Beaumont Must Secure the Wellbeing of the Current Citizens instead of solely Focusing on Turning Beaumont into East L.A.
LONG TERM PERSPECTIVE:
California Government Code 65300 requires the City of Beaumont General Plan to implement a long-term perspective of 30-50 years on elements such as water, sewer, and roadways.
Beaumont Staff and Council has embarked on a $110+ Million Sewer Project to expand Capacity from 4MGD to 6MGD, but the City will reach 6MGD Sewer Capacity with the houses and warehouses planned in the next five (5) years. Brian Knoll from Webb & Associates claims the 6MGD sewer capacity will last until 2035, but that’s a lie and only a 17 year duration.
Capital Improvement planning is typically 5-7 year terms, yet it appears that Beaumont Staff are preparing a 40-year plan for all aspects of the General Plan. Beaumont Staff and Council continue to illegally trade bond debt for developers’ mitigation fees with the excuse of past commitments.
Beaumont must prepare long term General Plans for water, sewer, and roadways and short term General Plans for items that utilize the resources such as houses and warehouses.
California Government Code 653510 et seq. requires public hearings and encourages local agencies to listen to the Citizens. However; the City of Beaumont has historically disregarded Citizen input as to what they would like in their community. Beaumont Staff and Council operate the City to the benefit of out of town Developers.
California Public Resource Code Section 21005 addresses prejudicial abuse of discretion when a public agency does not comply with information disclosure provisions.
The City of Beaumont’s 2007 General Plan was filled with inaccuracies and misinformation. Citizen input was ignored. The Elements of the 2007 General Plan were riddled with misleading and/or false information.
Beaumont has no Planning Director. Ernie Egger’s assistant Rebecca Deming was gifted the title of Planning Director when Egger went into hiding in 2010. After the FBI Raids in 2015 Rebecca Deming’s job title was changed, but she continues the same corrupt and illegal practices that she was taught from Egger.
Kyle Warsinski stated on his resume that he worked for, and we can assume drew two paychecks for, both the City of Beaumont and Urban Logic consecutively. Warsinski’s only training is from Dave Dillon and Alan Kapanicas. After the FBI Raids Warsinski’s job title changed and he was hidden in the Planning Department with Deming.
Rebecca Deming and Kyle Warsinski are Urban Logic Employees first and foremost and their loyalty has proven to not be to the City. They have repeatedly made false statements and forged documents before and after the Raids. Their loyalty is to Beaumont’s construction scam, not to the City or Citizens of Beaumont.
The City of Beaumont must prepare a lawful General Plan that represents and protects the Citizens. The City must hire honest, qualified staff and consultants that will follow State and Federal Laws.
AIR QUALITY
Air Quality is identified in the General Plan Environmental Justice Element Statute and referenced in the Land Use, Circulation, Housing, Open Space, and Safety Elements.
In the 1970’s we learned that high density congestion in isolated areas produces extreme levels of air pollution that can cause serious health problems and even kill the weak and frail.
The City of Beaumont is located in ‘the Pass Area’. It isn’t even a valley, it’s just a pass between two mountain ranges that is only a few miles long.
The Pass Area is not ‘the right place’ for thousands of houses and millions of square feet of warehouses because the air pollution will be locked in between the mountain ranges. Increased housing density and thousands of diesel trucks combined with a few days without wind will create a deadly air quality for the Citizens of Beaumont and the entire Pass Area.
If the wind isn’t blowing in the Pass Area the pollution is locked between the mountain ranges and hangs in the air. Beaumont is planning to build another 20,000 houses and millions of square feet of warehouses on the pretense that they aren’t against warehouses if they are in the right places.
The Environmental Justice Element requires the City to identify objectives and policies to reduce the unique or compounded health risks in disadvantages communities by reducing pollution exposure, including the improvement of air quality.
High taxes and government corruption has turned all of Beaumont into a ‘disadvantaged community’. Beaumont has housing developments specifically for the elderly and families with young children. The City must properly mitigate the air quality effects of every past and future projects within the City.
FIRE
Fire risk is identified in the Housing, Open Space, and Safety Elements. Fire risk is also referenced in the Land Use and Environmental Justice Elements. California Government Code Section 65302 requires the Safety Element be updated to analyze risk and include policies for the protection of the community from any unreasonable risks associated with the effects of wild land and urban fires.
California Government Code 65302(g) references CalFires’ “Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone”, which are areas in California, which includes Beaumont, that have a higher than average chance of fire hazard because of location, climate change, and an increased population without adding proper fire and safety infrastructure.
Fire safety is an important issue in the City of Beaumont because Beaumont has built 20,000 houses without adding any additional fire protection. Federal Fire and Safety Standards suggest fire and safety response times under 5 minutes, but some Beaumont Residents’ response time is over 20 minutes.
Communication between the City of Beaumont and CalFires in 2015 revealed that Beaumont needed to build three more fire stations to properly protect the City. Beaumont is planning to build a fire station on the west side of town, but the City has been planning and collecting Mitigation Fees for a west side fire station for 15 years. Over 1,000 houses and 5 Million sq. feet of warehouses is currently under construction on the west side of Beaumont, which will increase the need for a fire station in addition to the three required in 2015.
Beaumont had to retire their last two fire engines in 2015, now contracts all fire services from Riverside County, and has made no effort to protect their own Citizens. To this day the City continues to misuse/waste/embezzle all taxes and fees collected over the past two decades to build the fire and safety infrastructure. Beaumont also charges an additional $8 Million/year in CFD Mello Roos ‘Services’ taxes to operate the infrastructure that doesn’t exist.
Beaumont must plan and build at least three more fire stations to ensure the safety of the current residents. The City must establish a separate interest-bearing bank account to properly account for all fees collected on behalf of fire station construction. Beaumont must also increase the developers’ impact fees for fire stations to the amount necessary to construct the needed fire stations through the City.
WASTE FACILITIES
Waste Facility issues are identified in the Land Use and Housing Elements. Waste Facilities are also referenced in the Circulation, Noise, Safety, and Environmental Justice Elements.
California Government Code 65302(a) requires the Land Use Element to plan for “solid and liquid waste disposal facilities”. As previously stated; waste facility plans require a long-term perspective of 30-50 years, but Beaumont Staff and Council have embarked on a $110+ Million Sewer Project that will only create enough capacity to provide sewer treatment for the thousands of houses and warehouses currently under construction.
Beaumont’s sewer plant is land-locked and has no room to expand large enough to accommodate the 20,000 more houses and millions of square feet of commercial/industrial planned. The City has allowed the sewer plant to deteriorate while Staff and Council misused/wasted/embezzled almost all of the taxes and fees collected over the past 25 years. There are no funds available to pay for the $110+ Million expansion.
The City was allowed to build 2,212 houses in 1994 based on the completion of a Recycled Water Facility by March, 1995. Beaumont has had multiple deadlines to produce Title 22 Compliant Recycled Water imposed by the California State Water Quality Control Board over the past two decades, the last of which was December, 2015. In July, 2015 Beaumont Staff and Council stood before the State Water Board and assured the Board that the City would have Title 22 Compliant Recycled Water by the middle of September, October at the latest.
Beaumont has no Recycled Water because Staff and Council embezzled all the money and never built the facility. A recycled water facility is NOT part of the $110+ Million sewer expansion, although Webb & Associates Engineer/Consultant Brian Knolls recently started to claim that recycled water is part of the expansion. Beaumont Public Works Director Amer Jakher repeats the 2010 lie that the City has recycled water, but there’s no distributor.
WATER QUALITY
Water Quality issues are identified in the Conservation & Open Space Elements and referenced in the Land Use, Safety, and Environmental Justice Elements. California Government Code 65302(d)(1) requires all water and groundwater agencies to prepare a report on supply and demand.
The Beaumont Basin is Beaumont’s only natural water supply. The Basin has been in Overdraft for 20 years. Beaumont’s Sewer Plant has been fined and penalized multiple times for sewage spills into Coopers Creek.
Beaumont must honestly analyze water needs for domestic, agriculture, ecological, and industrial uses and provide for the conservation of water supplies and protection of aquatic ecosystems as a beneficial use. Beaumont must accept the fact that there is no water to sustain the thousands of houses planned in the City.
WATER SUPPLY
Water Supply issues are identified in the Housing, Conservation, Open Space, and Safety Elements. Water supply issues are also referenced in Land Use and Environmental Justice Elements of the General Plan. California Government Code 65583(a)(3) and 65583.2 require the city to include a description of infrastructure such as water and sewer available on each site plan.
California Government Code 65583(a)(3) and 65583.2 of the Housing Unit also requires an accurate count of the number of housing units built. This information was removed from the City of Beaumont’s plans and staff reports in 2015. Numerous complaints to Beaumont City Council and Planning Commission has fallen on deaf ears. Beaumont illegally removed the number of houses being built on all government documents to hide the number of houses being built.
The Beaumont Basin has been in Overdraft for 20 years and Beaumont continues to build houses knowing that there is no water supply to sustain the houses. Climate change has drastically reduced the annual rainfall in California. Unbridled housing developments without water supplies have created a demand for water that far exceeds the ratepayers of Beaumont’s ability to pay for imported water.
Beaumont Staff and Council refuse to follow State and Federal Laws and refuse to stop illegal activity such as forging government documents and making back room deals with developers for mitigation fees. Beaumont continues to allow massive housing developments without CEQA EIRs and continues to make dirty deals with developers instead of operating an honest government.
Beaumont can never claim to operate an honest government when the same dishonest staff is allowed to continue the same construction scams that have left the City in its current distressed condition. Beaumont must terminate their corrupt employees and hire honest staff that will tell the truth.