Murrieta's Mitchell Crossing Goes Ahead As Planned

By Douglas V. Gibbs

In Murrieta, California, a transformation of the city into something that is not desired by many of the current residents, like the one that happened in Moreno Valley over the past decades, is underway.  Murrieta leadership, folks that boast about Murrieta being the city that has consistently ranked among the safest cities in the nation, and being a city that despite its growth has hung on to the distinction of being a bedroom community, has been working with forces determined to change the character of the region.  Largely comprised of Orange County transplants attempting to escape the changes invading the once conservative hub of Southern California, Murrieta has enjoyed massive growth through booming single-family home development.  Like neighboring Temecula, Murrieta has over 100,000 residents, yet has maintained a small town feel, and a hometown appeal.

Moreno Valley was once like Murrieta, a young and growing area surrounded by rural settings and filled with young families largely in single-family homes.  Pressured by local regional associations, and a planning department determined to fulfill demands by those that support "sustainable development," Moreno Valley began to shift their focus, and began building a massive number of multi-use and multi-family projects that eventually attracted lower income families from surrounding areas.  The influx of lower income families, and persons dependent upon government assistance brought with it the statistical inevitability of higher crime, and ultimately lower property values.  In response, the original population began to flee to other areas, and Moreno Valley changed from a burgeoning family community to a city wracked with gang problems, higher crime, and diminishing tools for attracting a more prosperous and productive segment of California's population.

As did Moreno Valley, Murrieta is beginning to chase the same "affordable housing" nightmare that has changed other cities for the worse.  Concerned residents believe the Mitchell Crossing development brings to Murrieta the potential of increased traffic, and lower community standards, a trend consistent with what we saw in Moreno Valley. The project is slated to bring a multi-family housing mix of 80 condos and 230 apartments to an area nestled up against the upscale gated community of Greer Ranch, a long-standing development of single family homes near the Clinton Keith intersection with Interstate 215.

Mitchell Crossing, as the developers leaped the city's hurdles in the Planning Department, was met with opposition by local residents once it began to take shape.    The 20-acre area was re-zoned for multi-family housing in 2010.  Residents collected thousands of signatures on petitions against the project, but as the decision headed for a vote by Murrieta City Council recently, the staff members of the city recommended that the councilmembers reject the appeal.

Mayor Harry Ramos voted against Mitchell Crossing at the most recent Murrieta City Council meeting, and Councilman Jon Ingram recused himself since he has ties to the nearby Greer Ranch neighborhood, as well as connections to the Greer Ranch Home Owner’s Association. The opposition to Mitchell Crossing has been populated largely by residents of Greer Ranch.

The vote ended with Councilmembers Rick Gibbs, Randon Lane and Alan Long voting in favor of moving the Mitchell Crossing project forward, and continuing to send Murrieta in a direction that historically leads to the demise of a city.  Ramos’ dissent included his concerns about how the city handled the appeal, including the denial of a continuance that gave the opposition coalition little time to prepare their case.

“We asked. We begged for a continuation,” said Pamela Langley, one of the leaders of the coalition. “It happened very quickly… on spring break.”

The last thing Murrieta needs is more apartments and condos.  The property in question would be better served by either commercial development or homes on large lots.  Unfortunately, Murrieta has developed a reputation among the business community as being hostile towards new business, unless it fits the high technology standard people like Councilman Rick Gibbs is pursuing.  So, the commercial development route probably never crossed the minds of Councilman Gibbs, or City Manager Rick Dudley's, minions.

If Murrieta becomes an apartment complex mecca, the road to becoming Moreno Valley will be the only road available, and as we've seen in city after city, such a journey is a journey towards failure, increased crime, and a mass exodus out of the area by higher income residents.

Murrieta's Planning Commission members have declared on a number of occasions that the worries about low income or subsidized units are not warranted.  The units planned to be built at Mitchell Crossing, according to Planning Department personnel during a December 18 meeting, are not consistent with the opposition's fears.  Murrieta's councilmembers that voted to move the project forward at the most recent city council meeting reiterated their belief that the project is designed to improve Murrieta, not set the city back.

A massive crowd of local opposition at the meeting was not so sure, and praised Mayor Ramos for being willing to stand firm against the project.

The councilmembers that voted for Mitchell Crossing have a history of deep ties with WRCOG, and have continuously acted in a manner consistent with sinister concepts like "sustainable development" that has been responsible for making land for Murrieta Calvary Chapel unusable, and property owned by folks in the Los Alamos Hills impossible to develop, or sell. Watching Mitchell Crossing's battle develop in recent months, it becomes clear that the interests of Rick Gibbs, Randon Lane, and Alan Long are not what is best for Murrieta, but what is best for their own agendas, and what is best for their "wink wink nod nod" associations with powerful groups that are not afraid to yank on the trio's strings to get what they want.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary