Zoning issue reveals possible division among council members

From left: City Council members Bob Karwin, Matt Liesemeyer, Bill Zimmerman, Lesa Sobek, and Dean Deines. 

Fourth in a six-part series.

By Doug Spoon, Editor

As the practices and conduct of City of Menifee staff members is being placed under scrutiny, it is also appropriate to consider the City Council members. While staff members come and go, City Council members remain in place for a four-year elected term. The city manager runs the day-to-day operations of the City, but ultimately he must answer to the City Council.

Mayor Bill Zimmerman has often said that the current City Council is united in its mission. That is not meant to imply that Zimmerman wants or expects unanimous votes on all issues; healthy disagreement in seeking a solution is part of the democratic process. What the mayor says he expects and believes in is an element of respect among council members.

It appears that some recent issues to come before the City Council are putting that goal of unity and respect to the test. Never was this more apparent than at the last City Council meeting on July 7, when a discussion regarding industrial warehouses and logistics and distribution centers in the City took place.

The item was placed on the agenda at the request of council member Dean Deines -- seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Lesa Sobek -- asking City staff to facilitate a discussion of “best practices and policies” regarding such big box centers at a future meeting. Deines represents District 4. That is the northeast portion of the City, which includes Romoland -- an area with a wide strip of the City’s Economic Development Corridor designated within the City's General Plan for commercially zoned businesses.

Deines has previously discussed his concern and the concern he says his constituents have expressed about a potential influx of large warehouses that could create an industrial community similar to what can be seen in Perris along a stretch of the 215 Freeway heading north toward Moreno Valley. And in the staff report prepared for council as part of the agenda packet, community development director Cheryl Kitzerow noted that “the City is currently processing several industrial warehouse projects [applications] throughout the City.”

Although a significant number of such applications is a fairly recent development in Menifee, warehouses and logistics centers have always been allowable within the City’s General Plan. Economic corridors with the appropriate zoning area are present both in the northern gateway to the City (in the Romoland community) and the southern gateway, where one such center – the first phase of the Commerce Pointe business park – already is in operation on Zeiders Road south of Scott Road.

Liesemeyer questions preparation of staff report

In preparing for that July 7 meeting, council member Matt Liesemeyer read the agenda packet, which included Kitzerow’s staff report. After reading what he described as an excessively detailed and direction-driven staff report, Liesemeyer voiced his objection in an email to a large group of city officials and commercial developers prior to the meeting.

In the email, obtained by Menifee 24/7, Liesemeyer wrote, “I KNOW this item is being sponsored by one or more council members whose ‘vision’ opposes industrial uses permitted in the City’s General Plan.”

“It's quite obvious the city manager and community development director are being managed behind the scenes by a few council members, who in my opinion, are concerned with political fallout associated with their personal agendas and are manipulating staff to craft their agenda, so they can appear to be ‘going along with staff's suggestions’ rather than stand on their own convictions,” Liesemeyer continued in the email. “At no time should city staff be crafting slanted, subjective policies behind the scenes and presenting to the council in this manner. Such policies should be discussed and presented objectively and transparently, in an open forum in public.”

Fast forward to the council meeting. Moments after the item was introduced, Zimmerman asked if there was any public comment. Betti Bouris – a decades-long resident who lives across the street from Commerce Pointe – and 10 developers (or their representatives) spoke in support of measured industrial development, and in opposition to any council action that would make exceptions to a General Plan previously approved by the City Council.

When discussion of the matter returned to the dais, Zimmerman said, “I get the feeling there’s a false narrative out there. We’re not looking at any particular project here; we’re just asking each project to be the best it can be. I’m not saying we’re against every project.”

What followed was about an hour of tense discussion among council members. Liesemeyer questioned why such a discussion was even needed, considering that there was no General Plan amendment up for consideration. Zimmerman supported the relevance of the staff report, prepared by Kitzerow. It included examples that other cities had "adopted new standards to protect residents" regarding industrial buildings, including:

-- "Good neighbor” policies that have required buffers between such centers and residential areas.

-- A preference for "smaller scale buildings along property frontages."

-- Physical barriers.

-- Concern over deterioration of streets.

Kassen Klein, a consultant who represents many area commercial real estate brokers, questioned the legitimacy of the staff report during the public comments section of the meeting.

"What you're talking about is not policy. This is reaction," Klein said, accusing some council members of reacting to a recent increase in industrial planning applications rather than letting the General Plan speak for itself. "The City's vision is in the General Plan and the Development Code. There's a process in all that. What's being proposed does away with that certainty."

Deines said he was not suggesting that industrial development “slow down,” but that “additional guidance” was a good idea. Sobek said, “I don’t have a problem with logistic centers along the Ethanac [northern] corridor … but I thought the intent of the southern gateway [south of Garbani Road] was to have more high-tech. I don’t like to see cement buildings. If they do come, I want to see some aesthetics, more buffers, some trees.”

In the end, the only decision made was a motion to further study the issue. Zimmerman, Deines and Sobek voted yes, with Liesemeyer and Bob Karwin voting no. In an email to Menifee 24/7 a few days later, Kitzerow denied that any of the council members influenced the content of her staff presentation.

“While staff does meet regularly with council members to go over activity in their district, staff was not approached by council members on the preparation of the staff report or presentation,” Kitzerow said.

In an interview with Menifee 24/7 prior to that meeting, Liesemeyer expanded on his position.

"I don't take pleasure in airing dirty emails," Liesemeyer said. "My question is, why was this done in a vacuum, behind closed doors? It's not a transparent process. If it's the will of four people on council, then so be it. But it's going to be done publicly."

Approach to amphitheater project also questioned

That was the second time in a few weeks that Deines and Sobek seemed to be put on the defensive. During the June 2 City Council meeting, they faced expressions of concern from other council members over the proposal of a $454,000 contract to pay an outside firm for the design of a Central Park amphitheater with an estimated total cost (including construction) of $3.9 million.

Deines and Sobek were members of an ad hoc committee, along with two members of the Parks, Recreation and Trails Commission, to study the proposed project, which began several years ago with a price tag of about $100,000. The first time the public heard about the greatly expanded cost was in April, when Liesemeyer questioned certain aspects of the project and council asked staff to come back with more details.

“As many times as I’ve talked to Dean and Lesa, I had never heard anything about an amphitheater until a week and a half ago,” longtime resident George Rackstraw said in an interview with Menifee 24/7 last month. “I asked Dean how many times they had given a public report on the project. He said, ‘I don’t think we did.’

Concern was raised about the fact that TY Lin was given the design contract by City staff without requiring the project to go out to bid. But the only council member who ultimately voted against the design contract was Zimmerman. “The final price exceeds what we may consider fiscally responsible,” Zimmerman said. “It’s too much.

“The responsible thing is to include a cap on the budget for a project. The stadium they’re building at Mt. San Jacinto College was given a cap. Other school projects built in the city were given a cap. None of them were given carte blanche.”

In the end, a motion to approve the design contract passed 4-1, with Zimmerman the lone dissenting vote. Yet even after his comments and his vote against the project, the mayor made sure to reiterate his belief about the need for a united council.

“I stand with my council members,” Zimmerman said. ”We’re going to get in the boat and paddle together. Whether I’m the dissenter or not, I’m with my council members.”

That might always be the challenge for this and any city council: How to work together effectively while retaining the right to disagree on certain topics. Council members are tasked to represent the residents. At the same time, they are human, with strong personal opinions.

In the Menifee City Council’s case, recent events could either add depth to a roadmap for success or lead down a rocky path built on discord.

TOMORROW: Taking a look at the issue of industrial and distribution buildings from a different perspective, we get the viewpoint of commercial real estate brokers who have clients interested in property in Menifee.