LOCAL ELECTIONS / VILLA PARK CITY COUNCIL : Candidates Anticipate a Low-Key Race

In this sleepy little bedroom community, the race for City Council promises to be a decidedly low-key affair as candidates offer their ideas for preserving the pretty town.

Local concerns include whether to allow horses on the city’s recreational trails, whether to consider contracting with Orange instead of the county for fire protection, and how to tackle traffic and noise. Underlying most of the issues is how to maintain the semirural and close-knit community character of the county’s smallest city of about 6,300 residents.

Ending their first four-year terms, incumbents John Frackelton and Harold H. Saldarini will face four challengers in their bid for reelection: Robert Patchin, Nick Rogers, Steve Loritz and Michael Jacobs.

Traffic is a main concern among the candidates, especially as the project to connect Loma Street with Imperial Highway will be completed within the next 16 months. The connection, which will handle 15,000 cars daily, will offer commuters a way to bypass frequently congested portions of the Riverside and Costa Mesa freeways. Much of that traffic will spill onto Villa Park streets, City Manager Fred Maley said.

Several candidates said the city should do more to improve traffic, but their proposals differed. Rogers, Saldarini and Loritz suggested that the city restrict access to Taft Avenue at Loma Street and maintain Villa Park Road as the city’s main thoroughfare. Patchin suggested that signals and traffic signs could be better coordinated to keep traffic on arterial streets moving. Jacobs, however, favored slowing traffic to discourage commuters from traveling through Villa Park.

Candidates differ also on whether to permit residents to increase the height of their walls to help reduce traffic noise. Frackelton, Patchin and Loritz said sound barriers are usually ineffective or contribute to a walled-city appearance. They said higher walls should continue to be approved on a case-by-case basis. Jacobs and Rogers, however, said residents along busy streets should be allowed to build their walls higher without city approval.

Another point of debate is likely to be over the city’s multipurpose recreation trails now undergoing renovation. Saldarini and Frackelton helped defeat a recently proposed ordinance that would have banned horses from the trails.

On another issue, Villa Park and other cities that contract with the county for fire protection are investigating whether to form a special district to provide that service. The district would serve the same function as the county does now but would enable the cities to set prices and make policy decisions collectively.

But Villa Park leaders are concerned that the city ultimately might have to pay more under such a plan, and an alternative proposal being considered is whether the city should contract with the city of Orange.

Villa Park City Council

Six candidates are running for two seats on the Villa Park City Council in the Nov. 3 election.

JOHN FRACKELTON

Age: 52.

Occupation: Incumbent; corporate officer with store equipment company.

Background: Currently serving four-year term on City Council; served two terms on Planning Commission and one term on Traffic Committee.

Issues: Contends that city should approve requests for higher traffic-noise walls on a case-by-case basis; says city should do more to discourage commuter traffic; would consider contracting with Orange for firefighting services; opposes ban on horses on recreational trails.

MICHAEL JACOBS

Age: 41.

Occupation: Realtor and mortgage broker.

Background: Member of O.C. Sheriff’s Advisory Board; holds degrees in political science and law; coach for Villa Park Little League.

Issues: Would preserve horse trails; contends that residents in high-traffic areas should be permitted to build higher walls to counter noise; favors timed traffic lights to slow and discourage through traffic; opposes closure of Taft Avenue at Loma Street.

STEVE LORITZ

Age: 24.

Occupation: Business owner.

Background: Volunteer firefighter for seven years; president of Villa Park Firefighters Assn.; coordinated city pancake breakfasts for last four years.

Issues: Contends that city should approve traffic walls on a case-by-case basis; opposes horse trails; opposes contracting with Orange for firefighting services; favors greater restrictions to deter through traffic, including closing Taft at Loma; opposes new building regulations.

ROBERT PATCHIN

Age: 65.

Occupation: Retiree.

Background: Former public affairs officer and director of productivity improvement for Northrop Corp.; former member of the Civic Center Advisory Committee, Recreational Pathways Committee and Summer Concert 1991 Committee.

Issues: Contends that city should approve traffic walls on a case-by-case basis; would consider contracting with Orange for firefighting services; favors speed and traffic enforcement on arterial streets; supports Serrano Irrigation District in fight with Orange over water rights.

NICK ROGERS

Age: 57.

Occupation: Co-owner of commercial real estate company.

Background: Former member of Orange YMCA board of directors; vice president and state director of Costa Mesa Jaycees.

Issues: Contends that residents in high-traffic areas should be permitted to build sound walls; opposes contracting with Orange for firefighting services; favors greater restrictions to deter through traffic, including closing Taft at Loma; would seek better relations with other government agencies.

HAROLD H. SALDARINI

Age: 49.

Occupation: Incumbent; self-employed drapery manufacturer.

Background: Currently serving four-year term on council.

Issues: Would consider contracting with Orange for firefighting services; favors multipurpose recreation trails; favors greater restrictions to deter through traffic, including closing Taft at Loma; opposes increased utility taxes to help city budget.