Michael LaFata, formerly of Orange County, is the newest Fern Valley Water District (FVWD) director who moved with his wife Alexandra to the Hill in 2020. The Hill was their choice after a careful and extended evaluation of several Southern California mountain communities. The LaFatas wanted a home in the mountains and first explored San…
At its Tuesday, Dec. 12, meeting, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved revisions to Ordinance 927.2, “Regulating Short Term Rentals” (STRs). It becomes effective Jan. 11. Once effective, the current moratorium will be eliminated and replaced by caps, as described in the ordinance, pertaining to the Idyllwild and Wine Country communities. An interim…
The new public restrooms on North Circle Drive in the Mile High Plaza were open to the public this Monday, Dec. 18, and the Crier has confirmed they are in working order. The Americans with Disability Act accessible facilities are the end product of more than 20 years of wrangling, and efforts by former supervisors…
By JP Crumrine Correspondent Last month, Warning Coordination Meteorologist Alex Tardy of the San Diego Office of the National Weather Service (NWS), was in Idyllwild at the invitation of Mountain Disaster Preparedness. Tardy spoke in general about weather forecasting and specifically about the coming winter predictions. “We can predict well in 6 to 10 days…
By JP Crumrine Correspondent The National Weather Service’s forecast of an El Niño winter has strongly affected the prognosis of wildfires in the next few months. Fire services, state and federal, are expecting a cooler and wetter winter from December through March. The December report from the Predictive Services Unit for Cal Fire’s Southern Region…
By Becky Clark Editor The Riverside County Coroner’s Office reported that Fred Robles, 45, of Idyllwild, was found dead in a ravine near Highway 243 about 0.4 miles south of Westley Street in Banning Wednesday, Nov. 1. It was unknown when Robles died. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said the cause of death was blunt…
By David Jerome Correspondent This month’s meeting of IDY Elders & Others was focused on the issues surrounding fire insurance for Hill residents. The event was called “The Ins & Outs of Home Fire Insurance,” and the featured speaker was Bob Severns of Severns Insurance Agency in Hemet. Severns has provided coverage for Idyllwilders for…
By JP Crumrine Correspondent At its special meeting last Thursday, the Fern Valley Water District’s (FVWD) Board of Directors unanimously appointed Michael LaFata to fill the board seat vacated by Gary Erb in October. LaFata and Dawn Finlayson were the only applicants seeking the appointment. During the discussion, Chair Jon Brown said the board faced…
By JP Crumrine Correspondent The Riverside County Board of Supervisors has directed the county’s chief executive officer to examine the ramifications of separating the Coroner’s Office from the Sheriff’s Department. The vote was unanimous on the proposal Chair Kevin Jeffries (1st District) and Supervisor V. Manuel Perez (4th District), who joined with Jeffries on the…
