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What’s Up With... TOP NEWS SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO SHOULD KNOW THIS WEEK
City Approves Sale of Calle Arroyo Parcel BY COLLIN BREAUX, THE CAPISTRANO DISPATCH
An approximately one-acre parcel of land at Calle Arroyo and Rancho Viejo Road will now belong to R&H Land Partners, after the City of San Juan Capistrano agreed to sell the property. A purchase and sale agreement to the limited liability company—represented by Robert Socci, owner of the nearby Ortega Cottages business park—was approved by the city council during a meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 2. The city intended to sell the parcel, because stand-alone public use of the area is considered “generally infeasible” due to it being landlocked and not having a method of legal access. “The Calle Arroyo parcel is currently operated under a license agreement with the Ortega Equestrian Center as part of a larger equestrian operation that’s undertaken primarily on the adjacent St. Margaret’s Episcopal School property,” City Senior Management
San Juan Capistrano Makes Plans for New Pickleball Courts BY COLLIN BREAUX, THE CAPISTRANO DISPATCH
The City of San Juan Capistrano is joining in on the growing popularity of pickleball, a topic that came up during a council meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 2. A modified motion by Councilmember Howard Hart directing city staff to convert one of the two tennis courts on Camino Capistrano (by Capistrano Union High School) into several pickleball courts was approved by his peers on the dais with few objections. “Over the past two years, a pickleball course has been offered through the Community Services Department at the westerly Camino Capistrano tennis court. This class involves temporary court markings and is well-attended,” Hart said. “Additionally, this past summer, Public Works staff received a request from the Open Space Foundation to permanently
The Capistrano Dispatch November 12–25, 2021
Analyst Matisse Reischl said during a presentation to the council. “The Ortega Equestrian Center operater accesses the property through an informal agreement with the Ortega Cottages business park owner.” The city accepted Socci’s purchase offer of $150,000, which was higher than the appraised value of $120,000. “The sale to the adjacent property owner is envisioned to create opportunities for long-term use of the site, as well as mitigate potential risks and maintenance obligations of city ownership,” Reischl said. “The parcel is also located in the floodway adjacent to San Juan Creek, where FEMA restrictions prohibit certain types of development on the site—for example, the construction of permanent structures. While Mr. Socci has not yet identified a specific use or project for the parcel, he has expressed interest in working with staff on a potential project that would be consistent with the existing zoning and land-use designations.” Allowed uses for a wide variety of open-space recreational uses include parks, playgrounds, riding and hiking
An acre of land at Calle Arroyo and Rancho Viejo Road will continue to be used by the Ortega Equestrian Center, after R&H Land Partners acquired the property through a sale from the City of San Juan Capistrano. Photo: Collin Breaux
convert one of the two Camino Capistrano tennis courts to four new pickleball courts.” Pickleball is a new sport that mixes in aspects of tennis, badminton, and Ping-Pong. Participants use paddles to hit a small ball over a net on a tennis-style court. Games can be played one-on-one or two-on-two. “We were looking at what can we do to give back to the community that wasn’t as expensive as a big capital improvement such as Reata Park, which was millions of dollars and tons and tons of volunteer hours. We came up with this pickleball court proposal as a board,” Open Space Foundation President Harrison Taylor said. “We would also like to propose resurfacing the tennis court, because additionally when we put this proposal together, we wanted to just focus on pickleball, but then we realized if we resurface these four courts, the adjacent tennis players are going to feel like they’re forgotten.” Though Taylor said the Open Space Foundation could assist with costs, City Manager Ben Siegel said funds are avail-
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trails, bicycle trails, golf courses, and agricultural uses, a city staff report said. Socci wants to work with current
Ortega Equestrian Center operator Kathy Holman for continued use of the site, Reischl said.
able in the existing city budget. “We can probably have it done in the first or second quarter of 2022,” Siegel said. Siegel also recommended the conversion be wrapped into plans to install another pickleball court at Cook La Novia Park, which the city also plans to do in early 2022 as part of a previously approved capital improvement project. Hart’s original recommended action was for city staff to explore the potential of putting up up new pickleball courts along Camino Capistrano. Other opportunities for the Open Space Foundation to financially contribute to other projects might be available in the future, Siegel said. Councilmember Troy Bourne said pickleball is popular with residents and visitors at Reata Glen—a senior living facility in nearby Rancho Mission Viejo that he oversees—and is a “neat little intergenerational thing that allows people to play at all ages.” Mayor John Taylor, who is Harrison Taylor’s father, said pickleball is appealing because people can get into it on
their first try, and it is not as frustrating to play as tennis or similar sports. “If this all were to come to fruition, we’d love to have a kickoff, invite the community, hand out free paddles, really try to include everyone and not just people that are already pickleball players,” Harrison Taylor said. The only two tennis courts owned and maintained by the city are the ones on Camino Capistrano. Councilmember Sergio Farias said he doesn’t support the new courts on Camino Capistrano as much as the one at La Novia Park since the city only has two tennis courts left. “I understand the popularity of one sport versus the other. I think we could make the same argument for eliminating the rest of the baseball fields in town and just make them all soccer fields,” Farias said. “You start to see that in other municipalities, but I wouldn’t support that, either, because you’ve got to preserve certain sports and have something for everybody.” Despite Farias’ comments, the vote to approve the four new courts was unanimous.
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