By Frank Gormlie / OB Rag
The audience at the OB Planning Board meeting, April 6, 2016.
A lot going on at last night’s OB Planning Board meeting. As nearly two dozen people crowded into the Community Meeting room at the OB Rec Center, they were witnesses to a type of mini-mayoral candidate debate, when candidates Ed Harris and Lori Saldaña addressed the meeting.
Also, the Board certified its March election and there was a change of chairs, as several planners left the group, a newly-elected member was seated, and the Board selected their officers for the next year. John Ambert will sit as chair for another term and Blake Herrschaft will continue as vice-chair.
And then finally, the Board reviewed the proposed project for 4620 Del Mar Avenue and voted to recommend its approval.
Harris Blasts Faulconer – 911 Dispatchers Only Staffed 50%
Ed Harris explains his platform
As one would expect, Ed Harris blasted the policies and practices of Mayor Kevin Faulconer. Harris described how the city is losing key and valuable staff, including police officers. Harris raised a particular issue of the city staffing for 911 dispatchers. “They’re only staffed 50 percent of the time,” Harris said. He added that on holiday weekends, 911 calls have delays of up to 15 minutes. “That’s just getting the 911 dispatcher,” he said, “not the first responders.”
Harris criticized Faulconer for spending several millions on a Charger stadium study, while not spending that money on retaining police officers and other city staff. Still currently a city lifeguard, Harris cited the statute of a lifeguard near the OB lifeguard station. Faulconer helped fund the statute but real lifeguards have had trouble getting money out of him for their pay and benefits. Harris mentioned that a study found that San Diego’s coastal communities needed 7 new lifeguard stations a while back. Councilwoman Sherri Lightner got 3 for her district, whereas Faulconer – who used to represent OB and Point Loma within District 2 – got none for his district.
But that wasn’t all. Harris cited Faulconer’s efforts to out-source city services. He said that those new lifeguard stations and towers were constructed by outside contractors, and that now they are having lots of problems. “They leak, the doors fall off,” he claimed. There is one lifeguard tower without flaws, Harris said, and that one was built by city workers.
Harris also brought up the fact that while on the City Council, he opposed what he termed “the Belmont Park bail-out”, where he believes the city simply gave away city land to the developer for a miserable amount of dollars per foot ($1.62) whereas choice ocean property usually gets much, much more in leases.
Saldaña: All Faulconer Wants To Do Is Run For Governor
Mayoral candidate Lori Saldaña also spoke before the crowd – although not in response to anything Harris had said. Saldaña, a former State Assemblywoman, jumped into the mayoral race because San Diegans deserved a real race for the city’s top position.
Saldaña told the OB planners that she is against “top down planning” where rich people decide what gets built and approved, and she praised the local grassroots volunteer planners, saying “I appreciate the granular details that you have to deal with.”
She explained that she left the Democratic Party because of the Bob Filner debacle, and is now running as an independent. “All Faulconer wants,” she said, “is to run for governor.”
Saldaña should be returning to OB, she commented, for a mayoral debate being put on by the OB Town Council, where Faulconer and Harris have agreed to attend. It will be later this month – and details will be forthcoming, hopefully.
Election Results
Election results for the March voting were announced by John Ambert, chair. Jane Gawronski won in District 5, and he – Ambert – won re-election in District 6. There was a tie in District 4 between incumbent Craig Klein and candidate Marissa Spata. The Board consulted with the City to figure out what to do, and upon the city’s advice, the Board approved Klein for the District 4 seat, and appointed Marissa Spata to an open seat in District 1.
Several Board members left the Board. Dan Dannison, Pete Ruscitti and Valerie Paz are now off the Board. Dannison and Rucitti are expected to apply to be appointed to other open seats. Dennison has most of the required signatures and could be appointed as early as next meeting. Ruscitti told me that he expects to take a couple of months off from the Board before he reapplies. Paz is leaving the OB Plan Area.
As a result of the election and seats not being filled, there are now a number of open seats on the Board that can be filled by appointments.
Selection of Officers
When Jane Gawronski nominated John Ambert to be chair for a second term, it was a sign that the “old-guard” was approving the role of the “young turks” in leading the planning board. Ambert was selected, and Blake Herrschaft was selected – again – as vice-chair. Klein agreed to be Treasurer, but no one came forward to be Secretary.
4620 Del Mar Project
Standing in for the owner applicants – Jeff and Mary Northrup — Will Mack and Jim made a pitch for the development proposed for 4620 Del Mar. The proposal is for an addition and remodel of a one-story house into a two-story with basement garage, plus the construction of a small companion unit. The overall FAR of the project is only .58 – certainly well within OB’s FAR of 0.70. The basement space is not counted into the overall FAR because it is below grade.
There did not seem to be any outstanding issues, and the Board voted to recommend approval by a vote of 7-1-0.
Other News
EV Charger Station to be Installed in OB
A City of San Diego representative gave a short presentation, telling the Board that the city plans to install an EV Charger station in the lifeguard tower parking lot. Whatever site is chosen, it needs to be near a transformer and near an ADA parking space. So, right now, the city is planning on putting in 2 EV chargers, one for the ADA space, by June.
Also, these …
- The Board has $342 in the bank (time to buy some namecards, guys);
- The OB Community Plan has to go before the Coastal Commission for some minor edits, Lorie Zapf’s aide, Andrea, told the Board. Not to worry, he said.
- Zapf is also looking to do a feasibility study over expanding the OB Library into space next door in a building already owned by the city. Ambert cautioned that the City needs to use the study already done years ago about the library expansion.
- Toni Atkins’ aide handed out appreciation awards to all the Board members.
- George Murphy made the announcement that he’s co-chair of the OB Library’s 100th anniversary gig, being planned for September 10th. Music, wine and cheese, he promised, plus a silent auction and space for groups to have tables for their displays.
- William Neal complained to the Board about a project near his house at 1721 Ocean Front Street that is being over-developed, that is, it appears to be built larger than allowed. Ruscitti allowed that the Board has received several complaints about the project, and that a check on the permit needs to be made.
- William Coleman brought to the Board’s attention that property managers are overly trimming the street trees in front of Pepe’s and the other small restaurants along Sunset Cliffs Boulevard.
- Vivian McCardle announced that SoCal Parrot is holding a Community Forum on the parrots on Monday, April 11th, right at the Rec Center, from 6 to 8pm.
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Thanks for the report. I enjoyed a chance to be part of the meeting.
Unfortunately, after I made the announcement regading the Town Council meetinf, we were told that Kevin Faulconer declined the invite to speak on April 27.
If readers of FreePress and OB Rag are concerned about Faulconer’s unwllingness to show up in pubic to discuss his policies, please call his office: 619-236-6330.
Ask to speak to his staff person, Francis Barraza- she works in his office and is also working on scheduling campaign events.
Please ask for a few public forums to be added to his calendar in addition to ribbon cutting ceremonies, grand openings etc.
What’s a FAR? I know I should know what it is, and I did know at one time, but my tired old brain can’t remember all the acronyms that are out there. In fact I’m acronym averse, and I think that a website or newspaper or whatever should be in the business of communicating with less sophisticated readers like myself who lack the knowledge to participate in insider discussions of domestic issues. Thank you for explaining to numbskulls like me what all this language and acronymical talk is all about.
Floor to area ratio. It’s a measure of the usable square footage that can be shoved into a lot. The higher the number, the more built area; lower FAR means more unused space.
Ignorance is never to be ridiculed, only corrected.
You’re welcome :-)
In the case of Ocean Beach, it has an FAR of 0.70 – which means a developer can only construct living space of 70% of the total square footage of the lot. This low FAR has allowed OB to make great strides in limiting over-development. And it was a key feature in the newly-adopted Community Plan, a feature that the San Diego Planning Commission attempted to omit. Only after a grassroots campaign that resulted in 4,000 signatures to support the FAR, did the City Council approve in unanimously in summer of 2014, and then it was unanimously approved by the Coastal Commission in the late summer of 2015.
“The OB Community Plan has to go before the Coastal Commission for some minor edits, Lorie Zapf’s aide, Andrea, told the Board. Not to worry, he said.” When someone from Lori Zaph’s office says “not to worry”, the planning board should start worrying. When coastal development permit amendments go to the coastal commission, we’ve often seen unannounced changes inserted at the last minute. The board should make sure that it carefully reviews and approves of any community plan “edits” before they are presented to the coastal commission. Otherwise, it might find out that substantial changes are being proposed to the approved plan without it’s approval.