Below are city council candidate Glenn Grandis’ responses regarding voters’ concerns in Fountain Valley:
High Density Housing, Parking, and Traffic
I would oppose high density housing in favor of more creative mixed use developments with medium density units that has ample parking for residents and consumers. There are some very large potential developments coming forward over the next few years with the potential sale of Fountain Bowl, the closing of Boomers entertainment, the farms across from Mile Square Park and the Slater Avenue development on the Silky’s restaurant property. The decisions we make today will affect the residents of Fountain Valley for decades to come.
The State of California is requiring the City of Fountain Valley to increase the number of residential dwellings by approximately 4,800 units according to the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA). The city should continue to fight this requirement but needs to plan for the potential inevitability of the requirement.
One potential strategy to overcome the RHNA requirement is the zoning of ADU’s. If we were to zone for this in certain areas of the city, we may meet a portion of the requirement without the actual building ADU’s.
The city can get much more creative with the tremendous parking issues that exist within the city. There are parking lots that remain empty on nights and weekends throughout the city that can alleviate parking issues in the apartment and higher volume areas of the city. The city can cooperatively offer incentives for these lots to be made available for residents. It just takes a little creativity and compromise with the owners of these parking lots.
WISP and Internet Service Providers
WISP is a small Fountain Valley company that provides high speed internet using point-to-point antenna connections. I personally am a very satisfied customer of WISP as is many other residents and small businesses in Fountain Valley. WISP uses a very tall but very thin inconspicuous antenna that sits on top of the Rodecker building across from FV City Hall to provide their service.
Spectrum charges up to $35,000 for small businesses to receive high speed internet access as they have to tunnel through sidewalks and city streets to provide this service. WISP provides this at a fraction of the charge as it requires just a very small dish to sit on top of the receiving businesses building.
Although the Planning Commission approved WISP’s request to do business in the city, our City Council overruled the Planning Commission and requested that it be brought before the Council for approval. Although numerous businesses such as Silky Sullivan’s, Fountain Bowl, several churches and dozens of residents spoke in favor of WISP and not a single person who spoke against WISP, the City Council voted against this business to provide this service in our city. This is currently being appealed as not allowing this service may violate a recent FCC requirement to allow them to do business.
Our City needs to be small business friendly and use common sense in allowing this type of service that benefits so many in our community. We also need to allow for competition against companies like Spectrum who have a near monopoly in our city.
Homeless Situation
The homeless situation continues to get worse in our city and with the current economic crisis, this has the potential to continue. There are many resources provided by the County of Orange and we need to increase our outreach to the homeless in our area to compassionately direct them to these resources. I would support supplementing our Fountain Valley Police Budget to provide social workers to assist the homeless to these resources and make sure our parks, schools and businesses remain a safe environment for our residents.
Responses to Additional Questions
Question — How do you feel about adding a fun outdoor space to “hang out” in for teens, families with small children and date nights (like Pacific City)?
I strongly support a “downtown” type area that would provide a family friendly environment for our residents to enjoy quality restaurants, shopping and entertainment. We have major potential developments that will allow this type of environment and I would strongly support the development with incentives to make sure this occurs.
Question — Why is there not stronger enforcement of existing laws?
I would need more specifics on which laws are being referred to but I do believe there should be an easier way for residents to provide feedback on what laws may not be enforced.
Question — There is a growing need for police response. How many more officers will you fund? If not providing funds, why not? this one so much graffiti and shady stuff happens in our city now.
I not only support the funding our Police department receives I would supplement their budget with Social workers to help with the homelessness issue and to continue their patrolling of our entire city.
Question — How can the noise pollution from street racing be addressed?
You make sure that you take an aggressive approach to enforcing the law of our community. We need to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law and get the word out that Fountain Valley aggressively enforces these laws and make it such that these activities are so inconvenient to those doing them that they stay outside of our city.
Question — Are you in favor of the Garfield Bridge over the river and into Costa Mesa to take traffic off of Slater, Talbert and Ellis?
I am in favor of this to help alleviate all of the traffic that is caused by not having a throughway over the riverbed from Talbert to Adams. Costa Mesa has fought this for decades but it is something I would support.
Question — What can we do to support local schools?
Most candidates answer this question with the Schools are run by the State and not under the jurisdiction of the City Council. And although that is true there is still much the city can do to support our local schools. I am the founding Director of the Fountain Valley Community Foundation, the non-profit arm of the City. One of the initiatives I am most proud of is the support we provide to all non-profits and mostly the Schools in our community. I have helped direct over $1,000,000 worth of these fundraising efforts that have predominately supported our schools. As a City Council member I would increase these partnership opportunities with our schools.
Question — What are your views on marijuana sales within the city?
I do not support store front dispensaries in our city.
Question — What are your views on reviewing short term rentals and allowing them to be regulated.
Although I don’t like these type of short term rentals in our community it is very difficult to enforce. We should allow them but require a permit process so we can monitor their usage and also enforce strict guidelines on how they can be rented. With regulation, we can enforce limits of visitors, hours of events and make sure adequate parking is available.
Question — Your views on a dog park in the city?
I totally support a dog park for our residents. I have also been trying for years to get a community garden in our city but have been opposed to this concept by City Hall.
Question — What is your position on the Police Dept. (“Blue Lives Matter”)
I very much support our Police Department and am the only candidate who is endorsed by the Fountain Valley Police Officers. The reason they gave for my support is they are very concerned for the viability of our city resources and the continued ability for the funding of recruitment, training and safety equipment for our officers and for our residents.
Question — Will you vote against sanctuary city?
This has already been voted on and will be decided in the courts.