Minutes of Agua Dulce Town Council Meeting

APPROVED: 9/9/98

AGUA DULCE TOWN COUNCIL

MINUTES

August 26, 1998

REGULAR MEETING

CALL TO ORDER:

The meeting was called to order at 7:48 p.m. by Trish Sullivan. The Pledge of Allegiance followed. Art Brewer, Doc Ellis, Diane Terito, Mike Terito, Dick Tracy and Trish Sullivan were present. Michael Sullivan was absent due to business commitments.

AGENDA: An agenda was presented by Trish, with the statement that there were already changes which needed to be made. David Jones of Peterson & Jones who was to speak regarding Hacienda Vasquez canceled his appearance.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Diane submitted revised minutes and noted the changes made. MOTION - Mike moved to accept the Minutes of August 12, 1998, as submitted. Art seconded. VOTE: Aye - 4; No - 0; Abstain - 2 (Trish and Dick).

SECRETARY’S REPORT: Diane reported that the mail boxes at the Women’s Club had been vandalized since August 12th. John Anderson did the repairs so that they are back in working order.

The following mail was received between August 12 and 26, 1998:

1. Letter from Ginny Ward, Field Representative for Dan Lungren for Governor Committee dated August 19, 1998. Request made: ADTC’s endorsement of Mr. Lungren for California Governor. No action taken.

2. Department of Regional Planning, County of Los Angeles:

a. CUP 95-099-(5): Property located at 6867 Soledad Canyon Road. To authorize the continued operation and maintenance of an existing wild animal managerie, mobilehomes for caretakers and accessory uses, including but not limited to educational activities and tours in an A-2-1 Zone. Hearing Date: Wednesday, September 30, 1998 - 9:00 a.m. - Room 150, Hall of Records, 320 West Temple Street, Los Angeles 90012.

b. CUP 97-171-(5): Property located at 30301 Arrastre Canyon Road, Acton. To authorize the keeping and maintaining of wild animals in an A-2-1 Zone. Hearing Date: Wednesday, September 30 - 9:00 a.m. - address given above.

3. A letter from the Acton-Agua Dulce Trails Council dated August 12, 1998, to Supervisor Michael Antonovich, requesting that they be notified directly of any decision or any communication "pertaining to development, open space, parks, roads, etc. that would effect our system of trails...". Diane read the letter aloud.

4. Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District letter dated August 11, 1998. Application to receive materials for Competitive Grant Programs. Diane will send in the application.

5. Letter from Jo Anne Darcy regarding the Vasquez Rocks County Park and Nature Center. According to Jim Park, Chief Planner, Vasquez County Park will be scheduled for a public meeting in late September to discuss preferences for the expenditure of the $1.2 million bond money. Full planning effort will get underway in November or December 1998. Trish will write a letter to Jim Park, asking whether representatives of Agua Dulce will be invited to participate. According to Art, Jim Park told him that discussions on the plan would be held in September. Art stated that he was told that the planning has been done with construction to begin in December or January. The Council has already sent letters regarding this issue to Jo Anne and to Dave Vannatta.

TREASURER’S REPORT: A report was submitted reflecting a balance of $1,299.42.

NEW BUSINESS:

FEED THE PEOPLE MINISTRY, Acton Faith Bible Church - Cherie Klimer: Cherie explained that her ministry has assisted approximately 300 people in the Acton and Agua Dulce communities. She provided a handout explaining her efforts year round and answering key questions. Under the umbrella of the Acton Faith Bible Church, the Feed the People Ministry is planning on staging a fund raising event. Cherie asked the Town

Council to consider sponsoring a booth at this event. This request was tabled pending review. Trish will include information regarding the Ministry in the Town Council Community Update.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

ELECTION COMMITTEE (Donna Saufley, Chair): The Election Committee had already submitted a draft of the candidate application and draft text to accompany it. MOTION: Trish moved to approve thesedocuments as submitted. Art seconded. VOTE: Aye - 6; No - 0; Abstain - 0.

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE (Diane Terito, Chair): Dawn Kimball, website designer, informed the Council that the new Agua Dulce site is up and operational. The temporary address is: www.cmix.com/agua-dulce. In a general search on Agua Dulce, our site will not come up because we’re not our own registered site. In order to register a name which would come up in this type of search, we must register at a cost of $70.00 which covers 2 years, with a renewal fee thereafter of $30.00 or $35.00 per year. Dawn will research names which include "agua dulce" which the Town Council may register. Diane and Mike Terito offered to contribute the $70.00 necessary to register an Agua Dulce name. MOTION: Trish moved that the Council accept the Terito offer and ask Dawn to research appropriate names for Council selection at the next Council meeting, and then proceed with registration. Seconded by Mike. VOTE: Aye - 6; No- 0; Abstain - 0. It was the consensus of the Council that a letter of thanks be written by the Secretary to Dawn for her hard work. A page will be added to the website listing all of the churches in the community. Dawn demonstrated the website for community members attending the Council meeting.

BREAK: 8:30 p.m. to 8:40 p.m.

COMMUNITY STANDARDS DISTRICT REVISIONS COMMITTEE (Donna Saufley, Chair): Meetings are being held twice a month (the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at Maria Bonita’s - 7:30 p.m.). With the Acton CSD, and other examples as references, the committee is focusing on a specific topic at each meeting, such as commercial signage, design standards, etc. The committee is also consulting the County Code as applicable. The Country Journal will begin to carry updates from the CSDR Committee so that community members are aware of the issues being discussed. Donna also recommended that this update be included in the new website. Trish questioned whether the update should be presented to the Council prior to publication. The concern is that the community is aware that this is a "work in progress", with nothing confirmed without community approval. Both Donna and Lillian stated that this update will be more general in nature, with an encouragement to community members to attend the meetings. The updates will also notify community members of the upcoming topic to be discussed so that they can attend meetings selectively if they wish. It is the intention of the committee to present a section at a time to the community for their feedback, rather than waiting until the entire document is drafted. It was the Council’s consensus that our Community Update will remind residents to look for these CSDR updates.

Donna also stated that the committee will be bringing in volunteer consultants on various topics, such as architecture, so that any language proposed for the new CSD ordinance will be clear, appropriate and communicate the communities intentions. As an example, she cited Acton’s CSD which includes the community’s desire that any commercial projects "be designed in a Western frontier village, circa 1890’s style".

WATER STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE (Lillian Smith, Chair): The committee is currently waiting for responses from John Cromwell regarding water testing, and Ken Schmidt who is writing a formal report which will be sent to the California Regional Water Quality Control Board (CRWQCB). Brian Schweickert (CRWQCB Staff) informed the committee that he is making a formal report on Agua Dulce’s Wellhead Protection efforts to the CRWQCB on September 14th as an informational item at the Board’s regular meeting. Representatives of the Water Stewardship Committee will attend this CRWQCB meeting. The meeting will be held at the Glendale City Hall at 9:00 a.m. on September 14th.

The committee has also agreed to compensate John Cromwell for a portion of the work he has been doing on a volunteer basis, since the quantity of the work is now cutting into his ability to earn a living. As a geologist, John has valuable expertise, and will still be volunteering a large portion of his time spent in this effort.

The Water Committee requested a response from the Town Council to the letter from Mr. Michael Kotch, President of the Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment (SCOPE) to Brian Schweickert of the CRWQCB Staff regarding the Clean Water Grant for Agua Dulce Public Education

Program. Diane drafted two letters for the Council’s review and approval. Dick requested that the second paragraph of the letter to Brian Schweickert be split into separate sentences. MOTION: Art moved to approve both letters for content. Seconded by Mike. VOTE: Aye - 6; No- 0; Abstain - 0.

OLD BUSINESS:

HACIENDA VASQUEZ: Trish reviewed a fax from Jo Anne Darcy regarding meetings which the County has scheduled with residents of Hacienda Vasquez on August 31 and September 1, 1998. Other members of the community are not invited.

Trish informed the Council that she’d had a telephone conversation with David Jones, a representative of Peterson & Jones who is interested in taking over Hacienda Vasquez. He stated that they would put approximately $1.5 million into the park to clean it up and put in a sewage treatment plant. Their intention would be to turn the property into a seniors park. He stated that he would like to appear before the Town Council first, before pursuing these plans further. Mr. Jones wanted to know what the communities’ concerns were regarding the park, which Trish enumerated for him. A subsequent letter stated that Peterson & Jones still intended to pursue purchasing the property, but that the outcome was "unlikely". He, therefore, canceled his appearance before the Council. Lillian also spoke with Mr. Jones and informed him of the Agua Dulce CSD, which Trish had also pointed out to him.

Lillian also had a discussion with Brian Schweickert of the CRWQCB Staff regarding Hacienda Vasquez, which will be a topic within his report scheduled for September 14th to the CRWQCB. He told Lillian that he thought Legal Aid was beginning to recognize that their cause may not win. He stated that the State of California considers that the County of L.A. is now taking the appropriate actions. Unless Legal Aid wants to challenge a State order, their position has weakened considerably. Trish expressed the fear that the County might start looking at the Hacienda Vasquez property for Section 8 housing in order to recoup their expenses. Lillian pointed out that they can’t do that because of our Community Standards District (CSD). It was questioned whether the proper permits were ever issued to allow permanent housing in Hacienda Vasquez.

ILLEGAL DUMPING: Trish read a letter from Pat Allen dated August 10, 1998, regarding illegal dumping in the Angeles National Forest off Sierra Highway. Her letter was addressed to the Editor of the Signal Newspaper. A copy was provided to Lillian Smith of The Country Journal.

NITRATES: Dick stated that many bottled waters contain nitrates.

ADJOURNED: 9:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

DIANE TERITO

Recording Secretary

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