This article was originally published on February 4, 2009. At that time, we did not have the benefit of the comments from Interim City Manager, Nita McKay. The article has now been updated to include those comments.
McKay indicated that City staff were in the process of responding to a request from the City of Cypress to open the medium for a left turn lane in front of 24 Hour Fitness. Since the City Council has taken a position opposed to installing the left turn lane, McKay said that the City staff did not have the authority to approve the Cypress request and would be issuing a denial letter by the end of this week. Any other action, she indicated, would need to go before the City Council. She also indicated that she did not know why Cypress continues to press this issue or who might be behind the renewed request. Cypress has the option to appeal the denial to the City Council, but McKay did not know if they would do that.
The idea of installing a left turn lane into 24 Hour Fitness on Katella continues to dog the Los Al City Council. While this appears to be a hair raising issue for some residents, perhaps the City Council has more pressing issues on which to work. With a vacancy in the City’s top management job (City Manager) and a looming budget deficit, the Council is not lacking for important issues. Nevertheless, this issue continues to present itself at council meetings.
While the Council spent less than a minute on this problem at the last meeting, some people are concerned about what happened and why. In a swift parliamentary move and without discussion, a motion by Council Member Edgar to strike a letter from the Council’s meeting minutes was approved on a 4 to 1 vote. The only Member voting against the motion was Council Member Mejia.
The purpose of the letter, which was written and read by former council member and Mayor Catherine A. Driscoll, was to document the history behind the decision to not build a left turn lane at 24 Hour Fitness. According to Council Member Mejia, the letter should have been retained as a part of the minutes because “I believe that we need to have whatever documentation we can because in the past we’ve gone back to rule on issues without all of the information… {such as where} there’s no history…those documents don’t exist, so I’m very uncomfortable with taking that {the letter} out because I think that it is very specific. I know that she has a right to request it and the fact that it’s being removed is a little disconcerting to me.”
Even though the solid medium has been built, there are continuing concerns that the medium will be cut to install a left turn lane for 24 Hour Fitness. According to former Council Member Driscoll “The reason why they’re looking into it is because they’ve been prompted by Cypress”. Council Member Mejia also is concerned that the issue will be reconsidered. She said “It looks like we’re undoing something we’ve already been a part of.” It’s important to note here that Council Member Ken Stephens, is the manager of 24 Hour Fitness and that business would benefit directly from a left turn lane.
There are at least two issues involved here. One issue is weather or not it is appropriate to attach a letter from a resident to official City Council meeting minutes. On this issue, Mejia and Driscoll believe it is appropriate, but Council Member Edgar does not. Driscoll said “I think it is wrong {striking the letter} because there are other letters that are attached to other minutes”. Edgar said “I pulled it {the letter} because it was a procedural issue that I philosophically didn’t think it added value to the minutes. I didn’t think it was appropriate and wasn’t an issue that was seen or heard by the Council and I didn’t see it coming up anytime soon. He added “The idea that I’m going to quash that {the letter} from the public is crazy.”
So, is any of this important, or are we dealing with a tempest in a teapot? Therein lies the second part of this issue. It’s only important if the left turn lane issue comes up again to the Council for a vote. We have not found anyone suggesting that this item should be agendized as yet. Neither Mejia or Edgar indicated that the issue is on the table, or even close to being on the table, but still, the issue keeps raising its head. Both Mejia and Driscoll suggested that staff might be working on the issue.
Council Member Edgar emphatically stated that he was not interested in further discussions to install a left turn lane for 24 Hour Fitness, saying “This is not even an item that they’ve {City staff} have been empowered policy wise to go do anything. I think at this point, this thing isn’t going anywhere…”I believe it’s a done deal. I don’t think we’re doing anything with it.” When asked directly if he was in favor of installing the left turn lane, Council Member Edgar answered “No. I was interested to know more about it. If there’s something else to be done there that would be valued by the community, I would be interested to hear about it. I’m not pushing anything to do with this and priority wise, it’s not even in my top five.” If the issue does come before the Council, it will be an interesting discussion and OC180NEWS.com will be there.
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About Dolores Barr, Publisher
Dolores Barr has lived in Rossmoor since 1992 and has created this site to provide local news for the people of Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Rossmoor, Leisure World, Sunset Beach, and Surfside, California. My husband and I have had two students graduate from the Los Alamitos Unified School District and currently our Grandson, Ricky Apodaca, grade 3 at Weaver Elementary, is actively involved in youth baseball through LAYB and youth football through FNL.
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