WILDOMAR: New development around the corner

Plans for new hotels, new businesses in the city's pipeline

By AARON CLAVERIE - Staff Writer | Friday, July 18, 2008 6:58 PM PDT ∞

WILDOMAR ---- There has been a development lull in Wildomar recently because developers and county planning officials were waiting for the city to incorporate before moving forward with plans for new projects.

Now that cityhood is official, the county is working on transferring its large stack of active cases to Wildomar's planning staff, and developers are trying to find out which agency will approve plans for new businesses, including two hotels and a self-storage facility, city officials said this week.

Gary Wayne, the city's interim planning director, said the city has not yet picked up the physical copies of the county's files because city staff members still need to sit down with county employees and figure out which agency should complete some of the plans in the county's pipeline.

In some cases, Wayne said it might make more sense for the county to finish the approval process for a project because only a few minor things are left to look at. And most of the agencies that would be looking at the plans are county agencies.

Wayne, a planner with 30 years of experience, is a subcontractor working for the city under the terms of the contract the council signed with Interwest, a public works and engineering consulting firm. He served as interim planning director in Palm Springs in 2005 and he said he was a longtime assistant director in the city of Carlsbad.

Wayne said Wildomar's interim staff thought that many of the transfer issues had been settled before incorporation but it now appears that officials might need to look closely at some of the cases to determine how and when to transfer over responsibility to Wildomar.

One of the first projects that should come before the City Council, which is also serving as the Planning Commission until commissioners are appointed, is a personal recreational vehicle storage facility near Clinton Keith.

Wayne said the facility will allow people to buy the storage space instead of renting it.

The council should be ready to see that application in August, he added.

Down the road, the council or the commission will consider proposals to build two new hotels along the freeway.

Wayne said the developers have said there is still an untapped market for hotels, despite two new hotels approved recently in Murrieta and the new hotels that have just opened in Lake Elsinore.

The transfer of the files is complicated by the way public agencies process development applications, said City Councilwoman Sheryl Ade.

To get something built, a developer will put down a deposit with a public agency and the agency's staff members will tap into that deposit as work is done on the plans.

Because the Wildomar plans that are in the county's file cabinets are in various stages of the approval process, county staff members are trying to figure out how to ensure the county isn't losing money it's owed by developers before it transfers over the plans.

Ade said Thursday that it makes sense for the county to postpone transferring over control of the plans until both parties can make sure no one is incurring a financial hit.

And she said she's been grateful to see that there hasn't been animosity between the two groups.

"It's just taking a while," she said.

Councilwoman Marsha Swanson said forming a planning commission is one of the council's top priorities and she said applicants should contact the council as soon as possible.

"We're going to start putting that out on the Web site and in the newspaper," she said.

Swanson said each council member will appoint a representative to serve on the commission, which will be charged with inspecting proposed developments and making recommendations to the council.

In some Southwest County cities, the city council and planning commission work as a team, approving projects that fit within the council's goals and guidelines.

Initially, Wildomar's City Council will be using the county's general plan to guide development. The plan was recently amended by the county with input from Wildomar business leaders and residents.

Swanson, who supports the general plan, said the council will look at amending it on a case-by-case basis as projects come up, and she said she supports the idea of establishing certain "zoning" that details the type of new construction that will be allowed in a particular area.

For instance, there has been talk of creating a ranch zone that would require new construction in the area to conform to certain design standards.

"As long as they (the zones) fit the community, as long it's what the community wants," Swanson added.

Contact staff writer Aaron Claverie at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or aclaverie@californian.com.