A Recent Article on Parkland What a bunch of Bull!!!

A recent article in another “News Publication” must have been fomented by a politician. The County of Riverside turning over 27 acres of parkland along with "kicking in" $300,000 to the City of Wildomar without strings attached is so much nonsense.
First off, this parkland was purchased with Quimby Fees which mandates that a city have certain things in place;
1.  66477. (4) The legislative body has adopted a general plan or specific plan containing policies and standards for parks and recreation facilities, and the park and recreational facilities are in accordance with definite principles and standards.
The County of Riverside had such a plan when the fees were collected but The city of Wildomar does not have a legally recognized Master Parks and Recreation Plan element of our General Plan.
2.  66477. (6) The city, county, or other local public agency to which the land or fees are conveyed or paid shall develop a schedule specifying how, when, and where it will use the land or fees, or both, to develop park or recreational facilities to serve the residents of the subdivision.  Any fees collected under the ordinance shall be committed within five years after the payment of the fees or the issuance of building permits on one-half of the lots created by the subdivision, whichever occurs later.  If the fees are not committed, they, without any deductions, shall be distributed and paid to the then record owners of the subdivision in the same proportion that the size of their lot bears to the total area of all lots within the subdivision.
Its been over 5 years since the $300,000 they are “kicking in” were collected from developers as  Developer Impact Fees “Quimby Fees” without having been committed to any specific project, therefore subject to being returned to those who paid it. These fees should have been turned over to the city at the time of incorporation as they belonged to the city not that it would have mattered as the city has not “Master Parks and Recreation” element of our General Plan.
The comments by Mr. Jeffries  “(The property) was obtained with the primary purpose of providing a park for what was then the unincorporated community of Wildomar” have a hollow ring because this land was purchased in April 2008 several months after voters approved becoming a city and choosing their future council and work was being done to finalize incorporation on July 1, 2008. Therefore we technically were not an “unincorporated community” but a community in transition.
The statement that passage of the ballot measure in November was a motivating factor is also without merit as Measure Z funds are restricted to the 3 existing parks, period.
The one thing Mr. Benoit got right is the 27 acres turned over is quite rugged and would be most suitable as a nature park with hiking trails but again Wildomar has no Master Trails Plan element to its General Plan.
The Oversight Committee heard some details of the transfer but have absolutely no jurisdiction over anything that happens to this property.