and connected trails and the desire for recreational hiking and equestrian uses. A June 2015 meeting garnered an overflow crowd at the large Trabuco fire station hall.

ETI encourages all canyon equestrians to submit their personal comments directly to OCTA. Comments will be accepted until Feb. 8th, 2016. But ETI would also like to have your comments incorporated in their letter, and they need them by Jan. 13th for inclusion in the final draft. So please send them to the contacts below.

OCTA's planning documents, including the RMP, for the area are available by clicking here:
You can read ETI's draft comments letter by clicking here:

ICL extends its congratulations to Joanne Hubble, named in the OC Register's 100 "Most Influential" for 2015. Joanne heads ICL's Emergency Disaster Preparedness Committee. Her inclusion in the Register's top 100 is well-deserved.

​You can read the entire article on the O.C. Register's site: click here.