Pacifica Planning Commission Brown Act Violation will probably be a slap on the wrist

Pacifica highway 1, Reina del Mar to Fassler

The usual NIMBY political maneuvering on key city issues. Note the unapologetic, deflective comment by Planning Commission Chairman Richard Campbell.  Yet, he's an attorney,  he should understand the issue.   

Mercury News/Julia Scott, 10/16/11. "Controversy over a proposal to widen part of Highway 1 through the city's south side has divided residents and prompted a district attorney's investigation into what could be violations of the Brown Act.

The plan to widen part of Highway 1 to six lanes from just north of Reina Del Mar to just south of Rockaway Beach has been in play since at least 1999 and has received the full support of City Council members for just as long. But major development projects of any kind are difficult to achieve in Pacifica under the best of circumstances. Voters narrowly opposed a major mixed-use neighborhood planned for the city's vacant quarry in 2008, for instance, and a slew of other projects sit in limbo.

Caltrans released a draft environmental impact report on the Highway 1 widening on Sept. 26. While many Pacifica residents support the widening plan, intended to relieve morning traffic bottlenecks, opponents say the agency didn't truly consider alternatives to a plan that would displace several businesses and the residents of a home along Old County Road.  Caltrans released a draft environmental impact report on the Highway 1 widening on Sept. 26. While many Pacifica residents support the widening plan, intended to relieve morning traffic bottlenecks, opponents say the agency didn't truly consider alternatives to a plan that would displace several businesses and the residents of a home along Old County Road. Their complaints prompted the Pacifica City Council to ask Caltrans to extend the public comment period on the environmental impact report, which will now end Saturday.

That meeting never took place. It was canceled after two local residents, who support widening Highway 1, got ahold of a tape of the meeting and alerted the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office about purported violations of the Brown Act -- the California open-meeting law designed to ensure public participation and transparency in government. Assistant district attorney Al Serrato is reviewing the meeting tape to determine whether something illegal occurred. "If an issue is discussed and voted on, and it wasn't on the agenda, that would be a violation of the Brown Act," Serrato said. Leon did not return a call for comment.

Mark Stechbart, one of the people who got the DA's office involved, said the Planning Commission was trying to interfere with the project-review process. "There was a deliberate attempt by highway-widening opponents to get them to interject themselves into the debate," he said. What Stechbart sees as politically motivated, Richard Campbell contends were good intentions gone awry. The planning commissioner missed the meeting in question, but said his colleagues very likely got carried away by the topic at hand. Tape of the meeting shows Planning Director George White warning the group that they were in danger of violating the Brown Act, but they carried on. "It's disappointing that an attempt to further public dialogue and open communication with regard to this issue got turned into this," Campbell said. "There's some irony in that." 

If the Brown Act allegations prove true, the officials may be required to repeal their previous votes, according to Serrato.  But it's unclear what that would accomplish, since the votes had little effect. Caltrans will incorporate comments into a final environmental impact report, due out in 2012.  The Pacifica City Council will vote on the highway-widening proposal, as will the California Coastal Commission." 

Posted by Kathy Meeh