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Matthew Leslie

4th District Supervisor candidate Doug Chaffee has inappropriately included a photograph of a Friends of Coyote Hills billboard in a campaign mailer sent to households last week. The image was included in a montage of photographs meant to illustrate the Fullerton mayor’s argument that North Orange County has not received its “fair share of park and recreation funding.”

While the observation about unequal distribution of county funding for parks may be accurate, the combination of images used on the page is misleading. An image of the candidate gazing out across the hills, assembled together with no fewer than four signs for city parks or trails, and a photo of the Friends of Coyote Hills billboard, all set against the backdrop of undeveloped land, is obviously meant to imply that the candidate shares FCH’s vision of preserving all 510 acres of the property as a park. Doug Chaffee’s actions in recent years, however, tell a different story.

While Doug Chaffee did vote against the original development as a Planning Commissioner in 2011, and was later seen as the only voice on the Fullerton City Council to save the area for a park, in 2015 Doug Chaffee joined other members of the Fullerton City Council to approve Chevron-Pacific Coast Homes’ Vesting Tentative Tract Map (VTTM), a modified development plan that could potentially result in the same number of homes in the area. The Friends of Coyote Hills opposed the 2015 VTTM plan because of the inadequate timeline allowed for fundraising efforts to acquire neighborhoods slated for development, and for the use of a VTTM itself, seen by many as an end-run around legal requirements that should have required Chevron to submit an entirely new application for development following the 2012 referendum that saw over 60% of Fullerton voters opposing the original plan.

Doug Chaffee also joined other members of the council in objecting to State Senator Josh Newman’s legislation that would establish a path for state funding to purchase the land.

DougCoyoteHillsMailer

The inclusion of the billboard, prominently featuring the group’s website, prompted a response in the form of a statement to the Friends of Coyote Hills Facebook page and Twitter account:

“It has come to our attention that a candidate in the OC Supervisor 4th District election used a photo of our Save Coyote Hills billboard in his campaign mailer. Just want to remind everyone that we are unable to endorse any political candidate due to our 501c3 nonprofit status. In addition, we are definitely not affiliated with said candidate.
Hope everyone votes with saving Coyote Hills in mind. Good elected leaders make a huge difference!”