….WITHIN MERE MINUTES OF CREATING THE PLANNING COMMISSION
City Councilperson Bridgette Moore was overheard in the City Hall hallway last evening, minutes after the council meeting was adjourned, lobbying a newly-appointed Wildomar City Planning Commissioner to agree to forego the application of County-imposed, and now City-imposed, mitigation conditions for a church’s hillside parking lot project.
Bridgette apparently seeks a church’s project approval without having to secure an Environment Impact Report (they are planning to move more than a million cubic yards of soil offsite) that would require them to properly mitigate their impacts.
Here’s Bridgette’s infraction. Planning Commissioners serve at the pleasure of each Councilmember and are an extension of the Councilmember’s goals for the city’s development. That is why each member gets to nominate their own choice for the Commission, subject to the approval of a council majority.
Bridgette could not contain herself, however, and waited mere minutes to approach one of the new commissioners and to lobby on behalf of a church without the appointing Councilmember’s knowledge. That, my friends, is a serious interference with the appropriate decision-making protocol.
Once upon a time, for a little background, a church got a big pass from the County when they built their large sanctuary and then a large entertainment center. A church was not required to alter the road in front of their facility to accommodate all of the traffic hazards and conditions that their numerous attendees impose on the rest of us citizens whenever there is a meeting taking place or especially as the attendees depart.
Now that Wildomar is a city, however, the City’s desires apply. City staff has recommended reasonable mitigation conditions in order for a church to gain approval of the project. Staff is protecting the quality of life for all of the citizens of Wildomar. It’s why Wildomar became a city, isn’t it? This is what “local control” means.
It is apparent that Bridgette has thus begun to also subvert the staff’s work on behalf of a church with her hallway peccadillo.
You may place your bet in the “Shame or Anger” pool as we witness Bridgette’s reaction to Zak’s “calling out” of a major political offense at zakturango@excite.com. I’m betting anger and tears but this sh*t has to stop.
