Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Palmetto Avenue apartment building moves forward, finally


Pacifica Tribune/Jane Northrop Staff Writer, 12/23/16.  "Controversial project approved by City Council."

Image result for Palmetto Avenue, Pacifica, CA  picture
Neighborhood of repeated appeals.
Image result for Palmetto Avenue, Pacifica, CA  picture
Response to Coastal Commission appeal
against the project: build it bigger!
"City Council upheld a planning commission decision to approve a four-unit apartment building on a part of Palmetto Avenue that is opposite the Fish and Bowl. Victor Carmichael and other members of a group called the Committee to Save the Fish and Bowl appealed the planning commission decision, but City Council denied their appeal in a 4-1 vote, with Mayor Sue Digre casting the negative vote.

This was the second version of the project at 4009 Palmetto Ave.; the planning commissioners liked the first one better, with its four detached studio apartments with living roofs, but Carmichael and the group appealed the first design to the California Coastal Commission.  The Coastal Commission staff worked out a different version of the apartment units. The new project is a larger building of 3,169 square feet with four units on the top two floors with an attached ground floor garage. The new design reduces the area on which anything will be built. It provides a 50 foot buffer to an Arroyo willow tree in the public right of way, a priority of Coastal Commission staff. One of the developers, Mile O’Connell, said the redesign will have different sized units, some good for families."  Read article.

Reference, City Council meeting, 12/12/16, Item 8, see Fix Pacifica article/City Council Agenda, 12/12/16.  Related, City of Pacifica, "Active Planning Applications List."  Related articles. Pacifica Tribune/Jane Northrop, Staff Writer, 10/27/16, "Commission okays apartments... ", and Pactifica Tribune/Jane Northrop, Staff Writer, 9/16/16, "Palmetto Avenue project gives Planning Commissioners concerns."  Note photographs of 4000 Palmetto by Christine Van from Better Homes/JF Finnegan Realtors. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh

38 comments:

just curious said...

Isn't this site just a bit north of the Dollar Station house that has a history of cliff erosion?

I can understand trying to save existing structures from falling into the ocean. But why allow mistakes of the past to continue by allowing new construction in what is proving to be an unstable area?

Anonymous said...

Do your homework idiot. Uninformed statements like yours are what the faux-enviro NOBY's feast upon.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps "just curious" query was uninformed, but the"Anonymous" response was just rude; a true sign of ignorance.

Anonymous said...

I agree 12:10, a little harsh me thinks. And, yes, that site is a little unstable in the middle. Close to the edges it sits on more stable soil and rock.
All placement.

Unknown said...

I would like to answer a fair concern from "Just Curious"

In summary,

The project is over 400 feet from the Coastal bluff. The average erosion is 2 feet per year in this area. And yes, global warming was taken in consideration.

This project exceeded the 100 year project life that Pacifica laws required.

There is also a deed restriction that the public will never be responsible and/or incur the cost to protect this project. This project will never be allowed to armor the coast as well. The beach much be left natural in regards to this project.

The Coastal Commission was very concerned about the bluffs and very satisfied with the project.

Dave

Anonymous said...

PC positions in this town are what's killing this town.
If you think being nice to the NOBY's will get you anything other than a knife in the back you are either one of them or you're not paying attention.
These people love to smile while they pick your pocket. It's all about "I got mine, screw everyone else". That's the real rudeness in Pacifica.

Chris Porter said...

Thanks for the information Dave.

Anonymous said...

On Jan 4, 2017 a group of people are suing Pacifica for issuing a permit for a small 4 unit building which was zoned for 10 units. They are claiming there are wetlands on the project. several biologist, the city of Pacifica, and the coastal commission found no wetlands on the project site. The Plaintiffs in the law suit don't know where the wetlands are!!!!!! They just want to oppose the project. 2017Civ00042 This will cost Pacifica hundred of thousands. Hopefully Pacifica will prevail and get a judgement against the following.

Joan Arthur, Noel Blincoe, Victor Carmichael, Barbara Culp, John Curtis, Nancy Davis, Charin Garcia, Caroline Herter, David Hirzel, Helen Karr, Bonnie Keana, Celeste Langille, Leo Leon, Joyce Massola, Kristen Lindquist, Judy McCarthy, Diane Parks, Steven Rhodes, Mary Shapiro, Dawn Summers, William Trichon, Carol Young.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this post. Let's keep this deed in the spotlight so we can really see how these people work, what happens and who pays.
It's time to put a stop to this kind of behavior in Pacifica...... and absolutely we need to counter-sue them.

Steve Sinai said...

How about the city estimates the lost hotel tax revenue from the NIMBY lawsuit referenced at 10:24 AM, and then cuts the same amount from the Pacifica Beach Coalition?

Anonymous said...

The Pacifica Beach Coalition brown noses city staff and city council to get money!

Anonymous said...

OMG. The beach coalition gets city money? How much?

Anonymous said...

Oh. I guess that's not true then.

Anonymous said...

Steve Sinai said: "How about the city estimates the lost hotel tax revenue from the NIMBY lawsuit referenced at 10:24 AM, and then cuts the same amount from the Pacifica Beach Coalition?"

That's insane. Fist of all, none of the plaintiffs listed are active PBC members, second, the city saves far more money from the PBC's activities than it spends on them.

Anonymous said...

7:07 Says who? We've been listening to this propaganda for years. Look around. We're broke and crumbling. It's time to STOP believing this pernicious lie.

Anonymous said...

What's the lie? Nobody has answered the question of how much the city spends on PBC. What does the PBC do that saves the city money? Facts please.

Chris Fogel said...

The Pacifica Beach Coalition will receive $8,000 from the city in 2016-17.

$5,000 as part of an ongoing payment per the Our Children Earth consent decree.

$3,000 from one-time ERAF funds.

http://www.pacificaindex.com

Anonymous said...

Thank you Chris Fogel.

Kathy Meeh (re: your smart, classy, index website, Chris) said...

Hi Chris, glad to see your Pacifica Index website is visible again.
The work you put into doing this is an amazing benefit for those who appreciate referenced City news and document information.
Everyone should visit your website, wow!!!

Lynn Adams said...

Just to give you the facts. The City has supported the Pacifica Beach Coalition with $3,000 to assist us with the Earth Day and CCCD events. I have not heard of or seen any money from the Our Children Earth fund this year or in the past 3 - 4 years.

In 2016 the Pacifica Beach Coalition engaged 12,974 volunteers and removed 21,170 pounds of trash, 4587 pounds of recycles, and 39,778 pounds of weeds (mostly from Linda Mar and Rockaway). Oh and did I mention that these volunteers removed over 193,000 toxic Cigarette butts (41,000 from collection containers we installed by park benches, promenades and at key businesses that we got to work with). We brought school assemblies about Sea Otters to over 5000 students, engaged over 7300 volunteers for Earth Day and 1300 volunteers for CCCD. We brought in just under 1000 volunteers mid week to clean all of our beaches and remove weeds from Linda Mar and Rockaway bike path/beach. I don't have exact stats but I can say of those 1000 volunteers midweek, more than 2/3rds were from out of Pacifica. Many of the corporate teams followed their volunteer time with dining at some of our Pacifica restaurants! PBC leads a cleanup at a different Pacifica beach each week and cleans up other hot spots. Most importantly the PBC has inspired citizens and visitors young and old to pick up litter, recycle, conserve resources, and to think about the earth and ocean every day. I'm not sure how to tabulate the value of this but if you would join us at a cleanup you might also feel the importance and value of this work.
by Lynn Adams, President of PBC - also a volunteer

Anonymous said...

Our city has no business supporting radical environmental organizations like Our Children Earth. If individuals wish to contribute on their own, they have that right. But it is not reasonable to expect us who do not agree with their politics and their excessive CBD/EarthFirst!/Brent Plater type litigation to foot the bill. BTW, it is groups like OCE that make it so difficult to build anything in Pacifica - even when it benefits humanity. I am confident that this was put into place when the Gang of 4 dominated our City Council circa 2002. This should definitely be questioned and stricken on our next budget review.

Anonymous said...

And so, what is the "pernicious lie"?

Chris Fogel said...

Lynn Adams is correct and I was mistaken. The Pacifica Beach Coalition will receive only $3,000 this year and not $8,000.

The $5,000 payment was a one-time payment received as part of a "Supplemental Environmental Project II" as delineated in the consent decree. The payment is listed as part of a larger ongoing capital project ("C026") within the 2016-2017 budget which lead me to believe it was a current and ongoing payment.

Please accept my apologies for the error, Lynn.

If I may offer my opinion: anyone who has seen Lynn Adams report to the city council will know the enormous amount of work she and beach coalition do to protect our coastside. $3,000 is a pittance compared to what our community (and the ocean ecosystem) receives in return.

Anonymous said...

How much money does the city spend on street sweepers? Is that wasted money? They do less to beautify the city than the beach coalition! In the last decade Pacifica's beaches have become far more attractive destinations as a result of the thousands of volunteers pitching in on a regular basis.

Anonymous said...

You didn't mention Recology. I thought they volunteered dumpsters and moved them and then dumped all of the trash or were they paid?

Chris Porter, General Mgr of Recology of the Coast said...

Recology of the Coast is by far the largest contributor to the Pacifica Beach Coalition and has been since 2005. Last year we donated $5,000 for Earth Day and Coastal Cleanup Day programs, helped offset the costs for the kitchen scrap bins they passed out as well as dispose of all their trash from their major events and weekly/monthly beach cleanup at no charge. Thanks for recognizing Recology's contribution.

Anonymous said...

You're welcome Chris. The writer's lack of recognition of your contribution simply underlines once again that if you aren't a card carrying member of the faux-environmental cult, you don't matter.

Anonymous said...

I heard John Curtis passed away.How can he be on the lawsuit?

Anonymous said...

It's like voter fraud: They die and then they vote and initiate lawsuits. Don't worry about it - Trump will make an extremely wonderful executive order and it'll be the most beautiful thing you've ever seen.

Kathy Meeh (Is that a true or false comment?) said...

344, how about confirming with a link to factual information your "I heard" comment?
Otherwise, such Anonymous dead comments amount to "I heard the moon was made of blue cheese"-- remember that?
John has been disabled for many years.

Anonymous said...

John has been dead for 2 months.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear John Curtis died.
He was an icon in the faux-enviro, nothing for Pacifica, cult.
Of course we'll never forget the self sacrifices made by Curtis, Vreeland, Lancelle, deJarnutt, Verby, Loeb, Howard, Hall, Shoemaker and Digre to save our city from that evil out-of-town developer, Don Peebles.
That was a close one. We almost got something that would have helped Pacifica.

Kathy Meeh (anonymous, you've got "nothing"!) said...

1153, the anonymous 312 comment has zero proof, and your comment (possibly follow-up comment to what you said at 312) is twisted.
If John Curtis died, where is the outside commentary and recognition from his NIMBY friends, where is an obituary or an article celebrating his life?
There was a John William Curtis who died 1/5/17. That John William Curtis was once a barber in Pacifica. The link includes a photograph, and biography (which looks nothing like the John Curtis you're referring to).
Are you confusing the two, or just attempting to perpetuate a hoax?

Anonymous said...

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/rgj/obituary.aspx?pid=183536093

Kathy Meeh (re: destination nowhere) said...

158, try again, that's not NIMBY hero, John Curtis.
Surprise (not), that is the same John William Curtis linked at 1245, unless he had a face and biography transplant.
Hence, another person named John Curtis (not an unusual name) also lived and worked in Pacifica, RIP.

Anonymous said...

Elvis lives!

Anonymous said...

Isn't that Bigfoot in the upper right corner of the first picture?

Anonymous said...

John Curtis aka the King of Appeals will live until he has exhausted every single government hand out.