ORANGE : Three Appointed to City Planning Panel

The City Council named three planning commissioners to four-year terms this week, displacing two longtime commission members.

New to the Planning Commission will be Michael Alvarez, an Orange native who is a general partner in the Orange Army-Navy store and who, as president of Alvarez Properties, manages family real estate holdings and a multimillion-dollar development trust.

Alvarez has served on several city and community committees, including the Downtown Owners’ Assn., the Old Towne Steering Committee and the city library and immigration committees. He was recommended for the Planning Commission post by Mayor Gene Beyer.

Councilman Mike Spurgeon named Tita Smith, an Orange native and director of the youth and young adult ministry at Holy Family Cathedral, to the commission. Smith has also served on advisory committees including the East Orange Policy, Plan and Review Committee, the Orange Centennial Committee and Santa Fe Depot Committee.

Commissioner Mark Murphy was recommended to serve his first full term by Councilman William G. Steiner. Murphy was initially appointed in September, 1990, to replace former commissioner Don Greek, who resigned two years into a four-year term to run for City Council.

Murphy, a senior sales representative for Hewlett-Packard in Irvine, previously served on the city’s Centennial Commission and Cable Advisory Board.

Alvarez and Smith were selected from 10 applicants and will take over for Carmine Master, a 17-year planning board veteran, and Don Scott, who served eight years on the commission.

Council members said the new appointments not did not reflect badly on the longtime commissioners but were necessary to provide fresh perspective and leadership on the commission.

“It’s very important to bring new perspectives into the political process, especially in the area of land use, which is certainly controversial,” Steiner said.