GREATER GOLDEN HILL PLANNING COMMITTEE MINUTES
OCTOBER 14, 2009
Meeting held at Balboa Park Golf Course Clubhouse – Golf Course Drive
Call to order at 6:35 pm by Chair C. Blatt. Agenda had been posted in accordance with Brown Act.
Members present: Ruchell Alvarez, Richard Baldwin, Laurie Burgett, Maureen Burke, Chris Blatt, Carole Caffey, Dave Caldwell, Scott Glazebrook, Anita Margolis, Richard Santini, David Skillman, Marie Skillman, Angela Vasconcellos. Member absent: Frederick Ruffell
Community Police Officer: Officer John Graham introduced Lt. Sean Murphy; one of 2 new Lts. in our district. New Capt. is Mark Jones; the other Lt. is Roy Moody. Murphy reported that local crime is quiet but not so much in downtown. Especially noted are crimes among homeless persons, including thefts of cell phones. Joyce Summer spoke about Downtown, saying that it is safe there and many good things are going on. Crime in Balboa Park continues to be busy. Last week there was an attempted abduction in our area by 3 white males in a white Honda – 1 of them was caught. Overall San Diego, crime is down 16%. Reports of illegal camping in parks should be called to non-emergency number, not 911. Do call 911 to report suspicious activity. Police will do a free walkthrough of your property to assess safety. Use the ARGIS link on SDPD website for reports of criminal activity in the area.
City Council District 3: Councilman Todd Gloria. Thanked GGHPC member for their service. (1) City budget has a deficit of $1.79 – 2.00 million. This is 1/6 of entire general fund, equal to cost of 2,300 employees or cost of closing all libraries, parks and recreation centers. Nasty choices are ahead; each dept. has been asked to make 27% cuts. Community session and coffees are being scheduled to get public input. (2) Infrastructure. City prioritized $103 million for repairs. This is stimulus money and bond funding, could not be used for other budget issues. 60 miles of streets will be repaved in District 3, plus some facilities will be repaired. Good news is that bids are coming in lower than anticipated and should be putting many people to work. (3) Balboa Park. $2 million in energy efficiency grants, along with $4.5 million in private funds, will be used to update the buildings there. (4) Post Office. Is working with federal officials, no decision yet. Caffey asked if a list of items prioritized in (1) was available. Gloria said they should be on City website with 6-month interval dates. Priorities were made by “grading” projects A-B-C and checking the 3-year intervals to be sure to avoid duplication of work like fixing a street then digging it up again for sewer repairs. Santini asked what points budget reduction would be aimed at. Gloria said the mayor would report those next Wednesday after review of reports from all departments including public safety. Bill Hiisdorf asked if City bankruptcy was possible. Gloria noted that the City has many more assets than liabilities, but some assets are not liquid. Some property has been sold, netting $20 million per year. On the market now is World Trade Center building. Caldwell asked why that building could not be used as City Hall instead of expensive new structure. Gloria stated that it is inadequate due to its age and condition. Due diligence has begun to see if building a new City Hall would really save money from Day 1. Current City Hall is an unsafe situation due to lack of fire sprinklers, presence of asbestos, earthquake code update needed. Gloria said he wants to see STRUCTURAL change in the way the City is run, so that a budget deficit crisis isn’t a yearly event. District 3 newsletters were distributed.
City Council District 8 - Diana Jurado-Sainz. (1) Community Clean Up Day is 10/17. Dumpsters will be available at Golden Hill Elementary School for landfill trash. She hopes to have one for recyclables as well. CDC is organizing cleanup projects in the area. Margolis asked about cuttings of arundo going into the bins. Depending on where it is located, a permit may be needed to cut it. Legal cuttings are recyclable (2) San Diego Speaks, a forum for budget review, will be held in GGH area at the end of October – date and place TBA. Hueso requested that a list of budget impacts from Jay Goldstone. (3) Winter Homeless Shelter will be at 16th & Island streets again this year. Hoping for greater citywide sites in future years. (4) Post Office. Dist. 8 is working with Cong. Davis office on this. (5) Is working with City real estate department to put property at 811 25th Street on the market & hopefully get a business set up there. Alvarez asked if infrastructure work was being done in District 8. Jurado-Sainz said the work was prioritized throughout City and work is being done in all districts. (6) Decision on lawsuit against City regarding formation of MAD should be received from Judge on 10/16.
53rd Congressional District - Katherine Fortner: Davis voted to extend unemployment benefits. (2) House finally authorized construction on new federal courthouse downtown. (3) Staff met with Post Office District Manager 10/13; decision is expected within a month. PO is looking at data such as staffing, what services are used at each post office, proximity to other post offices. They are still accepting letters from the public although the official comment period is closed. A question was asked about airplane noise mitigation. Santini reported that a corridor including Date & A streets was just selected. Caffey said that 50% of the Quiet Home Funds are being spent East of the airport and 50% West of the airport. There is a waiting list of up to 10 years, depending on location. Davis Dispatch was distributed.
City Planner’s Report - Bernie Turgeon:
Community Plan Update Advisory Committee (CPUAC) kickoff meeting will be Wednesday, October 28 at 7:00 pm, after Land Use meeting at Golf Course Clubhouse. It is expected to be a 2-hour meeting. Agenda to include (1) start discussion of current community plan. City will present themes; a walking tour may be scheduled. (2) Regular meeting date and location (3) a chair must be elected. The City will have Bernie plus one other facilitator. At future meetings there may be public and private components to the meeting.
Mayor; 76th Assembly District: no reports
Approval of Minutes: Approved minutes of 9/09/09 meeting (motion Margolis, second D. Skillman) all in favor. (Alvarez, Baldwin, Vasconcellos abstained, as they were not at the meeting)
Public Comment.
Philippe Hueso: is a candidate for City Council in District 8 when Ben Hueso leaves office. Has lived and worked in the district for many years; believes in strong neighbors, believes his experience as an attorney would be an asset in the position.
Joyce Summer, CCDC: City Council Rules Committee moved proceeding on new main library to full council vote on 10/22. CCDC upcoming events: 11/3 Downtown Soundbites coffee at Horton Plaza office, featuring Shirley Horton. Left copies of several publications. Showed how to sign up for email alerts at CCDC.com
Catherine McNeil: Requested that GGHPC send a mitigation letter regarding 2947 E Street. Trees are growing back but canyon is degrading. Residents were not notified properly of pending construction. Has contacted Code Compliance about weeds growing around 2915 E Street. Residents want something done about the property. Is hopeful that CPUAC will address parking and noticing requirements.
INFORMATION ITEMS:
Chairs Report/Mail. Nothing to report.
Clean Green and Safe MAD – Carol Caffey: Oversight Committee membership is going to be by appointments by CDC. 10 seats will be filled for terms beginning in December 5 for 2 years and 5 for 1 year. Pat Shields asked about the appointment process. GGHPC was asked to representative on the review panel for nominees. Alvarez volunteered. Public is asked to call hotline 619-644-5138 when trash or graffiti needs to be taken care of. Next MAD meeting is Monday, 11/2 at Ethos Church at 6:30 pm.
Land Use – Dave Caldwell: See attached minutes. Subcommittee discussed including points raised in Demolition Policy prepared by Uptown Planners in the updated Community Plan.
ACTION ITEMS:
Proposed Closure of George Washington Post Office - Tershia D’Elgin: Introduced Renee Parks, owner of Post Office property. Requested GGHPC to send a letter to the District Manager, and other officials, urging them not to close this location. Motion by M. Skillman, second Margolis, to send letter as soon as possible. All in favor. Blatt will prepare and send letter.
SUBCOMMITEE REPORTS.
Membership and Elections: Vasconcellos reported that we still have vacancies. Pat Shields volunteered to be appointed once she has attended the required number of meetings.
Transportation: nothing to report
Airport Noise: meets 10/21
Parks: have an issue with many squirrels. Community gardens are flourishing.
Balboa Park: Burgett is one of 17 members appointed to a task force to review the recommendation that a nonprofit be organized to work with the City on park governance. First meeting is 10/19. See balboapark.com for details
Historic: M Skillman and D Skillman will be attending a workshop about historic designations on 10/29.
OTHER ITEMS:
Right of Way workshop: City planning Dept. has scheduled a workshop on 10/22 regarding cleaning up the rights of way on sidewalks, etc. including placement of utility boxes. M Skillman will forward information she received to the rest of the committee. Turgeon said details should be on City website by 10/16.
Neighborhood improvement project: Burke attended a CDC meeting with a group of SDSU students who will be looking at ways to improve the neighborhood.
Meeting adjourned at 7:50 pm. (motion Blatt, second D. Skillman, all in favor)
ATTACHMENT 1.
Land-use Subcommittee Minutes
Greater Golden Hill Planning Committee
September 30 2009
Subcommittee Members present: Dave Caldwell, Richard Baldwin, Scott Glazebrook
City Staff present: None
Community Members present: None
Project Applicants present: None
Meeting called to order at 6:30 PM by Dave Caldwell
No projects to review.
No walk-in requests for information.
General discussion regarding development within and outside of Greater Golden Hill ensued.
Meeting Adjourned at 7:00 PM by Dave Caldwell
END OF MINUTES
