Proposition 4 | Measure JJ | Measure PH
Hills For Everyone has endorsed Proposition 4 on the November 5th ballot to help protect iconic landscapes, reduce devastating wildfires, improve our air quality, and ensure our drinking water is safe. Further, the State has a goal to protect 30% of California’s lands and waters by 2030 (called 30×30), but funding is needed to ensure this critical goal is met. The State of California’s conservation funding ebbs and flows with budget surpluses and deficits. Right now, the State deficit has caused many conservation projects—including ours—to be stalled due to lack of adequate funding. Without more funds we may lose the property.
WHAT IS PROPOSITION 4?
If passed, Proposition 4 will fund $10 billion of investments over many years that help in preventing catastrophic wildfires, providing safe and reliable drinking water, protecting important habitats for wildlife and recreation, and providing strict accountability on expenditures. Passing Proposition 4 will help Hills For Everyone and its partners achieve a connected, protected, and restored Puente-Chino Hills Wildlife Corridor. See the map at the bottom of this email to learn what we are trying to protect locally. Finally, this funding would also provide a needed influx of money across many years to help achieve 30×30.
WHAT DOES IT DO?
This critically important funding would, among other things, be used to protect important landscapes, clean up polluted drinking water, prepare our communities for extreme heat, create early wildfire detection systems, and protect our rivers and natural areas. It is broken down into different allocations totaling $10 billion. Of that money, Southern California could directly or potentially benefit from these sources:
WHY IS IT NEEDED?
With the passage and signing of Senate Bill 337 (Min), California committed to protecting 30% of California’s lands and waters by 2030. However, the financial investments needed to make that happen have not been reliable. Without Proposition 4, conservation, water resiliency, and wildfire prevention projects will go unfunded.
Our work to complete protection of the eastern ridgeline of Chino Hills State Park is already at risk. We can’t let houses be built on those ridges. Due to the budget deficit, the needed $5.2M has been reduced to $2M. Further, we still have our eyes on the 3,000 acres of the Missing Middle, owned by Aera Energy. This acquisition, the backdrop of North Orange County and Rowland Heights; would connect the Puente Hills’ protected lands to the Chino Hills’ protected lands. It would also allow safe wildlife movement between these natural areas, and allow recreational access to these beautiful lands
Without Proposition 4, we may forever lose the opportunity to protect the eastern ridgelines, something we’ve been working toward since the late 1970s. Without Proposition 4, we may never protect the backdrop of North Orange County and the East San Gabriel Valley with the Aera Energy project.
We urge a Yes on Proposition 4. It needs 50% plus one to pass, so every vote will count!
Please:
- Share this email with friends throughout the State.
- Learn more on the Yes on Prop 4 Campaign website
- Follow the Campaign on Social Media:
The majority of the red parcels surrounding protected lands are prime candidates for conservation acquisitions due to their proximity to or contiguity with existing protected lands. Additionally, a few of these red parcels have approved development projects on them—it is only after the development is complete do we formally remove it form our map. In some instances, landowners have received entitlements and then donated the land to conservation.
Hills For Everyone has endorsed Yorba Linda Measure JJ on the November 5th ballot to help protect our hills. If Measure JJ fails, privately-owned open space areas across the City, including those adjacent to Chino Hills State Park, may be developed into housing.
WHAT IS MEASURE JJ?
If passed, this measure re-zones properties across Yorba Linda in order to provide for State-mandated additional housing units. This includes the creation of new mixed-use zoning in place of some of the distressed retail areas in Savi Ranch. No open space areas are proposed for housing in the measure. Learn about why certain properties were selected.
WHAT DOES IT DO?
Measure JJ keeps Yorba Linda’s Housing Element in compliance with State housing law. Every eight years, cities and counties across California receive allocations of housing units that they must zone for. Jurisdictions are required to update their Housing Elements to accommodate these new allocations. Measure JJ covers Yorba Linda’s required updates. Learn more about that allocation process.
Not passing Measure JJ leaves Yorba Linda out of compliance. As we have written previously, one of the most concerning consequences for the City of Yorba Linda is a provision of the State Housing Accountability Act (Senate Bill 330) known as “Builder’s Remedy.” This rule states that a jurisdiction loses its ability to deny a housing project—or even have its zoning followed—if it doesn’t have a certified Housing Element. In other words, the jurisdiction, in this case Yorba Linda, loses local control of its land use decisions.
WHY IS IT NEEDED?
The impact of Builder’s Remedy on Yorba Linda’s hills could be significant. The language of the Builder’s Remedy law leaves privately owned lands, including open space, at risk. Based on our previous research, the private land zoned by the City of Yorba Linda as open space doesn’t carry the same protections as lands protected as a city, county, or state park, for example.
Many city councils can simply pass this type of re-zoning without a vote of the people. Yorba Linda’s Measure B aka Right-to-Vote Amendment makes it one of the few cities in the state that requires a public vote for these types of actions. Thus, your vote is needed to keep the City in compliance with State law to safeguard hills in our City from development.
We urge a Yes on Measure JJ. It needs 50% plus one to pass, so every vote will count!
Please note, HFE has not taken a position on Measure KK.
Please:
- Share this email with friends in Yorba Linda
- View the Measure JJ website
- Endorse the measure
Many of the “green” areas within the City of Yorba Linda may be zoned open space, but aren’t formally protected. These areas, many of which abut Chino Hills State Park, could be converted to housing if Measure JJ does not pass. Because of this risk, Hills For Everyone endorsed Measure JJ to avoid this potential threat to the State Park.
Hills For Everyone has endorsed Measure PH on the November 5th ballot to help protect our hills and support our partner, the Puente Hills Habitat Preservation Authority (Habitat Authority). The Authority manages nearly 4,000 acres of public, preserved natural lands on the western side of the hills including all of the beloved canyons—in the Hacienda Hills, Turnbull Canyon, Sycamore Canyon, Hellman Park, Arroyo Pescadero, and Powder Canyon.
WHAT IS MEASURE PH?
If passed, this measure will form a legal entity called a Community Facilities District (CFD), that includes the entirety of the cities of Whittier and La Habra Heights, as well as part of the communities of Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights and Workman Mill area. See the map at the bottom of this description. It is asking the residents who live near the hills and enjoy its many benefits (including elevated property values) to vote for an annual parcel tax of one cent per building square foot per year. For example, if you own an 1,800 square foot home, it would cost $18 a year.
WHAT DOES IT DO?
This critically important funding would be used to better maintain services to keep these natural habitat lands and its nearby neighbors properly cared for and protected from wildfires and other abuses. Measure PH would help continue to provide park ranger patrols for fire safety, preventing and removing homeless encampments and illegal dumping, keeping trails safe, providing emergency response, educating our children, and protecting spaces for wildlife to thrive.
WHY IS IT NEEDED?
The Habitat Authority was historically funded by revenue from tipping fees (one dollar per ton) from the landfill, but these dropped in the 2007 recession when visits to the landfill plummeted. Once the landfill closed, that revenue ended altogether. The County kept its promise to close the landfill in 2013 even before it had reached capacity, but in doing so it cut off this revenue stream the Habitat Authority had counted on. This forced belt-tightening for many years. Grants have kept the Authority afloat, but those are highly competitive and short-lived.
The Authority is operating under a structural deficit and will need to cut back on these services if Measure PH is not approved. All other options have been explored, including significant input from Hills For Everyone.
We urge a Yes on Measure PH. It needs 66.7% to pass, so every vote will count!
Please:
- Endorse the measure
- Request a lawn sign
- Make a donation to the campaign
- Share this email with friends in/near the Puente Hills.
