22-Acre Park On Wildomar's East Side Far From Opening

Wildomar officials have said that a county-owned, 22-acre vacant parcel near Ronald Reagan Elementary School should be given to the city for a future park site.

For its part, the county is willing to hand Wildomar the property -- at no cost -- but nothing is moving forward until the city shows how it will pay to construct and maintain a park there.

held to discuss Wildomar parks, Dave Stahovich, chief of staff for Supervisor Bob Buster, defended the county’s position. Reading from a June 27 letter addressed to Mayor Ben Benoit and signed by Buster, Stahovich said his boss wholeheartedly supports Wildomar parks and the county has invested millions in them, but the city needs to step up.

The 22-acre site near the school was acquired by the county in April 2008 for approximately $1.9 million plus an additional $3.4 million in future fee credits, according to the letter. The county then offered the land to the city at the time of its July 2008 incorporation for the purpose of building a park.

As one of the conditions of a land transfer, however, the city needed to show it has the resources to build a park and the financial wherewithal to maintain it, according to the letter.

“To date, I am not aware that the City has been able to satisfy any or all of the conditions,” the supervisor’s letter read. “Should the City become in a position to honor these conditions, I would be happy to work with the City to move forward on the initial concept of providing park land for the easterly portion of Wildomar.”

According to the letter, conditions must be met in order that a land transfer not be construed as a gift of public funds.

According to a March 23, 2011 staff report from City Manager Frank Oviedo, at the time of Wildomar’s incorporation in 2008 there was an “expectation” that the 22-acre parcel east of the 15 Freeway on Porras Road would be given to the city for the development of a park.

Last year city staff drafted a formal letter requesting the county hand over the land, and Stahovich contends the supervisor’s office has met with Wildomar officials on numerous occasions to discuss the parameters.

“We’ve discussed the conditions, which have always been there since the beginning,” Stahovich said after the June 27 meeting. The only condition added after the fact was that Wildomar agree to a reversionary clause giving the land back to the county if the city couldn’t maintain any part of a signed agreement, Stahovich said.

According to Buster’s letter, the county has historically backed parks for Wildomar. It invested approximately $8.6 million toward revitalizing and improving Wildomar’s three existing parks -- Regency Heritage, Windsong and Marna O’Brien -- prior to deeding them over to the city at the time of incorporation, the letter stated.

When the county purchased the 22-acre site near Ronald Reagan, the parcel was slotted for Wildomar and was considered a desirable spot for a park. At the time, it appeared Wildomar had the funds to build and maintain a facility there.

The city has since struggled, however. In 2006, voters approved a $28 annual special parks tax, but that initiative was overturned as the result of the Fourth District Appellate Court’s 2010 ruling in Beutz v. County of Riverside.

The special assessment was lifted in 2010 as a result of the court’s decision, To this day, many Wildomar residents are still owed the court-ordered tax refund by the city.

As a result of the 2010 ruling, an initiative was redrafted by the city and the $28 special annual tax was put to voters again on June 7, 2011.

; the other two parks are closed due to lack of funds.

During the June 27 special meeting, the council approved moving forward on bringing back another voter initiative in November. to read more about that effort.