Apr. 11, 2017

Hon. Todd Spitzer
Third District Supervisor
Orange County, CA

Shane Silsby,
Director, Public Works
Orange County, CA

Dear Supervisor Spitzer and Director Silsby:

Attached please see photos of large oak trees along Santiago Canyon Road on the Saddlecrest project site that were razed in recent weeks. Mature cacti that are prime habitat for the threatened cactus wren are also being bisected by roads and destroyed. This is of course the worst possible time to be doing earth-moving, during the best nesting and flowering season in years.


The trees were healthy, spring-blooming coast live oaks, exactly the kind needed to sustain heritage populations at a time when drought followed by heavy rains, borers and other stressors are wiping out trees across California en masse.


Yet the oak razing and other destruction appear to be perfectly legal in Orange County, thanks to inexplicable foot-dragging by county officials. Staff say it would take $100,000 in consulting fees and a year to 18 months to do anything on a tree ordinance or other protection. This is inexcusable. We urgently request that you expedite work on the proposed tree ordinance, which has languished for a year. A team of land use law and biology experts developed draft language for Orange County last spring. Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks submitted it to county planning staff last June. It was supposed to come before the Board of Supervisors last December. That was scrapped. Supposedly some funding may be allocated in July but there is zero sense of urgency.

It should not take another year or more to finalize an ordinance and/or implement other protective measures. Orange County is not breaking new ground here - we are woefully behind. Most other communities, the University of California and others promptly adopted or expanded tree protection programs to combat pests and to preserve trees that remain. At a minimum, developer-friendly jurisdictions require special, publicly noticed permits for the possible removal and transplantation of large native trees.

Here? Current law allows the SaddleCrest developers and others to replace mature trees with acorns. To phrase it politely, this policy is cause for astonished disbelief among prominent tree experts. We are sure you will agree that preserving the trees that remain in Orange County should be a top priority.

In addition, the time is long past to rectify the terrible evisceration of the Foothill Trabuco Specific Plan by a former supervisor who has been out of office for several years and his colleagues. Please act promptly and responsibly to overturn their actions and once again allow reasonable development consistent with the county's rural edge. These areas provide valuable breathing space and recreation for all county residents and the region. Bulldozing hillsides, bombing creeks and axing live oaks is surely not the legacy you want to leave behind.


As always, please let us know how we can help.


Sincerely,


The Inter-Canyon League Board of Directors


Linda May, Janet Wilson, Geoffrey Sarkissian, Dion Sorrell, Scott Breeden

This is a complex matter both technically and legally, so it will take a little time to complete all the reviews and engineering. Verizon also is planning to install a backup generator and batteries at the Community Center so there will be service during power outages and disasters (the SCC is a designated Red Cross shelter.) These need to be installed on raised platforms, and space and esthetic design is needed for this equipment and platforms.

Hopefully by summer all of this will be settled and the roll-out can commence, though that is only a guess at this point. So don't toss out those Network Extender boxes just yet, but be hopeful.

Verizon will be installing cell radios on existing electric poles: 6 in Modjeska and 12 along Silverado Canyon Road. More information for this are in prior blog posts. Click the "Wireless" category to the right to see all those, or click here to view the post from May 2016 with Verizon's coverage and site maps.

At its Nov. 2016 meeting, the ICL board voted to send the following letter to O.C. Development Director Colby Cataldi. The letter was originally drafted by local realtor Russell Taylor. It asks for a meeting to resolve permitting issues with older canyon homes.

​Click the read more link below/right to read the letter.

If you have questions or comments on this project, here is the OCPW contact:
Khalid Bazmi, P.E.
[email protected]
(714) 667-3213

Below are slides presented by O.C. Public Works given at the Oct. 2016 ICL regular meeting on bridge repairs being conducted throughout Silverado Canyon. They have promised there will be no road closures, though there may be delays at times during the day.

You can view the slides here. Use the arrow box at the lower right of the frame to view them full screen. If you want to download these slides, you can download the full meeting document package for the Oct. 4th, 2016 regular ICL meeting by clicking here.

At its Oct. 2016 meeting, the ICL board voted to send the following letter to O.C. Public Works in support of a standardized memorial sign for a cyclist recently killed by a DUI driver on Santiago Canyon Road. The family of the victim and OCPW had both requested ICL's input. Click the "Read More" line see the letter.

We have received an email from OCPW that they will be installing cameras to monitor road & flood channel conditions in preparation of storm events. You can download the full notification PDF from OCPW using the link below. For more information, contact Melanie Tep at OCPW:

Melanie Tep
Strategic Communications Specialist OC Public Works
Office: 714.667.1618 
[email protected]

Orange County Fire Authority has obtained a grant that runs through March of 2018 to provide assistance to homeowners in clearing back brush and tree branches from private roads and driveways. Sorry, no yard cleanups.

All work will be performed free of charge. For more information, contact Kim Brown at OCFA:
     [email protected]
     (714) 573-6175

(Update 6/7/16: OC Public Works has told us Verizon has not yet responded to the original plan check comments. We will keep tabs on the issue and let you know of developments)

Following our May meeting where the Verizon proposal was outlined to the membership, ICL submitted its comments letter to O.C. Public Works regarding the project. These comments had been requested by OCPW in April. At the May ICL meeting.

The ICL comments letter is available for download on our 2016 Documents page, click here. Our original blog post on the matter is below. We will continue to post here as we get more information.

At its Feb. 2016 meeting, the ICL membership unanimously voted an amendment to the by-laws proposed by the board, to allow meetings to be rescheduled to the second Tuesday of the month in cases where circumstances, such as road closures or evacutation orders, make that necessary. Previously, ICL by-laws did not allow a regular meeting except on the first Tuesday of the month.

(Click the "read more" link to see the full post including the amendment)