The Capistrano Insider

AT&T: Capistrano Service to Get Better

This is good news for San Juan Capistrano AT&T users -- which includes me. Over the past few months, I haven't been able to get service inside City Hall, which makes it hard to blog and tweet about the ... wonderful ... things the council does.

The site will be near Camino Capistrano and Del Obispo.

From AT&T:

As part of its continuing network investment to support growing demand for advanced mobile devices and applications, AT&T* today announced the activation of five new 3G cell sites in Aliso Viejo, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Buena Park, and Garden Grove that will enhance coverage for area residents and businesses.

The new cell sites are one part of AT&T’s ongoing efforts to drive innovation and extend its 3G wireless network – the fastest in the nation, according to independent testing.  It is also part of AT&T’s ongoing investment to build the broadband networks that will fuel economic growth and create jobs, and enable the its customers to quickly access the content, applications and services that matter most to them.

“We have a long history of investing in our network throughout Orange County to improve the quality of service we provide to our customers,” said Richard Porras, AT&T External Affairs, Orange County. “Our customers will experience enhanced wireless coverage and an improved user experience as a direct result of the activation of these five new cell sites.”

 AT&T plans to add more than 200 cell sites in California this year and upgrade nearly 320 more sites to 3G. From 2006 to 2008, AT&T’s total capital investment in its California network was nearly $7.9 billion.

The AT&T 3G network opens the door to a new era of advanced mobile services, devices and feature-rich content.  With 3G speeds, you can surf the Web, download files faster than ever, and enjoy the very latest interactive mobile applications.

AT&T’s 3G mobile broadband network is based on the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) family of technologies that includes GSM and UMTS, the most open and widely used wireless network platforms in the world. AT&T offers 3G data roaming in more than 100 countries, as well as voice calling in more than 215 countries.

AT&T offers unsurpassed choice in the range of devices, services and applications compatible with its 3G network. AT&T offers a wide variety of devices from more than a dozen manufacturers, including handsets that are compatible with six different operating systems and five different e-mail applications. AT&T’s Media Mall 2.0 offers more than 90,000 content options, and customers can download virtually any application over the Internet.  Additionally, AT&T supports a community of more than 20,000 application developers via its devCentral portal.

For updates on the AT&T wireless network, please visit www.att.com/networknews.

Council Roundup: August 4 Meeting

The San Juan Capistrano City Council's August 4 meeting started out in an unusual manner, as supporters of a deal to buy 132 acres of Rancho Mission Viejo land at La Pata and Antonio Parkway -- the Rodeo grounds -- flooded council chambers at 4:30 to comment before the council even went into closed session.

The vast majority of the speakers -- including many equestrians and soccer-league organizers -- urged the council to go ahead with the deal, but at least two homeowners -- Helen Welch Reardon and Kim Lefner -- repeated earlier concerns that the details of the deal should be made public. Both said the property is beautiful and could be an asset to the city, but the city has not disclosed how much they're talking about spending on the property. Capistrano has about $27 million left in the bank from the $30 million open space bond.

There's also a question whether buying the land will prevent construction of already-approved homes and buildings on the Ranch land -- probably not; the Ranch approvals are for units within bubbles, and the approvals for the property allow them to juggle development within the bubbles, so the projects probably don't go away, just move around a bit.

After closed session, the council took a few key actions:

1. Rejected an appeal from the Verizon wireless for a sign on their store off Del Obispo. The store, in Del Obispo Plaza, opened in 2007, but has been without a legal sign. In 2008, code enforcement jumped on them for putting up illegal signs. Even in the days before the appeal went before the City Council, the store had an illegal hot air balloon up as an advertisement.

That angered the council, which noted it several times, before rejecting Verizon's appeal.

Here's that staff report.

2. A staff study says the Catholic Health Enrichment Collaborative (CHEC) which provides social-service referrals out of the city-owned Old Fire Station on La Matanza, does not have a negative impact on the neighborhood. Residents have complained about the center, but the staff report says there's little or no impact from CHEC, although two religious groups that use the facility on weekend bring the most traffic.

Residents complained the center serves illegal immigrants, though, which angered Councilman Sam Allevato. "I'm shocked and dismayed by some of the comments I've heard here tonight." The other council members agreed the issue was actually two discussions: Whether the services impact the neighborhood, and whether CHEC should or shouldn't serve illegal immigrants.

The council decided there was no impact, and the other discussion was best saved for another day.

Here's that staff report.

The meeting ended with a robust conversation during  council comments -- the room was empty as the 11 p.m. hour passed -- about a planned public hearing on another project, the proposed senior development at the north end of town. That deal, which also came out of the Open Space Committee, would see construction of a 750,000 square foot senior community, while the city would pay $10 million (in redevelopment taxes generated by construction of the project) to buy more than 100 acres of open space in the Rancho Capistrano area.

The date for a public hearing on the deal has not been set, but the council debated whether it should include only the development deal or whether the option agreement with the city -- the tax money and other details -- should be discussed then, too. Council members Sam Allevato, Tom Hribar and Mark Nielsen won that battle, to keep the future meeting focused on only the development details.

The proposal has also drawn fire from some residents -- and Councilman Lon Uso -- who contend too much has been negotiated behind closed doors.

The Fall Out of An Unfinished Community

Attorney Robert DeNichilo, representing the homeowners in the unfinished Pacifica San Juan project off Camino Las Ramblas, made this presentation to the Capistrano Unified School Board on July 6. Trustees did not act that night, but some said they found it an intriquing issue and asked staff to look into it. The city will also receive some money when the bond is actually issued. The money being collected now is apparently going into a bank account.

Also posted on the Beyond the Blackboard blog.

 

Good evening. My name is Robert DeNichilo, and I am corporate counsel for the Pacific San Juan Community Association. I have been asked by residents of Pacifica San Juan to address you this evening, and I thank you for your time and attention.

 First let me address the question of “why are we here.”  Pacifica San Juan comprises Community Facilities district 98-1 of the Capistrano Unified School District.  When the district was originally formed, the economy was in a very different state than it is today.  It was an era we now recognize as a housing bubble, and where demand far outstripped supply.  At that time, Pacifica San Juan was envisioned to be a community of 416 homes.  It was anticipated that such a community would have a large and real impact on the city, and in particular the school district and the services it provides its residents.

That was the environment where the rate of special tax to be levied was calculated.  An environment where it was envisioned that a 20 million dollar bond would be required to offset the impact of Pacifica San Juan on the school district, a number that was increased to 45 million dollars a few years later.  However, as we all know, we are in a very different situation today.

Rather than a community of 416 homes, Pacifica San Juan today, and for the foreseeable future, is comprised of 61 homes, only 54 of which have been sold and have families living in them.  Of these 54 homes, there are only 10 children attending school in the district.  Clearly this is a very different level of impact on the district than that which was envisioned when the CFD was created, and no one would have envisioned that it would take over 26 thousand dollars per student per year the residents have been taxed, or the 46 thousand dollars per student per year that I understand is being proposed, to offset the impact of the 10 children from Pacifica San Juan on the Capistrano Unified School District.

Despite the change in circumstances from what was anticipated at the time that the rate of special tax was determined, there has been no review of the real impact of Pacifica San Juan on the school district.

One impact is that there has not been any need for bonds to be issued.  In fact, until there is a significant change in circumstances it is unlikely any bonds will be issued. Further, once things do change, and development begins again, it is highly likely that any new developer will seek to change or eliminate the CFD, as the current rate of special tax negatively impacts on the marketability of the property.  In fact, it is my understanding that this may already be occurring in another community in the district.

We are in a unique situation here in light of the fact that no bonds have been issued in this CFD.  The Board is not hamstrung with debt that must be repaid by the special tax.  Rather, pursuant to Government code section 53330.5, this Board has the authority and power to reduce the rate of special tax currently being levied on the properties in Pacifica San Juan.  It is my understanding that this has been done by other districts where development in a community comes to a halt, as has happened in Pacifica San Juan.

The residents of Pacifica San Juan would like to work collaboratively with the Board to lower the rate of special tax on this CFD, with flexibility that may be required as circumstances change and development resumes.  In this light, pursuant to government code 53332, the residents will be filing petitions requesting that the Board adopt a resolution reducing the rate of special tax on Pacifica San Juan.  We look forward to working with you on this issue in the coming days.

Who is at Fault for California's Meltdown?

Also posted on "Beyond the Blackboard" blog.

Actually, there's plenty of blame to go around, says author and professor Joel Kotin in the current issue of Forbes Magazine.

He lists five main culprits:

1. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has turned into a multi-personality figure who never accomplished much;

2. Public Employees, for their uncuttable pensions;

3. The Environment, because it's just too difficult, or expensive to do anything in the state anymore.

4. The Business Community, for not taking a leadership role, or much of a role at all.

5. Californians themselves, because, as Kotkin says, we're essentially asleep at the switch.

Here's the entire article.

Report: Mammoth Equities Buildings in BK

The Orange County Business Journal is reporting the Mammoth Equities buildings on Rancho Viejo Road are in bankruptcy.

From the story:

A San Juan Capistrano-based development built for small office users in 2006 has fallen into bankruptcy, according to court records.

Mammoth San Juan Capistrano I LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week in state court in Santa Ana.

The filing lists the company having between $10 million and $50 million in liabilities.

The company appears to be the registered owner of the Mammoth Professional Office Park, a two-building, 105,745-square-foot office complex built during the commercial real estate boom on the hills overlooking the San Diego (I-5) Freeway.

Click here for the link to the entire piece.