GREATER GOLDEN HILL PLANNING COMMITTEE MINUTES
January 13, 2010
Meeting was held at Balboa Park Golf Course Clubhouse – Golf Course Drive
Called to order at 6:32 pm by Vice Chair D. Skillman. Agenda had been posted in accordance with Brown Act.
Members present, Richard Baldwin, Laurie Burgett, Maureen Burke, Carole Caffey, Dave Caldwell, Scott Glazebrook, Anita Margolis, Frederick Ruffell, Richard Santini, Pat Shields, David Skillman, Marie Skillman, Angela Vasconcellos. Members absent: Ruchell Alvarez, Chris Blatt
Change to agenda: Florida Street Guardrail Project moved up in agenda to after the legislative representatives reports.
Community Police Officers John Graham and Suzy Delapinio: There have been 2 recent residential burglaries; they have some leads. Asked us to keep our eyes open and to please call if we see suspicious activity. Include a description of suspect. The department is looking at response time, so get an incident number if you call and report it if response time seems too long.
Caffey reported on the 1/11/10 Police Issues Forum held at Einstein school. Golden Hill CDC is working with community to identify resources and strategies – possible setting up a Neighborhood Watch style effort. Check their website for details.
Santini brought up the “park” west of Einstein school. He reported that skaters hang out there during the day and drug dealers at night. He would like to see the area fenced in by the school. Graham said he would ask the night patrol to watch the area. Caffey suggest that Santini contact the Friends of Einstein. Graham said crime statistics on the location could be found at sd.gov. D. Skillman suggested contacting the school police.
Jerry Ray asked whether door-to-door solicitors are required to have a badge or permit. Graham said they are; permits are handled at 14th & E Street. If solicitor does not have a permit, call the police so they can conduct an interview.
Graham urged those with police concerns to attend the Captain’s Advisory Meeting on 1/26/10 at 25th & Imperial.
City Council District 3, City Council District 8, Mayor; 76th Assembly District: no reports
53rd Congressional District – Kathryn Fortner. Fliers about veteran’s benefits were available. Davis voted for the Jobs for Main Street use of TARP funds. Davis wrote a letter to the Governor about cuts in public health funding. Davis staff and Tershia met with US Post Office about closure of George Washington station: Postmaster General has not made final decision, but it will be based upon data (not shared with public until decision is final) about workload, use of facility, proximity to other Post Offices. PO officials were aware of timing and language issues with their questionnaires.
Florida Street Guardrail Project – Robert Gehrke of RBF Consulting, Julio Fuentes and Labib Qasem from City of San Diego: Many car accidents happen on Florida Street between Upas and Pershing Drive. Data show that most of the accidents are below the traffic signal at Bob Wilson Drive. RBF identified issues there, including influence of lights, inability to use median, and speeding. The posted speed is 45; average speed is 55.
Diagrams of 3 options for making the street safer were shown.
(1) Installing concrete barrier walls, taking out median and putting yellow striping on asphalt instead. This would begin below Bob Wilson intersection. They have determined that this barrier is not so long that it would affect wildlife in the area. Concrete would be buff color with lights in them. Removing median would make street 4 ft wider and rumble strips would be placed on edges. This treatment would go all the way to Pershing/26th Street. This is the least expensive option; adding gaps in the wall for wildlife would not change cost significantly.
(2) Same treatment except they would landscape the portion of Florida closer to Pershing/26th Street and narrow the median there from 14 ft to 10-12 ft, and add native plants. The area is part of Balboa Park so that staff would care for the plants. This would cost more than option 1.
(3) Double barrier wall with landscape or asphalt in between. This is the most expensive, but also the safest and more ascetic.
Discussion: Burke and Vasconcellos noted that changing lanes closer to Pershing/26th is a problem, too. Burgett said that she had seen these proposals at the meeting of the Balboa Park Committee. Discussion there noted that the crash victims are often in northbound cars hit by the speeding southbound cars. Just adding lights and striping could solve the issue; there is concern about the scale of this project for 800 ft length. Caffey asked if there was a phased approach that would be less expensive and intrusive. Several members prefer the wooden barriers like on Hwy. 163; Gehrke noted that it is not as strong or easy to maintain. Cor-ten steel looks better than standard and is available. Gehrke noted that timing is important on making a decision as the City has already allocated the funds.
Caldwell suggested that we defer this to the Balboa Park Committee, as they will be responsible for any maintenance required. D. Skillman agreed and although the matter could not be voted upon since in was not an Action Item, the rest of the GGHPC concurred.
City Planner’s Report - Bernie Turgeon: CPUAC met 1/6 with a long slideshow of submitted images of the community. All slides submitted were included. The self-guided walking tour based upon the slides should be available by the end of next week; it will include the map and a way to respond and will conclude the “initial public input” section of the update process. Next meeting will be 2/3/10 at the War Memorial Bldg, unless a closer location can be found. A more comprehensive topic lists is being compiled and this may change the timeline originally announced. Meeting notes from the December CPUAC meeting and the slideshow should be in City website this week.
D. Skillman said he had been fielding some good questions from citizens and getting answers from Turgeon. He wanted to know if the questions with their answers could be distributed to the rest of the CPUAC; Turgeon said that he would start “cc-ing” others when these come up.
Caldwell noted that residential care facilities with under 6 beds are not regulated or on anyone’s radar, although there are many of them in GGH. He said that Blatt had previously asked the County for data on who they are paying for this type of facility in the community, in an attempt to quantify how many there are. He was unable to get any data. Baldwin wondered if we could compile our own map. Shields said she thought we could request County contract information through public records. Ruffell said the also thought that information was public. Caldwell believes the “5 & under” facilities get special treatment. Shields brought up the point that these are technically low-income housing units and should be counted as such in community demographics.
In regards to demographics, Turgeon had sent some population data from Sandag to D. Skillman, based upon the 2000 census and later estimates. Although there is a 2010 census, it will likely be 2015 before that census data is available. Margolis noted that housing demographics might not be part of census data collected this time.
Approval of Minutes: Approved minutes of 11/11/09 meeting (motion Caldwell, second Vasconcellos) all in favor. (Baldwin, Burgett, Burke, Caffey, Margolis, Santini abstained)
Public Comment.
Jerry Ray: reported that on Sat. 1/2/10, Urban Corps (MAD) workers were just pushing their trashcans up the street, not sweeping. Shields said she had heard that Urban Corps workers had taken trash from private trashcans and put in their cans – they are paid by the pound for trash collected. Caffey referred these complaints to Alex, the MAD Program Manager.
Catherine McNeal: Urban Corps (MAD) needs more oversight in the area around her home at 2900 E Street. She has contacted Alex and volunteered to help show them where work is needed. She wondered (as did others in the community) why the house across from the Post Office was completely demolished instead of a more green removal process. She would like to see greener demolition guidelines put into the new Community Plan. Construction on her block on E Street is to commence soon but noticing has not been done properly.
INFORMATION ITEMS:
Chairs Report/Mail. No report.
Land Use – Dave Caldwell: did not meet in December. If there are Land Use ideas to discuss, let Dave know so he can put them on the agenda.
Clean Green and Safe MAD: did not meet in January
ACTION ITEMS: None
SUBCOMMITEE REPORTS.
Membership and Elections: Vasconcellos reminded us that elections take place in March. She will send an updated roster to everyone this month to review.
Transportation: No report.
Airport Noise. Caffey noted that the Advisory Committee will meet on 1/20/10. Meetings are now held on the 3rd Wednesday of Jan, Apr, June, and October.
Parks: Burke introduced Manetta Slaybaugh, the chair of the community garden. There will be an open house soon at the garden. Currently, there are 34 people on the waiting list (about 1.5 years). Although chartering another space is desirable, paperwork would take years.
Balboa Park: Historic: No report.
The next meeting will be February 10, 2010.
Meeting adjourned at 8:00 pm. (motion Burke, second Margolis, all in favor)
Marie Skillman.
Secretary.
