After months of community meetings, workshops, surveys and business discussions, the Menifee City Council adopted the plans for the growing city in the next five years that puts an emphasis on better community communications and transparency. The updated 2023 to 2028 fiscal year Menifee Strategic Plan was approved March 1 by the full city council.
The plans’ vision for the next five years will put its priority on Menifee having, “A safe and attractive community. A livable and economically prosperous community, responsive and transparent community government, accessible and unconnected community.”
The council and staff indicated they will work to implement those goals to provide better public safety, land use, facilities, infrastructure, community outreach and workforce.
Both past and present city council members worked to update Menifee’s future plans considering it has grown now to over 106,000 residents and is looking at building out at 150,000 in the next 10 years. Approving the plan was Mayor Bill Zimmerman, Mayor Pro Tem Bob Karwin, Ricky Estrada, Lesa Sobek and Dean Deines. Termed out former City Councilmember Matthew Liesemeyer, after eight years on the council and five years on the Menifee Planning Commission, also worked to update the new 2023 to 2028 Strategic Plan. He was present when the Menifee’s first Strategic Plan went into effect in 2018.
Estrada, who was voted in to take outgoing Liesemeyer’s District 2 seat, asked if in the new plans’ performance expectations there could be more placed in the plan to learn how the residents feel about the council and staff’s progress in meeting the goals and an “outlet to see how the residents view themselves.” He was assured by the revised plans’ presenter, Assistant to the City Manager Rebekah Kramer, that that will be better explained in the updated strategic plan.
Kramer, in presenting the updated plan, took time to review each of the city’s still to be completed projects outlined in the former strategic plan that showed nearly 75% of the original 196 project tasks have been finished in the city since 2018.
Each of the tasks completed and those now underway were shown during the video portion of the presentation that is now available on the city’s website in the March 1 meeting video.
Most of those projects were not questioned by the council since they were discussed at length in earlier council workshops and meetings.
However, Karwin questioned that in the plans for the Wayfinding and Signage Program what would happen to the Menifee Lakes Community signage that is now in disrepair. City Manager Armando Villa told Karwin that all the wayfinding and signage signs in the city are now being studied to improve them and that particular signage is in the plan.
Zimmerman wanted the staff to keep the council apprised of the remaining 25% of the implemented plans and when they are to be done or completed. Kramer said the council would be continually apprised of the progress and any needs will be shown in the CIP budget requests in the coming years. “Nothing will be forgotten. We will finish out those projects that we have committed to,” Kramer said.
Sobek wanted to clarify that many of those projects that were not completed were added during the last five years. She wanted to have it understood that those projected added projects, if taken out of the study, would show a higher completion of the planned projects. Kramer responded that Sobek was correct and that actually 74 projects were added to the list in that time.
The council approved 10 consent calendar items with only one bringing discussion. The discussion led by Sobek on item 10.7 centered around an agreement with CivilPros to design the Bell Mountain Middle School Pedestrian Project for $68,941. It was adopted with an understanding the project design was needed before its actual construction. It will include new LED lighted pedestrian crossing signs on La Piedra Street from Murrieta to Antelope roads, a lane reduction and other pedestrian safety features along the well-traveled school, library and college entrance road. Sobek said the project is badly needed.
In another consent calendar item, the council made the final adoption of the city’s own Mobile Home Park Rent Stabilization Ordinance.
Earlier in the meeting, the Women’s Relief Society President from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, LaPiedra Ward, gave words of inspiration.
