GREATER GOLDEN HILL PLANNING COMMITTEE MINUTES: MAY 14, 2008
Meeting held at Balboa Park Golf Course Clubhouse – Golf Course Drive
Call to order: Chair Chris Blatt was absent. David Skillman called to order at 6:33 pm.
Agenda had been posted earlier. Copies were available.
Members present: Maureen Burke, Dave Caldwell, Scott Glazebrook, Carlos Legerrette, Anita Margolis, David Skillman, Marie Skillman, Angela Vasconcellos, Laurie Burgett. Frederick Ruffell arrived at 6:50 pm Absent: Chris Blatt, Carole Caffey, Richard Baldwin
Community Police Officers John Graham and Dawn Summers. Reported that there had been a robbery at Fern Market (corner of Elm and Fern) on May 13, $300-500 was taken. A plan is in place to divert skateboarders from the area around the Starbucks. Officers had worked to assure that recent immigration and labor protests were orderly. Reminded the committee that the Captain’s Advisory group meets at 25th & Imperial at 5:30 pm on May 27.
City Council District 3. Jeffrey Tom. District office is working with those planning the Old House Fair, to be held on June 21st at 30th and Beech. Part of the Dog Park is currently cordoned off for re-seeding, this will take about two months. A dedication ceremony for the transmission line undergrounding will be held on Friday, May 30 at 10:00 am parking lot of Gala Foods, at the corner of Grape and Fern Streets. SDGE will have a crane there to remove the symbolic “last pole”, with speeches by officials involved. Future undergrounding at 30th and Ivy/Hawthorne area is yet to be scheduled; they are finding that these projects are very costly.
City Council District 8. Diana Juardo-Sainz. Reported that 100 street trees had been planted recently in the district. They would like to see more of the trees planted; trees are free to for those who agree to care for them. Announced that the council office is partnering with Golden Hill CDC in hosting a Community Clean Up and Paint out on May 30. This event is to be a kickoff of Clean Green and Safe Maintenance Assessment District (CGSMAD). Announced that a CGSMAD program manager had been selected from a pool of 10-15 applications. The person hired has worked in a similar position in Imperial Beach. CGSMAD Oversight Committee members in attendance (David Skillman and Bill Hillsdorf) responded that they knew nothing about this hiring process. There was general discussion about the structure and projects of the CGSMAD. A Graffiti Buster has been appointed by Councilman Hueso to be on call for District 8. Discussion ensued about the hiring process. Helpful telephone numbers: Paint bank 619-527-3431, Graffiti hotline 619-525-8522. Signs will be posted on 28th from A to B streets, warning skateboarders of rules applying to them. As part of PSNS, the City has put an injunction against 30 known members of the Crips gang. These members are not to congregate with one another, wear gang colors, throw gang signs, etc.
53rd Congressional District. Kathryn Fortner. Distributed copies of the May issue of Davis Dispatch. Representative Davis has worked with House members on a mortgage relief plan. The Budget for 2009 was passed. Representative Davis is sponsoring legislation allowing California to have super-standards for greenhouse gas emissions – it is in subcommittee at this time.
City Planning Department. Bernie Turgeon. Reminded new board members that the Community Orientation Workshop is Saturday, May 17. Had researched the plans for “Gala Foods” at Fern & Grape Street and found nothing about the property changing hands since 2006. A consultant has been hired for the Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan. This person will be contacting the various community planning committees and holding public workshops. This summer an inventory is to be done, prior to scheduling of public meetings. The community plan update process is moving slowly. They are looking for a facilitator, and leaders for historic, environmental and economic components. Stakeholder groups, including planning groups and community members, will be meeting in each community. Focus groups will be hosted and there will be an open house process, followed by workshops with the City Planning Department. This is expected to be a 2-year process. City staff will work with those contracted, and a timeline will be established once the consultant is hired. This may be in July.
Mayor, 76th Assembly District: no reports
Approval of Minutes. Minutes of the March meeting were approved with corrections: addition of telephone number for Sgt. Summers 619-744-9502 and corrected names for new members elected: Frederick Ruffell, Anita Margolis and Marie Skillman. Minutes of the April meeting were approved. Both sets of minutes will be submitted to City and blogspot for posting on websites.
Public Comment.
Sheila Harding from CCDC. Distributed copies of Downtown Today. Discussed their website and webcams. Reminded everyone of the bus tours of downtown and offered to set one up for committee members if they wish. In late summer there will be meetings about the civic center complex.
Information Items:
Clean, Green and Safe (MAD) Advisory Board. David Skillman reported that the Oversight Board is working to get procedures in place and finding out who is actually responsible for various functions. Discussion included what are the annual administrative costs. The RFP’s are in process for banners and street cleaning.
Metropolitan Wastewater Department. Albert Sohikish and two members of his staff were present. Maps of Chocolate Canyon were distributed. Sohikish explained that his department had been tasked with redirecting sewer lines from canyons to streets where it is practical. The purpose is to minimize spillage and improve reaction time if there is a spill. Maintaining sewer lines in the street is cheaper than in the canyons if they can function using gravity. If pumping is required, that is not true. The department criteria is: If the cost of maintaining the canyon lines as they exist is not over 35% more than the cost of redirecting the lines, the lines are left as they are. If the difference is 40% they might revisit. If the difference is extremely high (200% or more) there is no chance of any change. In Chocolate Canyon, the results of investigation was that redirection of the main line would not be cost effective. Finger lines could be redirected but not the main line. Sohikish explained that relocating finger lines should not put undo strain on the remaining lines, because they will use gravity but not pumping. Another aspect of the plan is to assure adequate access paths to all lines. In Chocolate Canyon, the current road is adequate. Sohikish said they are using 2015-2020 as the buildout time, when the lines under discussion (they are 8-12”) will be at capacity. Committee members were asked to fill out a comment sheet and the committee was asked to vote whether they concur with the Department assessment of the situation. Since this was an information item, not an action item on the agenda, no vote could be taken. The item will be placed on the June agenda as an action item.
The 32nd Street Canyon will be undergoing a similar review later.
Land Use Subcommittee.
Information Items: Dave Caldwell and Scott Glazebrook reported that property managers from 1503 30th Street/ 3006 Beech (Permits #1 PTS 121366 #2 PTS 129408 #3 PTS 141955 – none issued with GGHPC approval) made another presentation to the subcommittee. The current issue is signage – 2 signs are acceptable except for the height limit. This could possibly be waived. No progress is visible and no progress reports have been received from “Nick and Lola’s” (PTS #121366). Dave Caldwell asked Bernie Turgen from Planning Department whether there is a time limit on Committee response.
ACTION ITEMS: None
SUBCOMMITTEE AND AD-HOC COMMITTEE REPORTS
Membership & Elections. Nothing to report.
Parks. Maureen Burke had to leave before making a report.
Code Compliance. Chris Blatt was absent.
Transportation. Nothing to report.
Balboa Park Committee. Laurie Burgett had to leave before making a report.
Airport Noise Advisory. Nothing to report.
Historic. Marie Skillman distributed copies of her notes on the April 18 Mills Act Workshop hosted by the Historic Review Board.
Meeting announcement: see http://www.sandiego.gov/planning/programs/historical/agendas/hrb/hrbspecial080418.pdf
SOHO response: see http://sohosandiego.org/main/ourresponse.htm
A copy of these notes is attached to the minutes.
Meeting adjourned at 8:34 pm.
MARIE SKILLMAN'S HRB Meeting notes from 4/18/08
CITY OF SAN DIEGO PUBLIC WORKSHOP
RELATING TO PROPOSED MILLS ACT REFORMS 4/18/08
Historical Review Board members were seated in council chambers. Presenters were Bill Anderson from Planning, Phil Wrath from Mayor’s Office, Kathy ?? from HRB staff, Gary Kendrick from County Assessor, Ken Bernstein from City of Los Angeles Office of Historic Resources.
Objective of meeting was to review issues and solicit public input about incentives and developing more tools (other means) for preservation.
City stated its commitment to general plan and surveying historical elements in each planning district (as part of community plan updates). New preservation methods they have begun using in the last three years include Conservations, Overlays, and Transfer Development Rights. They stated that there are now 3 planners on staff who have the qualifications required by Secretary of Interior. They said there would be no changes to current Mills Act contracts, or those currently in “the pipeline”.
An overview of federal, state and other incentives was given. Proposed reforms are summarized on fact sheet: Limit to # of contracts each year, more stringent requirements, 10-year tailored agreement for each contract, monitoring contracts and inspections every 5 years, increased fees, changing application deadline. Kendrick showed an example of how property taxes are computed for a Mills Act property. Lowest of Mills, Market Value, or Prop 13 Value is used. The two presentations can be viewed online: http://www.sandiego.gov/planning/programs/historical/pdf/millsactwrkshp080418.pdf
Bernstein from LA said they only have 360 individual properties with Mills Act but their department has only been in place for a few years. They have used DISTRICTS rather than individual homes more often. His presentation can be viewed:
http://www.sandiego.gov/planning/programs/historical/pdf/losangelespresrvprogrms.pdf
Q &A –
Sliding scale for fees? Not recommended-proposed fees were determined as cost recovery only.
Regulations on neglected properties? They are studying demo policies relating to blight.
Is there a building moratorium if an Overlay Zone is being studied? Not necessarily.
PUBLIC COMMENT – many speakers
Bruce Coons-SOHO–see response letter; Ione Steigler-IS Architecture–most incentives do not relate to single family homes. “Greenest building is the one already built”; Maggie McKan-Heart of Kensington-82% of designated homes in that area have not been resold; Ron May (letters)-monitoring needs revision; grand jury report should be rejected for poor research; HD requests should include Mills, HRB should review all demo permits for homes over 45 yrs old, Mills contracts should have time line, why not outsource backlog of current requests. Others: HRB needs more staff, older homes are expensive to maintain, Mills Act is a tool to protect homes, historic designated homes favorably affect homes in neighborhood, preservation should be made easier not harder, look at enhanced designations in redevelopment districts, developers get incentives why don’t preservationists, historic designation process needs to be speeded up,
