Madrona Hearing Continues Tomorrow Night

The next phase of the hearing by the Brea City Council on the appeal of the Madrona (formerly known as Canyon Crest) housing project of 162 houses on the north side of Carbon Canyon between Olinda Village and Sleepy Hollow continues tomorrow evening, 18 March at 7:00 p.m. at the council chambers in the civic center at the corner of Birch and Randolph streets.

The hearing tomorrow night will consist of rebuttals offered by the appellant, former mayor and council member Bev Perry, and her team of those rebuttals given by the applicant, the bankrupt firm Old Standard Life Insurance Company of Spokane, Washington, now under court-mandated receivership in Idaho. 

While it is quite obvious the OSL has no intention or ability to follow through with an actual project, what it really desires, but cannot express publicly, is an entitled tract map that will increase the value of the property so that it can be sold to satisfy the company's many creditors.  Still, it has to go through the motions of pretending that it is going to work with a developer to build the project and promise all manner of benefits to the community.

The appellants, meanwhile, argue that those benefits are overstated and do not outweigh the risks and negatives of building a large-scale development in a wildland interface that has a long history of devastation by fire; that adds to already heavy traffic on an overburdened Carbon Canyon Road; consumes far more water than is wise in our drought-stricken region; among other reasons.

The council will, once rebuttals are completed, begin their deliberations on the fate of the appeal and of the project.  While it is generally believed that the vote may go 3-2 either way, who knows what effects the arguments by both sides could have?  Moreover, a public presence at these meetings does have the potential to affect the outcome.

So, those concerned about the potential addition of 162 houses to the canyon, which already has 100 approved units on the Chino Hills side and a pending application for over 100 more there, should turn out tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. at the Brea Civic Center.