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On April 7, the Pass Action Group held a Town Hall meeting to address the judge's ruling and next steps in our case against the City of Banning and the developers of Banning Point. There were over 200 Pass Area residents in attendance. The Town Hall was also broadcast live on Channel 97 and will be added to the Facebook page Good Day Sun Lakes. There were four primary causes addressed in our lawsuit. 1) CEQA (CA Environmental Quality Act) findings were insufficient; 2) City's General Plan was not adhered to; 3) City's Specific Plan was not adhered to; 4) Council members Hamlin, Wallace, and Sanchez had shown bias prior to issue being heard by the City Council. Ruling of Judge Harold Hopp: On March 15, Judge Hopp issued a ruling that did not find in our favor for the first three causes of action (see above). Judge Hopp did find in our favor that council member Mary Hamlin did show bias. The result of the favorable ruling on Hamlin's bias is that the City Council must reconsider the project without the offending member. As Hamlin is no longer on the council, that means the current members of the council would have to reconsider the project. The Pass Action Group attorneys have submitted a writ of mandate to the court outlining our position. Opposition attorneys will collaborate with our attorneys in creation of the actual court order to be submitted to the City of Banning. We will now pivot from our previous positions of being a protest, marketing/fundraising group to being a lobbying group. All community members are encouraged to contact council members and explain in your words why this project is not good for us or the whole of Banning. See the website for contact info for all council members. We now have a new webmaster and information on the above- mentioned issues and future issues will be updated regularly on the Facebook group: Pass Area Action Group and the website www. passactiongroup.org. We want to thank the community once again for all the support you have shown in the last two and a half years. Remember: "It Takes a Community to Save The Community." | SUN LAKES LIFESTYLES | MAY 2024 | 5 STOP THE BANNING POINT WAREHOUSE! Please contribute at www.givebutter.com /passactiongroupbanning TOWN HALL RECAP For the past two years, many Sun Lakes residents have donated money directly to the Pass Action Group to pay for the legal costs needed to fight construction of a 620,000 square foot warehouse proposed by the City of Banning to be built directly across the street from our main entrance. This warehouse would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week with semi-trucks exiting on Highland Springs Ave. As you may know, it's called The Banning Point Project. A final decision on this project has yet to be decided by the court system. In addition to residents who have donated money, there have been many others who have donated their empty beverage containers directly to me, Dorrie Gartzke, instead of throwing the containers in their recycle bin. By donating their empty beverage containers to me and allowing me to turn the containers into our local recycling center, I've been able to donate over $20,000 to the PAG. Recently, the City of Banning has proposed another project called The Sunset Crossroads Project. This project is more than 10 times the size of the Banning Point Project with 5,545,000 square feet of industrial space. This project runs along the east side of Sun Lakes directly across the street from Highland Home Road. Highland Home Road is where our Sun Lakes Gate 3 exits to. This project will also allow many semi-trucks to enter and exit onto the same streets you and I use. It has not yet been determined what, or if any, additional legal action will be needed to prevent the construction of this project. However, for any Sun Lakes resident (owner or renter) who would like to donate their empty beverage containers to help build a war chest that may be needed in the near future, PLEASE DROP OFF YOUR EMPTY BEVERAGE CONTAINERS TO DORRIE GARTZKE AT 6029 SPANISH TRAIL COVE ANY TIME. (This address is about two and half blocks from Gate #5.) Acceptable beverage containers: plastic, aluminum, or glass. Alcohol, wine, soda, juices, probiotic drinks, energy drinks, tea, and water bottles. ~ Dorrie Gartzke THE FIGHT IS NOT OVER

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