Quiet Little Villa Park Is Having Itself a Quiet Little Council Race

Life is pretty quiet in Villa Park, and not even City Council candidates try to pretend otherwise.

In fact, 4 years ago it was so quiet in Orange County’s smallest city (population 6,902) that Villa Park canceled its election when no one wanted to run against the incumbents.

This year, there will be an election--one appointed incumbent and three challengers are running for two seats--but no one is getting excited. All four have filed statements with the city clerk saying they plan to spend less than $1,000 each on their campaigns.

The challengers are running not because they are upset with City Hall but because, they say, they want to give something back to their city. Yes, there are a few issues--how to develop the vacant former site of a packing house and whether to allow residents to block off their streets to deter drivers trying to avoid jammed thoroughfares.

But mainly, the candidates say they want to preserve the community’s quiet life style.

The packing-house project illustrates Villa Park’s standards. A developer has proposed building 32 homes and some commercial space on the 9.8-acre plot. Each home would be on a 7,000-square-foot lot, hardly high-density development by most cities’ standards in today’s tight housing market. But there is some concern in Villa Park that the project is incompatible with the rest of the city, where homes sit on at least third- or half-acre lots.

Traffic, too, is a concern. There is little land left to develop in the city, and Villa Park is virtually surrounded by the city of Orange. But even though Villa Park is not growing, its roads are becoming increasingly jammed as more people from neighboring areas drive through.

Here are the candidates in the council race for the Nov. 8 election:

- Kathleen M. Barrish. Appointed to the council 2 years ago, Barrish, 47, said she believes traffic is one of Villa Park’s most pressing problems. “Each street closure should be added on an individual basis,” she said. “Our main concern is quality of life. We want to enhance residents’ quality of life.”

Barrish said she has not made up her mind on the packing-house proposal, although the current plan of mixed commercial and residential units “seems to be compatible with the area around it.” The developer has told the city it is not economically feasible to build the homes on larger lots, she said, and the council would have to amend the general plan to allow the higher density.

“I would like to see something come in (on the property) to enhance the city and its revenue,” she said.

- John Frackelton. A businessman who has lived in Villa Park for 18 years, Frackelton, 48, served on the city Planning Commission twice, before it was disbanded because there was no need for it as the city became built out. He also has been active on the Traffic Safety Committee.

Frackelton called the packing-house site “a unique piece of property. . . . If it’s to be developed, there will have to be some sort of compromise. That’s the issue for the council, to arrive at a workable compromise.”

He said traffic “has been and will always be an issue” in Villa Park. The council must work with other jurisdictions to help control the flow of cars through the city, he said. Traffic can affect “the quality of life. Most of the people moved to Villa Park for a particular life style, and I think most are interested in preserving that life style.”

- Herbert A. Moss. An attorney, Moss, 50, has been on the board of Residents Opposed to Arterial Roadways, which fought the extension of Loma Street in Orange. He said he believes that the council should give more scrutiny to requests to close off residential streets. “They’re not looking at the overall, long-range impact,” he said. If one street after another is closed off, “we have to see what that’s going to do to the other people” who will find traffic diverted down their streets and along the already crowded main roads, he said.

Moss said he opposes the packing-house project because the density would lower surrounding property values. “The developer is blowing smoke in the eyes of the City Council,” he said. The developer’s claim that it is not economically feasible to build fewer units on the property is “utter nonsense. What we have is a greedy developer who wants to maximize his profit and who doesn’t care what the impact would be on property values.”

- Harold H. Saldarini. A self-employed manufacturer, Saldarini, 45, supports the packing-house property plan, minus the commercial development. It is important to develop the vacant land so that it can generate tax revenue for the city, he said.

Saldarini said he believes street closures should be considered on an individual basis but with attention given to the impact they would have on traffic flow and safety. “We can’t close every street in the world off. All we need is a dry Santa Ana (wind) and a fire, and there won’t be a Villa Park.”

Saldarini also wants to form a citizens committee to fight the county’s plan to change the flight approach pattern to John Wayne Airport, which he said would route the large, noisy jets directly over Villa Park.

“The bigger aircraft may be quiet on takeoff, but when they’re coming down the throat of Villa Park we’re going to have a problem,” Saldarini said. He also has proposed changing the agenda of City Council meetings so that controversial items would be heard early in the evening.

VILLA PARK CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES

ELECTIONS ’88 ORANGE COUNTY

One appointed incumbent and three challengers are running for two City Council seats in Villa Park, Orange County’s smallest city, in the Nov. 8 election.