November 21, 2019 - Community Landscape Meeting Follow Up

On Tuesday, September 9, the City of Orange’s Community Services Department held a community meeting at Chapman Hills Elementary School to discuss proposed landscape renovation options in the Santiago Hills Assessment District. Residents were notified of the meeting through mailings, online postings on the Nextdoor social media site, the City’s website, emailed meeting notice flyers, and signs posted within the District. Approximately 45 people attended the meeting.

At the meeting, three options were presented for consideration:

• Option 1) Renovate Handy Creek Paseo
• Option 2) Focus on maintenance and smaller renovation projects throughout the District
• Option 3) Remove turf in the medians for water savings

Click here to view the full presentation.

Feedback was collected by comment cards at the meeting and from emails and phone calls received after the meeting through Monday, September 30th. Staff received approximately 30 comments related to landscape options. Option 2 was the most supported with Option 3 being a close second. Moving forward with Option 1 did not receive significant support. Given the feedback received, staff is preparing a capital improvement plan to move forward with a combination of Option 2 and 3, which would include:

• Finish the 2nd half of Skylark, including the renovation of the 4 corners on Skylark and Canyon View Ave.
• Renovate the small median on Canyon View between Skylark and Old Camp Rd.
• Renovate the small median on Skylark at Canyon View
• Renovate the small median on White Oak Ridge at Canyon View
• Renovate the corners at White Oak Ridge and Newport Ave

As renovations are planned, staff will take into consideration lessons learned from the Trails End and Skylark projects, specifically planting turf in areas where it will be successful (or unsuccessful). The community also expressed interest in maintaining trees and replacing them throughout the District when possible. This will continue to be our goal.

Next steps for the renovations include presenting and receiving project approval by the City Council through the annual budget process and then creating design plans. The design phase would start in the summer of 2020 and bids will be accepted in the fall of 2020. The renovations would be completed over the course of 2 years with construction anticipated to start at the end of 2020/beginning of 2021.

Staff also received feedback regarding the City’s current Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program. The feedback was mixed with support for keeping the current IPM Program as well as switching to an organic only program. The City’s current contract with the District’s landscape contractor, Nieves, ends summer 2020. As a result of the feedback received, the City will ask contractors to provide two IPM options during the bid process; the first would be to keep the current service standard and the second would be to switch to an all organic program. The options and cost will be shared with residents before an option is selected.

We thank you for your participation thus far and encourage residents to continue to share feedback!

You can provide feedback by emailing SantiagoHills@cityoforange.org or by calling 714-744-7274. If you would like to be added to or removed from the email notification list, please email SantiagoHills@cityoforange.org.