YORBA LINDA : New Center Is Hub of Council Campaign

In a city that enjoys hefty cash reserves, the lowest crime rate in the county and has few developers knocking at the door, the predominant campaign issue for candidates vying for three City Council seats is child’s play.

Pointing to recently approved plans for a new community center that has no recreational facilities, several candidates say Yorba Linda needs new leadership to bring more recreational opportunities for residents.

Candidate Barbara Kiley referred to the center as “a $6.5-million grandma’s house,” because portions of the building will be set aside for senior groups and the Yorba Linda Women’s Club. The center will have a large assembly room, several meeting rooms and two game rooms. Outside, it will have a plaza and a shuffleboard court.

Although the community center’s contract has been approved and the ground was broken for the project earlier this month, the center has persisted as a campaign issue, if only to illustrate the priorities of the candidates.

Incumbents Irwin M. Fried and Mark Schwing both voted to approve the contract. Councilman John M. Gullixson, who is not up for reelection was the only member to oppose the project, in part, because it did not include a gymnasium.

Candidates Kiley and Dan Welch say the center should have included a gym and other recreation facilities.

“Yorba Linda is gym poor,” Welch said. “We have 55,000 residents and only one gym.”

The need for recreational facilities was raised in connection with the question of whether the city should have a high school. High school students in Yorba Linda now attend either Troy High School in Fullerton or Esperanza High School in Anaheim. Both Welch and Kiley said setting aside land for a high school is a top priority.

“If we don’t designate a site now we will never have one,” Welch said.

Besides keeping Yorba Linda students in the city, a high school would offer more community recreational facilities, Welch and Kiley said.

But candidate Christine Norris, who said she would love to have a high school in Yorba Linda, doesn’t think a high school is financially feasible, nor is it the role of the City Council to lead an effort to build one.

“That is a school board issue,” Norris said.

Norris added that the issue has been a political hot potato--one that surfaces each election.

“No candidate wants to go on record as opposing (a high school),” she said.

Incumbents Fried and Schwing both said they would support building a high school if the residents wanted one. Schwing proposes polling residents on the issue either through a survey or by placing an advisory measure on the next ballot.