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At the Motion hearing on Friday, September 6, Redlands/LAFCO’s attorney argued the same points they had stated in their Opposition; COMET’s attorney added some information. Judge Alvarez smiled and said he was familiar with Tom’s Burgers, but declined to state his tentative ruling and said that, since “these things tend to find their way to the Court of Appeal” he would issue his written decision later and be very careful how he did so. (Ed.’s note: sometimes the judges want time to think more fully; Judge Alvarez had only gotten the case that previous Tuesday, because he is a “CEQA” judge, or one of the few that rule on such cases and COMET had complained about Redlands and LAFCO’s violating CEQA laws, but those complaints were not addressed in the Motion. Sometimes the judges just don’t want the attorneys to argue more when they state their intended decision and in this case both attorneys had a lot of arguments!)
Judges have up to 90 days to issue a decision.

COMET (Community of Mentone Empowered Together) appeared in San Bernardino Superior Court through its lawyer on Tuesday morning, September 3, for a status conference (Ed.’s note: previously, cases could linger for the full statutory five years to trial, with the judges only wondering what was taking place; the Legislature enacted rules that now require lawyers to appear every three months or so and tell the Judge how the case is going and for help with opposing counsel if they need it).

The case had just been reassigned that morning from the Honorable Michael Sachs to the Honorable Donald Alvarez.

COMET’s Motion for a Preliminary Injunction was set to be heard on Wednesday, September 4; however, COMET had new information for the Court that its attorney argued on Tuesday was “crucial” and “critical” to the Court’s decision the next day.  Over Redlands/LAFCO’s attorney’s objections Judge Alvarez allowed the additional information to be filed and continued the Motion hearing until Friday, September 6.

The Motion for Injunction seeks an order of the Court that Redlands cease demanding annexation in exchange for water to new developments ; its new information was based on case law that existed when Redlands enacted its 1997 “Measure U” and legislated authority in 2000-2001.

The Motion also seeks an order of the Court that any previously-signed Annexation “Agreements” be prevented from being enforced, but that Redlands still provide water and sewer services to new developments.

The Motion additionally requests that the Court also order Redlands to provide water to new developments without demanding that the developer pay “Development Impact Fees” for fire, police, parks, libraries, and other services that only benefit or are provided only to Redlands and instead that the developer only need pay for the cost of connection or perhaps enlarging the “infrastructure.”

“Redlands and LAFCO opposed the Motion in a lengthy document that never provided any authority in support of its demanded annexations, which the Motion additionally briefed was extortionate, ” COMET’s attorney said.  “Their basic position is that Redlands can do what it does because it says so, but our position is that no other existing law allows it,” she added.

The additional case law COMET served and filed was provided in the footnotes to a case that Redlands/LAFCO’s attorney had repeatedly cited and quoted in their Opposition to the Motion. It included rulings by the Fourth District Court of Appeals, (Ed.’s Note: this is important because the Fourth District does not publish many cases;  unpublished cases may be read but not cited in Court documents). The Fourth District covers San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and San Diego Counties, said COMET’s attorney.

If granted, the Preliminary Injunction will expire at trial, when COMET will seek a Permanent Injunction against Redlands’ and LAFCO’s actions, as stated above.  if the Preliminary Injunction is not granted now on legal grounds, COMET can immediately file a Notice of Appeal with the Fourth District.  If it is granted Redlands/LAFCO can appeal. If it were denied now on procedural grounds or technicalities, COMET can re-file the Motion.

Within the last month, Redlands had demanded that Perry Karpouzis execute the Annexation “Agreement” the day before its City Council meeting but still had not agreed with him on the amount of “Development Impact Fees” to connect for water. He declined to sign the “Agreement” at that time, pending the outcome of the Motion, according to Raul Madrid, another developer who has assisted Karpouzis in getting the City to reduce its fees from the more than $650,000 it demanded in 2009 to approximately $55,000 at this time. However, those fees still all benefit only Redlands by its demand for payment for services it only provides to itself.  “The only cost for connecting to water should be what is reasonably related to the cost of enlarging the infrastructure, if any; that’s the law,” he added.  Local history is that there previously was a gas station and also a church on the property; as stated in the  Motion,  Redlands had left the meter there for years after the demolition of the previous buildings. During construction of the Toms Burgers building, Karpouzis complained that it was leaking and asked that it be replaced. Redlands instead removed it and demand that Karpouzis for  “new service” to the site.

On February 19, 2019 meeting,  immediately after the Redlands City Council approved the “pre-annexation Agreement” that Dollar General signed, and a local resident, a Mr. Bell, read into the record his objections to the “pre-annexation,” Redlands’ Mayor expressed his irritation with repeated objections to the annexations and  stated that “Redlands has no interest in annexing Mentone.”

A short film about the Zanja will be shown later this year, possibly in a film festival or some other such activity, according to Rich Orbaker, MACA’s vice-president. The Mill Creek Cattle Company and Diamond Jim’s Saloon owners, Jim and Maribeth Lotito, offered their facilities for the program and dinner will be available, as well. More details will be provided as soon as Mentone Matters is notified. Part of the proceeds will be used for local projects sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and MACA.

MACA stands for “Mentone Area Community Association”; it meets the second Tuesday of every month from 6:30 to 7:30 or so, in Diamond Jim’s Saloon (Mill Creek Restaurant), located at 1874 Mentone Boulevard, Mentone. It seeks to inform residents about activities and happenings in the area. One feature is the Sheriff’s report about arrests and accidents in our town. Everyone in town is invited to come early and eat and enjoy meeting other residents.

The Chamber of Commerce meets in the fellowship hall at the Rocky Point Church, located at 2116 Mentone Boulevard, Mentone, at 7 p.m. to about 8 p.m. on the last Tuesday of every month. The Chamber discusses what residents can do to promote Mentone. Members do not have to be engaged in business to join; everyone in town is invited to join for $25 per year.

On Wednesday, July 31, COMET’s attorney filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction,set for September 4, 2019 at 8:30 a.m. in Department S-28 of the San Bernardino Superior Court. The Motion asks the Court to stop Redlands immediately from demanding 1) annexation in exchange for water and sewer services to new developments, and fees for its own city hall, police, fire, libraries, parks and 2) all other fees that benefit only Redlands, 3) fees that are in excess of the reasonable value of said improvements. and 4) that proposed legislation earlier this year was interfered with, which caused it to die in a legislative Committee.

The Motion particularly speaks for Tom’s Burgers, which has sat unopened on the Boulevard for 12 years since the County building permit was approved. Redlands initially demanded fees in excess of $630,000 from Tom’s Burgers, now down to about $55,000. However, the Motion argues, besides the other fees for services that Redlands does not provide, even the water connection fee is not applicable because the pipes were already in the street; however, but if applicable, the water connection fee should be no more than $6,784.92 total. However, Redlands added “water service” for a storage room that – in another part of the same statement – says the storage room would not have any other function, and wants nearly $1500 more.

The Motion complains that Redlands’ demands are slowing business and residential growth in Mentone (see article on Dollar General elsewhere in this newspaper). The City and LAFCO have time to oppose the Motion and then COMET has a right to counter their Opposition.

Attachments to the Motion included maps showing how much Mentone territory has been lost in recent years, a map of Mentone’s water companies that Redlands acquired (although there is some historical haziness as to how it acquired them), a sample of Redlands’ annexation “Agreement,” by which it demands annexation or “pre-annexation” into its city limits in exchange for water and sewer to new developments, copies of Redlands’ own adopted studies as to the amount to charge for water and sewer, as well as its own ordinances, which the Motion argues it violates. It can be viewed on the Court’s website for $.50 per page: 27 pages of the Motion and 20 pages of exhibits.

A “Motion” is a formal request that the Court make an order against the other party; for a Preliminary Injunction ordering the other party to cease doing something, that is harmful to the moving party, namely COMET, on Mentone’s behalf. MM

On the agenda for Tuesday night, August 6, is approval of a “pre-annexation” “agreement,” giving jurisdiction to Redlands in exchange for irrigation water, as well as some domestic water. Irrigation water is also available from Bear Valley Mutual Water Company, which does not require annexation, to MM’s knowledge, and from which Redlands obtains some of its water supplies.

The new Redlands area covers more than 300 acres; as of the 2010 U.S. Census, Mentone covered more than 6 square miles or about 3900-4000 acres. Several properties have been annexed into Redlands’ city limits since 2010. The area under consideration starts at the hills near Yucaipa, goes west to Crafton and even west of that, north to 5th Street, and south to Tennessee Lane/Street. The map of the area is available on the City Council’s website: https://destinyhosted.com/agenda_publish.cfm?mt=ALL&get_month=8&get_year=2019&dsp=ag&seq=164&id=73352. Click on agenda item “L. New Business,”No. 6.

“Pre-annexed” areas are agreed to be given to Redlands when it is contiguous, or next-door, to the “pre-annexed” property. The “agreement” states that the property owner will cooperate with annexation and they pay a fee for the annexation “agreement,” as well – sometimes thousands of dollars but only $500 in this agenda item.

By Zoë Lane, special to Mentone Matters

County Supervisors approved a motion and a pair of amendments Monday assuring that voters will get a say on FP-5, the controversial Fire Tax that had been set to be entered onto the Tax Roll later this year. If enacted – without the consent of voters – property owners in Mentone and the surrounding areas would have seen a 3% increase on their 2019/2020 property tax statements, that is, a rise from $157.26 to $161.98.

According to Tom Murphy of the Red Brennan Group, which has been active in fighting the proposed Fire Tax, Supervisors Janice Rutherford (2nd District) and Dawn Rowe (3rd District, which includes Mentone) proposed key modifications to FP-5 which were approved by the Board at the meeting Monday. 

Supervisor Rutherford’s motion amended FP-5 to state that 1) County staff will have 90 days to bring multiple options on how to fund County Fire, 2) Supervisors will decide which of the recommendations to place before the voters prior to January 1, 2021, and 3) FP-5 will then “sunset,” or no longer be in effect, after the solution approved by voters is implemented.

Supervisor Rowe’s proposed amendments to the motion disallowed the increase, and added the requirement that county staff must provide background material to justify claims associated with their proposed solution options, which they will present within 90 days.

A third motion was proposed by Supervisor Robert Lovingood (1st District) that would have put all fire funding to a vote under Proposition 218, and kept Fire funding on the General Fund. Lovingood’s motion was not seconded, however, and therefore was not approved.