Yorba Linda
Star
Serving Yorba Linda since 1917
AN EDITION OF
THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 20 1 3
OCREGISTER.COM/YORBALINDA
MEET THE CLASS OF
2013
Yorba Linda High School’s first four-year class will graduate next week. BY DANIEL LANGHORNE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
nother herd of Mustangs is graduating from Yorba Linda High. This one is historic. The Class of 2013 is the first to graduate after four years at the high school, which opened in 2009 – firmly leaving its mark on the school’s identity, traditions and campus. Makenna Morris, a senior and the Associated Student Body president, said a majority of her fellow 480 seniors have been together since Bryant
A
Ahjin Cho, 1 9, left, Jason Lee, 1 8, and ASB President Makenna Morris pose in front of a mural that Yorba Linda High art students were painting.
S E E G R A D S ● PA G E 3 LEONARD ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
MAIN STREET BUSINESSES HOPEFUL ABOUT TOWN CENTER PROJECT BY DANIEL LANGHORNE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Business owners along Main Street are guardedly optimistic about how the development of the newly branded Yorba Linda Commons – more commonly known as Town Center – would affect local business. Zelman Development last week presented its plan for the site to the Planning Commission and the City Council: a movie theater, a market, a high-end restaurant, a parking structure, retail stores and a small park and amphitheater. Zelman last year won the right to negotiate a development deal with the city on the largely vacant 6-acre
COURTESY OF BRETT FOY
A view from Yorba Linda Boulevard and Imperial Highway shows the proposed Yorba Linda Commons project.
site west of Lakeview Avenue, south of Lemon Drive and north of Yorba Linda Boulevard. Dale Madsen, president of the Main Street Merchants Association, said he expects the development
will drive up demand on Main Street, helping fill vacant retail buildings. “I think it will be a blessing to get this done,” he said. “I bought my building S E E P R O J E C T ● PA G E 2
DEVELOPER SUES OVER EASEMENT BY DANIEL LANGHORNE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The developer of the proposed Esperanza Hills project has filed a Superior Court lawsuit against the landowner of the planned Cielo Vista site, saying an easement exists where the smaller housing development would rise. Getting the easement recognized is vital for Esperanza Hills – because its proposed 340 houses need a second exit/entrance in an emergency, said Doug Wymore, Esperanza Hills’ project manager. Wymore said that Yorba Linda Estates, the developer of Esperanza Hills, had tried to mediate the issue with Sage Development Group, which plans to develop 112 homes in Cielo Vi-
sa. He said he was told not to do anything on Cielo Vista’s land, north of Stonehaven Drive and east of San Antonio Road. Scott Starkey, a spokesman for the Cielo Vista project, would only say that the developer was served Friday and is reviewing the complaint. Yorba Linda Estates says in its suit, filed May 21, that when Carillo Ranch was subdivided in a court decision in 1958, an easement was granted across one section of the property so other sections could have road and utility access if they were ever developed. Some homeowners in neighborhoods adjacent to the two proposed developments have said that the addition of 452 new homes
I don’t understand how they can get the neighbors to support the projects when they’re fighting tooth and nail against themselves.”
‘‘
MARLENE NELSON RESIDENT
would add to traffic jams such as the one Yorba Linda experienced when residents were evacuated during the 2008 Freeway Complex fire. “I don’t understand how they can get the neighbors to support the projects when they’re fighting tooth and nail against themselves,” said Marlene Nelson, who lives off Stonehaven Drive.