Despite City objections, County approves Valley-Wide Plan

By Doug Spoon, Editor

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors today unanimously approved an updated Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District Master Plan, with one supervisor chastising the City of Menifee for “abusing the process” with repeated protests of Valley-Wide actions.

The Master Plan update, required by the County, does not include any changes affecting Menifee, according to the document presentation. Even so, City Council member Lesa Sobek and Menifee community services director Jonathan Nicks both spoke out against the plan, citing what they believe to be unfair assessments levied against Menifee residents by Valley-Wide in recent years.

Valley-Wide is a public district that serves communities with parks and landscaping in several communities, including Menifee, French Valley, Winchester, Hemet and San Jacinto. Close to half of the district’s coverage area is in Menifee, including all parks east of the 215 Freeway.

In a letter to the Board of Supervisors sent Jan. 6, City manager Armando Villa asked for a continuance of the scheduled Jan. 11 public hearing on the Valley-Wide Master Plan. According to the letter, Valley-Wide tax assessments to Menifee residents have increased 33 percent in the last three years, while the City’s assessments to residents regarding parks it controls west of the freeway increased only 7-8 percent. He also argued that Menifee residents were not given sufficient notice of the Master Plan update in advance of the public hearing.

The item was continued to today, when the Board received a second letter from Villa, requesting another continuance. This letter also referenced an incorrect assessment to 80 Menifee residents.

“I ask that you consider holding off on this because there are unanswered questions and issues,” said Sobek, who did not attend the meeting but called in with comments. “I know the update is regarding only unincorporated areas, but if these things took place in Menifee, who’s to say it hasn’t taken place in other areas?”

Nicks, also calling in with a comment, accused Valley-Wide of “a pattern of raising taxes and fees” and “moving money away from parks maintenance.”

There were no Menifee residents in attendance or on a phone call to voice personal complaints, however – a fact not lost on supervisor Kevin Jeffries. His comments referred to the City of Menifee’s six-year attempt to take control of parks services in east Menifee away from Valley-Wide.

“We’ve been dealing with this for what seems like a decade,” Jeffries said. “It never ends. And the board now is being dragged into a battle between the City and Valley-Wide for an issue that applies only to unincorporated areas.

“I don’t understand why we need to be dragged into an issue where there is not a single resident to speak on it. Somebody needs to stop abusing the process, settle their differences and leave the board out of this mess.”

With no other speakers addressing the issue, the board approved the Valley-Wide Master Plan, 4-0.

In 2016, the City made a formal request to the Riverside Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCO), seeking detachment from Valley-Wide. LAFCO ruled that the detachment could be made, but in part only if the City agrees to a public vote of the residents on whether the City could take over tax assessments from Valley-Wide.

Arguing that such an election wasn’t necessary, the City in 2017 filed a lawsuit in opposition of LAFCO’s conditions of approval. Since then, the City has lost twice in court regarding the matter. For the time being, Valley-Wide continues to control parks on the east side of Menifee, additionally managing tax assessments in that area.

Asked for a response to the board’s action today, City official Philip Southard repeated some of the concerns expressed in the two letters.

“The City of Menifee believed it was important to share our concerns related to Valley-Wide’s service as the Board of Supervisors considered adopting their Master Plan. This plan incorporates all of Valley-Wide’s service area including the City of Menifee,” Southard wrote in an email to Menifee 24/7.

“The City remains committed to ensuring that residents are receiving the best quality recreational services for a fair price and will continue to work with all relevant agencies to achieve that goal.”