Canyon Crest Saga Continues on 18 November!

At their regularly scheduled meeting on Election Day, the 4th, the Brea City Council, citing the absence of member John Beauman, voted to postpone further consideration of the appeal of the Canyon Crest housing project of 165 units in Carbon Canyon until next Tuesday, the 18th at 7:00 p.m.

Although public comment is closed for the matter, we'll see if anyone tries to offer anything at the general comment section at the beginning of the meeting. It will also be interesting to learn how much further the council gets in their 11-item agenda, given that it took an entire four-hour special meeting to get through the first four items. Will the council move faster through the remaining seven? Is it possible a decision will be reached next Tuesday?

It would appear unlikely, given that this is a general council meeting and there will be other items up for discussion and vote, so I would expect that there will have to be at least one further meeting. The timing could wind up very interesting as a decision could well be made during the Christmas season when attention (already turned toward the increasingly sinking economy, which will further delay any action, including, presumably, the pending sale of the Carbon Crest property by the Shopoff Group, in terms of building for several years, at least) will be distracted. For the supporters of this project, there probably couldn't be a better time to have council reject this approval.

On the other hand, those of us who are against this project as now constituted (whether or not there is another project that would be more amenable) should still turn out en masse next week and let the council know that there is still a very strong concern about Canyon Crest. There was a significant decline, however, in attendance at the last meeting, so, hopefully, there won't be a further drop.

If you are concerned about the potential for this development to be green-lighted by a rejection of the appeal, please come next Tuesday and let the council know that opposition is still vigorous and palpable.