Honestly Dave?

In your efforts to select a Town Council candidate and be an informed voter, hopefully you have read all the candidate’s info on websites. The re-election committee for Gary Liss has run a factual and issue-oriented campaign, addressing real issues of concern to voters. However, we feel we MUST correct the statements of one opponent who has publicly said he is only running to defeat Gary Liss. He evidently doesn’t care whether he the uses facts to win. We hope you do. Here are the facts that respond to the quotes in Dave Wheeler’s literature and website.

List of Wheeler’s Claims addressed below:
1. Liberal incumbent, pro-big government and pro-spending
2. Legal fees
3. Regulations for restaurants
4. Pet projects (horse sanctuary)
5. Heritage Park Preserve
6. Energy audits
7: Tree mitigation fees

Wheeler’s Claim #1. “Gary Liss is the Liberal Incumbent who is Pro-Big Government and Pro-Spending"

FACT: Gary Liss is a fiscal conservative who pay the bills and balances the books with what we have.

Gary Liss is proud to be an elected council member who helped guide the Town through the past 4 years. The Town has ended each year with a balanced budget, in part by reducing staff by 23% due to a decrease in staff workload. The Town has no debt (an extreme rarity for any municipality) and dedicated money in the bank, for reserves to be used in poor economic times, such as we are experiencing now.

Gary also was instrumental in the Town starting a loan program using reserves to help Loomis businesses survive through this economy. The one loan so far is being repaid exactly on schedule. This program is now being improved to help more businesses thrive in Loomis, rather than stopping this program as Mr. Wheeler said he would do. It just makes sense to invest our money locally in our own small businesses, rather than on Wall Street.

Wheeler Claim #2: Liss “has repeatedly voted to spend our tax dollars on legal fees, legal threats and lawsuits."

FACT: Most of the Town’s lawsuits about projects on our borders were initiated before Gary joined the council, including Bickford Ranch, Clover Valley, and Rocklin Crossings (Walmart and Home Depot).Mr. Wheeler has complained that the Town spent $250,000 in legal costs. Most of those costs were initialed before Gary joined the Council.

Even so, the Town gained $1.2 million in revenues to mitigate the traffic from neighboring development. This is a pretty good return on investment (about 380%)! This is money that otherwise would have come from Loomis taxpayers. Every Councilmember voted for those lawsuits, even Mr. Wheeler’s supporters, and rightly so! An additional $230,000 is still pending from the Rocklin Crossings project, due sometime in the next year.

When any jurisdiction considers approving a large project on a border that will have significant impact on a neighboring jurisdiction, they are required by law to mitigate those impacts. Loomis has asked our neighbors to require developers to reduce the impacts on Loomis, or pay for solutions. If those requests are ignored, the only recourse is to ask the courts to intervene, or not to defend our rights and let Loomis taxpayers pay the costs of that project. That isn’t fair, nor is it very pleasant, but every Councilmember has agreed that we have had to do it.

Wheeler Claim #3: Mr. Liss “supported outrageous regulations for restaurants and businesses in Loomis”

FACT: Don’t blame Gary Liss for Miguel’s mistakes!

One of Mr. Wheeler’s key supporters, Miguel Ucovich, was the one who introduced the poorly worded, onerous Active Living, Healthy Eating Resolution.

Gary Liss NEVER supported that resolution!

Instead, like most issues, Gary listened carefully to the concerns expressed by residents and businesses, then worked with the other Councilmembers and staff to bring back a revised resolution that eliminated all the onerous language.

This revised direction would have supported the Del Oro Aquatic Center, improved mobility in downtown, and other initiatives without any regulation. When the organized political opposition did not acknowledge these positive changes, the Council decided not to move forward with this resolution.

Wheeler Claim #4: Mr. Liss “voted to waste hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars on his own pet projects, like a horse sanctuary”

FACT: The horse sanctuary was an all-volunteer effort.

Not a dime of public funds was used on that project.

Loomis is part of a larger equestrian community. We are also a compassionate community. When the financial meltdown and housing collapse was causing people to abandon their horses, many Loomis residents asked him what we could do. The horse sanctuary was a project pursued with over 40 volunteers from throughout the community. The idea was to use the area known most recently as the Loomis Marketplace (formerly Turtle Island) as a temporary horse sanctuary until the property was sold and developed. Unfortunately, the bank that owned the property rejected that proposal.

Wheeler Claim #5: Heritage Park would be “a tree park that is virtually worthless to people."

FACT: This is referring to Gary’s championing the purchase of the bankrupt “Heritage Park Subdivision”, and designating its use as a nature area and for planting trees to offset the loss of trees cut down elsewhere in Loomis. This is a Town treasure (see www.loomispond.org).

Heritage Park is a beautiful and peaceful 11-acre area that has attracted generations of Loomis residents and will continue to do so with this plan. This is a place to plant native trees and also will provide a wonderful natural experience for families throughout town and those that live near this site, and will provide a great resource for nature education for students all over town.

Three separate developments have failed over more than 10 years on this property. There are just too many encumbrances and easements to make it profitable. After the financier foreclosed on the property, he asked the Town to buy it. As many residents nearby had been anxious about what kind of development would take place on the property, the Town agreed to the purchase.

Over the years, this property has evolved into a beautiful area where residents value the natural habitat and quiet respite it provides. They overwhelmingly support keeping it natural.

Members of the Town’s Park, Recreation and Open Space Committee also suggested that the Town could establish a” tree mitigation bank” there. This would create a site for mitigated trees to be planted, thus reducing the cost of mitigation fees for development as well as protecting our overall tree canopy.Since incorporating, the Town has accepted tree mitigation fees from developers when they cut down protected trees to build houses, or required them to plant replacement trees. But we don’t have many places to plant those trees.

The Town Capital Improvement Budget (not the General Fund budget) includes up to $100,000 from tree mitigation funds that could be used for Heritage Park planning and site improvements, if it would even require that much. By law, these funds can only be used to plant mitigated trees and would restore this natural open space for all Loomis residents.

Now, the town can make it a safer and more accessible natural recreation area for the benefit of everyone. This is the only publicly-owned and accessible open space in Loomis. Residents will enjoy this for generations to come. Heritage Park Preserve will truly preserve a piece of our heritage.

It is also important to note that two studies by Active Living Research indicate natural areas within 1500 feet of homes increases home values by $10, 648! Now that’s preserving our property values as well as our rural atmosphere!

Neither of Gary’s opponents have supported this project. Mr. Wheeler has said that he wants to see “low-cost affordable housing” built here instead of preserving it. Ms Morillas says she would prefer the development of affordable housing here, too. (See video of their direct quotes from the Candidates Forum on 9-26-12 at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JocAxAtzZGU&feature=player_embedded). The fact is, they both should know that affordable housing is already planned at the Village development on the 60 acres behind Raley’s where it is closer to Raley’s and the shopping center. And a developer who is only waiting for a better economy to proceed already owns that land.

Wheeler Claim #6: Gary backs “a group to conduct “energy audits” (a job for our utilities, not city taxpayers)”

FACT: Gary Liss is in favor of promoting more choices in how we can save money by being more efficient and sustainable. To help in those efforts, Gary became active with PlacerSustain, a group that was formed in 2009, and he joined the Board of Directors in 2010. The entire Council (all five) adopted Sustainability Goals in November 2010. The goals included conducting optional energy education and outreach efforts to help residents, businesses and the Town save money through energy conservation programs and new renewable energy technologies.

In the summer of 2011, PlacerSustain found that major federal funding to businesses for renewable energy projects was about to expire at the end of December 2011. The Town then contracted with PlacerSustain to help with an outreach effort for downtown businesses. This effort was to see how many businesses downtown could be helped by those benefits using energy conservation and renewable energy options before the federal funding expired.

PlacerSustain also explored the possibility of the Town investing in solar shade structures over Town parking lots downtown. The PlacerSustain analysis found that Town solar shade structures could offset most, if not all, of the Town’s energy bills.

Gary has never gained personally from his involvement with PlacerSustain, and the Town Attorney determined that there was no conflict of interest.

After this outreach effort, High Hand Nursery decided to invest in a major solar energy installation on the roof of the old packing shed (see 1/5/12 Loomis News). The first phase of the project installed 410 solar panels generating enough electricity for three-quarters of the fruit shed operations. This was a joint effort between High Hand and MagicSun Solar, Inc., a Loomis-based business owned by Del Oro graduate, Brandon Hurlock. MagicSun installed Sharp solar panels, which are manufactured in America. The solar panels will pay for themselves within 5 years. This helps High Hand be more competitive and sustainable as a business.

It should be also noted that the Town historically has invested a small budget of donations to stimulate new projects and innovations that benefit residents and businesses in Town in many ways. Some other donations included in this year's budget are: Summer Concerts, Eggplant Festival, Senior Life Center, various Del Oro projects, and FFA.

Wheeler Claim #7: “He’s even tried to force one religious charity into paying the city $662,000 for tree mitigation, which would go into a slush fund to pay for more of his pet projects.”

FACT: Wow, Dave, really?? That’s quite a stretch. This is referring to the Priory project on Rocklin Road. This project has NEVER even come to the Council, so Gary Liss has not and could not force them to do anything! The existing Tree Protection Ordinance that requires fees for chopping down trees was adopted in 2003. Gary Liss was not on the Council then. Ironically enough, Dave’s pro-development supporters controlled the Council back then. The Council that last adopted the Tree Protection Ordinance that created the current fees was Miguel Ucovich, Rhonda Morillas, and Hazel Hineline (Wheeler’s campaign manager) along with Walt Scherer and Guy Fuson.

During the course of the Priory project development, the proponents found that, because they were cutting down so many protected trees, the Town’s Tree Ordinance required them to pay over $900,000 in tree mitigation fees. Town staff helped the proponents revise their plans to reduce the costs of mitigation under the current ordinance to $662,000.

This is a good example of why the tree protection fees were established, to underscore to developers that the Loomis General Plan stresses the importance of preserving our tree canopy and the importance of keeping as many trees as we can. This is how we follow through on our campaign promises to preserve and protect what we love about Loomis.

When the Planning Commission approved this project in February 2012, the proponents said in public and on the record, twice, that they were ok with the level of tree fees.Now that the Priory has requested reconsideration of their fees, the Town has determined that a “nexus” study will be needed to determine what level of fees is legal and appropriate.

The Town must legally treat all projects equally, regardless of the merits of their development proposal, proponents, or status. Dave Wheeler suggests that we base our tree fees on who is cutting down the protected trees. That is just illegal and inappropriate. And he has said he doesn’t believe that the General Plan is enforceable over property rights.

Mr. Wheeler says he loves Loomis just as it is. We all do. But Gary Liss is the only candidate who is willing to stand up for that General Plan and fight for the Loomis that we love.

Thanks for taking the time to read Gary's side of the story.

When you hear new allegations from the Wheeler campaign, we invite you to contact Gary Liss at liss4loomis@gmail.com or 652-7850 for his response. As the election gets closer, the Wheeler allegations continue. Check back here when you hear of anything of concern, or email Gary directly for his response. Go to Gary’s new page “Hit Piece & Robo Calls” for his responses to the latest attacks on 11/2/12.