Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, October 15, 2022

CONVERSATIONS....THE MEADOWS 5 Mountain Views-News Saturday, October 15, 2022 
CONVERSATIONS....THE MEADOWS 5 Mountain Views-News Saturday, October 15, 2022 
FOLLOW THE MONEY --- AGAIN 

Public comment at the City Council 

meeting last Tuesday night was very in


teresting and revealing. One Preserve 

member, speaking as a member of the 

pubic, said: “There are many residents 

who are highly disturbed by the bias that 

has been shown in favor of the develop


er who has already paid $50,000 to the 
Neighbors for Fairness group and donated $250,000 to the City”. 
A member of the Fairness group responded and said these comments were 
completely false and inappropriate. He further stated that his group “would 
love to have that kind of money”, its “not happening that way” and “its all self ”… 
the “money we put from ourselves”. “New Urban West (the developer of the 42 
unit tract housing project called the ‘Meadows’) is not involved in our process”. 
It is important to take this opportunity - since a member of the Fairness Steering 
Committee brought it up - to point out that every ad, mailer, flyer, and 
doorknocker has stated clearly, as required, “Major funding from New Urban 
West”. 
It is startling (and hard to believe) that the Fairness Steering Committee members 
are unaware of the tens of thousands of dollars that fund their pictures in 
the paper and the incessant marketing needed to try and convince the residents 
of Sierra Madre that this ill-conceived housing project is good for us. In fact, 
the total the developer NUW has contributed to the Fairness group after a recent 
donation of $70,000 now totals $120,000!! In three months!! 
We have written in the past about the similarities of “The Meadows” housing 
project with Measure V. At that time, the building industry spent $180,000 on 
ads and mailers with the goal of confusing us into believe all kinds of dire problems 
would occur if it passed. Sound familiar? Did it work….NO!! Of course 
not! The residents of Sierra Madre are too smart to be misled by marketing 
schemes, scare tactics and false promises. 
The same thing is happening again– you can see the same effort and funds 
being spent by another developer to try and convince/confuse us into supporting 
a housing project that does not meet any of the standards of Sierra Madre. 
Once again, dire consequences are predicted – and the truth is ignored.
The reality is that on the lower parcel, there will be 7 houses under the “Vote 
Yes on Measure HR”, as opposed to 42 houses if it doesn’t pass. 

Vote Yes on Measure HR to: 

• Stop high-density housing in a high-severity fire zone 
• Require minimum lot sizes of two acres 
• Reduce the number of houses; reducing potential water use and fire 
• Stop the possibility of development of a 270,000 square-foot institution 
on the upper 18 acres of the property 
• Keep the peace, quiet and small-town charm that drew us to Sierra 
Madre in the first place 
What makes stopping this overdevelopment even more critical at this time is 
that the 91 acre Stonehouse property is again up for sale. The same property 
that went into the Hillside Management Zone after the developer tried to build 
Meadows type houses. There is no doubt that the purchaser will use the Meadows 
project as a precedent if Measure HR does not pass. 
An awful lot of money is being spent by an out-of-town developer to convince 
us that a 42-unit tract housing development that destroys a beautiful part of 
our community is in our best interests.
Don’t be fooled or bought off – follow the money - $120,000 and $250,000- - 
and the money train will continue. It is easy to predict that New Urban West 
will continue its campaign of misinformation and confusion to further its goal 
of building a housing project that does not belong here. 
If you are reading this on Saturday, please attend the Forum in City Hall at 4 
pm, and get the facts for yourself about this life-changing development. There 
will be a representative from YES on Measure HR to answer your questions and 
clear up any confusion you may have. 

CITIZENS FOR TRUTH 
Deception, Misrepresentation, and Distortion 

It does get tedious correcting the misinformation discussed in the Neighbors 
for Fairness columns, plus the additional letters by those same “Neighbors.” 
What is “fairness?” According to Webster, fairness is “impartial just treatment or 
behavior without favoritism or discrimination.” It is not deception, distortion, 
and misrepresentation. 

 Who does this Fairness apply to? The developer New Urban West (NUW) has 
muddied the issue of building 42 large stack and pack homes, with promises 
of a 3-acre park, thus cramming the extra-large homes on even smaller lots. 
Who wants the park? No resident that I’ve spoken to. Is it fair to the actual 
neighbors, who surround this ill planned development? 

 Representative Jonathan Frankel has said over and over that he cannot predict 
exactly where the two-story houses will be, which will block the views of the 
existing neighbors. Recent plans put the few one-story houses on the street in 
front of the Retreat Center, so that the priests will still enjoy their view. 

More mud (literally and figuratively) – NUW has “offered” $250,000 to help 
with the building of the new police station, or to help with fire department 
improvements. That’s fair, you might think. $250,000 is a drop in the bucket 
for a developer who stands to sell these homes for more than $4 million. Will 
it be fair to these same neighbors who will have to deal with the construction 
for more than two years – dust, pollution, noise – and that is just for the 
construction. What about the increased traffic?

 Now we get to the crux of the “Fairness” issue. Hundreds of residents, business 
owners, City staff, Commissions, and the City Council spent five years updating 
our General Plan, called The Constitution of the City. Just think of how unfair 
that is to all those hard workers when the NUW Specific Plan takes effect – a 
Specific Plan that will take precedence over our own zoning laws.

 Not only are the “Neighbors” (who have ties to NUW), but also so are the 
Mater Dolorosa Fathers spreading lies about the alternative to the ill-designed 
Meadows project. Measure HR would result in a total of 7 homes on two acre 
lots each. 

 Here are the facts: These can result in a lot split, so that at most there would 
be 4 housing units on two acre lots, but they must follow our zoning laws, not 
those of a special interest. How in the world do they end up with a total of 68 
houses, without mentioning that under the Meadows Specific Plan there could 
be up to 360 housing units in the same area? 

 The homeowner, not the developer, could conceivably add an additional 
dwelling unit (ADU) to their home. But that particular homeowner then must 
reside in the home for three years. If you are paying $4-$8 million for a house, 
would you put more dwelling units your property? 

 The City attorney misrepresented this argument about 68 possible units 
on the ballot. A lawsuit was filed on this one issue alone, and here is what 
the Judge said about this scare tactic. “This statement is not just imprecise, 
it is false. No matter whether a commercial entity or an individual, no single 
person can develop the property’s 35 acres into 68 units. Neither SB 9 nor the 
City’s SB 9 ordinance would permit it. While it is conceivable that this could 
happen, it would need to be over the entire 35 acres, taking place over decades 
and decades, through many buyers and sellers.” Gee, that would also mean, in 
order to get the entire 35 acres, the good fathers would have to tear down their 
existing Retreat Center, wouldn’t they? 

 Our City attorney is unfair to those who rely on his expertise to explain the 
law correctly, not erroneously as is the case here. 

 We hope dear reader that you attend the last Candidate Forum on Saturday 
and hear the facts for yourself. 

SIMPLY BAD FOR SIERRA MADRE 

With just a few weeks left prior to the election, many folks have been reaching out to Neighbors for Fairness to ask 
about Measure HR. Mostly, people are confused. 
So, let’s step back and provide some basics. 
Existing City laws allow the Monastery (Mater Dolorosa) to operate a retreat center and minis-try on their property. 
They have done so for nearly 100 years. Measure HR changes these laws to make the retreat center “non-conforming”, 
which is just technical jargon for illegal. 
The new zoning imposed by Measure HR does not allow retreat centers and churches. Because of some technicalities 
in the law, the Retreat Center cannot be forced to close because it is al-ready operating. But make no mistake, 
Measure HR makes it virtually impossible for the Monastery to expand their ministry or adapt to the future needs 
of their retreat participants. 
How would you feel if your neighbors got together and decided to force a public vote to strip you, and only you, of 
your property rights? 
Worse yet, backers of Measure HR have chosen a new zone for the Monastery property that allows up to 68 arcadiastyle 
mansions to be built with virtually no City oversight. They concede that massive 6,500 square foot homes can 
be built under Measure HR. They say that’s a good thing.
We don’t think huge water guzzling mansions are consistent with Sierra Madre’s character as a village in the foothills. 
We think most in our community agree. 
Further, we elect representatives, and rely on professional City staff, to make these complicat-ed zoning decisions. 
They carefully study all the facts and make informed decisions. Measure HR boosters decided it would be better to 
circumvent our City Council and experienced plan-ning commissioners by gathering signatures to place Measure 
HR on the ballot. In the process, they have routinely attacked our dedicated City leaders. 
Measure HR was foisted upon Sierra Madre voters because three – yes just three people – who live right next to the 
now approved Meadows project at the Monastery insist that Sierra Madre will be utterly destroyed if we welcome 42 
new families to town. 
Wait, you say. These people put Measure HR on the ballot because they oppose the Meadows project, which includes 
42 homes? But doesn’t Measure HR allow 68 mansions? Indeed, it does. This is the ultimate irony of Measure 
HR. This why our City Council, in writing a ballot argument in opposition to Measure HR ask, “Were proponents 
even aware?” 
Clearly not. They simply didn’t know what they were doing. 
Even more disturbing, when gathering signatures from Sierra Madre voters to place Measure HR on the ballot, they 
told us that it would “Save the Meadow”. Our City Attorney has made clear this is patently false. It does the exact 
opposite. These reasons and many others are why our mayor and City Council unanimously oppose Measure HR. 
We hope you follow suit. Meas-ure HR is simply bad for Sierra Madre. Vote NO on Measure HR! 

GRASSROOTS GROUP KICKS OFF WITH ARTISAN HAND-PRINTED SIGNS 

In the true spirit of Sierra Madre, the new “NO on HR” committee kicked off their campaign against Measure 
HR by hand-printing their own yard signs. These are Artisan, limited-edition, numbered signs and 
are guaranteed to have the unique character of Sierra Madre with no two signs being iden-tical.
This grassroots effort was kicked off by Pat Alcorn, chair of the committee. Volunteering for the great


er-good of Sierra Madre is nothing new to this group, 
who have served over the decades as 4th of July committee 
members, Scout leaders, Sierra Madre Civic 
Club, Parks and Recreation com-mission, Community 
Services Commission, Friends of the Library, CERT 
members, Little League coaches, Sierra Madre Pioneer 
Cemetery board members, Rose Float volunteers, local 
Election boards, Older Americans of the Year, Citizens 
of the Year, VFW, Kiwanis, and many others. 

“NO on HR” opposes Measure HR which will rezone 
the Passionists’ property to a residential zone, turning 
them into a nonconforming use thus taking away their 
current Institutional Zoning. This may substantially 


burden their religious rights, and put the city at risk of being sued in federal court. 
To get one of these limited number of signs for your yard, email your name and address to signs@noonhr.org 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 

THE BENEFITS OF THE MEADOWS PROJECT 

In an editorial last week it was asked how the Meadows project would benefit Sier-ra Madre. It’s hard to believe anyone 
who has paid attention to the conversation over the last year doesn’t already know this. As the oldest neighbor 
to the Monas-tery (I grew up right at the entrance) I have a lot to say, and not only about stop-ping the dust and dirt 
blowing off the “meadow” in the fall. 

The number one benefit is obviously more housing. Sierra Madre is made up of over 4400 residences. Housing is the 
heart of Sierra Madre because it is the best place to live. When possible, we should also allow others the opportunity 
to live here. Suggesting that housing is not a benefit would be like saying your own house, or any homes, are not a 
benefit to the city. 

The other benefits come in the form of the concessions from the developer, New Urban West. The three acre turnkey 
park with water-capture is worth many mil-lions. The value of the land alone if they chose to build 10 more 
homes would be at least $5 million. Then there is the almost $1 million for net zero water offsets so the city isn’t 
responsible for procuring the additional 1.5% of water. The 40 acres of hillsides placed in conservancy are also beneficial 
to the city because it protects them in perpetuity. The Sierra Madre Mountain Conservancy has spent millions 
of dollars protecting open space north of the city. In addition, New Urban West of-fered $250,000 to help pay for 
public safety infrastructure. 

The alternative is that something else is built and we don’t get any of these bene-fits. I’m glad the project was approved 
because I much prefer a park and nice sin-gle-family homes to a big assisted living project or another high 
school or 7,300 sq. ft. Arcadia-style mansions. In the editorial the analogy to Measure V was an odd case to make. It 
PROHIBITED large buildings downtown without a vote, whereas Measure HR ALLOWS mansions to be built twice 
the size of the Meadows project, all without a vote. A vote for HR is a vote for mansions. Who wants that in Sierra 
Madre? I know I don’t. 

There is one other benefit to the city and that is the benefit to the Passionists who have been good neighbors for 100 
years. They provide many important services to those in need in our community. The fact that their headquarters 
are in Chicago is irrelevant. OUR Passionists are here in Sierra Madre. Anything that helps them helps make Sierra 
Madre a better place. The Passionists are lucky to have New Ur-ban West as a partner who is looking out for their 
best interests. 

It was suggested that the city council should not have voted on the Meadows pro-ject until after the election. Why is 
that? Measure HR is not about the Meadows project. It is about rezoning the Passionists’ property to Residential and 
turning them into a nonconforming use. That will happen whether homes are built or not. The Passionists have a 
right to due process and to have their project considered in a timely manner. Was the almost 20 meetings not enough 
for you? The City Council did the right thing. 

The other side of the “benefits” coin was the claim that “for Sierra Madre, there's only significant, permanent, irreversible 
costs.” Did you notice it wasn’t actually said what those costs were? I noticed. How about backing up that 
claim? The EIR concluded there were no significant impacts. End of story 

Dave Link, neighbor to the Monastery. Vote NO on HR 


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 
Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com