Paul, I hope you're right that a positive sustainable economic change of attitude is coming in the Fall city council election. This city needs the improvement and the cash.
Pacifica Tribune/Guest Columnist, 6/19/12. "My Turn: a shift in politics" by Paul Slavin."
"
The City Council meeting
on Monday, June 11, may well have signaled a seismic shift in Pacifica
politics. That evening, by a unanimous vote of 4 to 0, with one
abstention, a newly configured council gave its blessing to the Oddstad
Assisted Living Center, a development vigorously opposed by some local
environmental groups. In past years, that opposition would probably have
been sufficient to delay and eventually derail the project. But not
this time.
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| Fix our city council |
Pacifica has long divided itself into pro-and
anti-development camps, and has hotly contested every land-use question
from the Quarry to Sharp Park. A majority of the City Council seated
after the last election -- Sue Digre, Pete DeJarnatt,and Jim Vreeland --
could generally be counted on to support the environmental position,
while Mary Ann Nihart and Len Stone are considered more favorable to
business and development.
The plans for the Assisted Living Center
call for 96 units in a three-building complex on a 2-acre lot at 721
Oddstad Blvd., behind the Park Mall. It's a well-designed, nice looking
project that fits well into a quiet neighborhood, and obviously fills a
community need. But its proximity to San Pedro Creek ensured immediate
and intense environmental scrutiny, and groups such as the "San Pedro
Creek Watershed Coalition" and the "Protectors of San Pedro Creek" were
formed to block the development. Nevertheless, the project worked its
long and torturous way through the Planning
Commission, a draft EIR
evolved into a final EIR, and in November of last year planning approval
was granted. Pacifica was to get a new, if modest, development.
The
environmental groups quickly filed appeals, challenging the competence
of the EIR, complaining that important information had been overlooked,
and raising the specter of earthquake and flood, landslides, crumbling
creek banks, spawning steelhead and, God help us, Red-legged frogs. The
appeals would be heard by City Council and were listed on the agenda for
January 23, 2012.
But at that meeting, Mayor
Pete DeJarnatt recused himself (his sister Ann heads up the "Protectors
of San Pedro Creek"), Councilmember Stone also recused himself (his
office is in the Park Mall, adjacent to the development site), and
Councilmember Vreeland was absent. (In 2011, Mr. Vreeland missed 11 of
24 council meetings.) With only two voting members present, there was no
quorum and no business could be done. Thus began an almost
five-month-long fiasco of delays, postponements, anger and exasperation
that was a great embarrassment for the city, and a financial nightmare
for the developer.
But then things began to change. Jim Vreeland
resigned, citing unspecified health problems and cutting short a term
that had almost three years left to run. Council appointed Ginny
Jaquith, a well-respected former councilmember, to hold down the seat
until the regularly scheduled election in November, 2012, when the
remaining two years of the term would be up for grabs. And Len Stone was
advised by the City Attorney that yes, he could vote on the project;
his office location wasn't that big a deal.
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| Political sunrise? |
And so, on June 11,
the Oddstad Assisted Living Center finally got a hearing before the City
Council. First of all, Mayor Pete DeJarnall again recused himself, his
sister being still very much involved in the proceedings. Pete sometimes
seems bowed beneath the weight of his many years on council, and he has
said he will not seek another term in November. With an almost visible
relief, he quickly left the building.
Four councilmembers remained sitting at the dais.
Len
Stone, our young first term councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem, now chairs
the meeting. Since winning his seat in the 2010 election (as the
largest individual vote-getter), Len has positioned himself as the
policy-wonk, the serious businessman with a vigilant eye on the bottom
line. He is not enthralled by the impassioned pleas from the "Protectors
of San Pedro Creek."
Next to him sits
Mary Ann Nihart,
now
concluding her first term on the Council. Mary Ann is probably as much a
policy-wonk as Len; she just doesn't look like it. It's that
high-voltage smile, I guess. With her impressive medical background, her
nursing experience, her business skills and academic achievements,
she's probably better suited to handle the technical information load
than any other councilmember. And while she's always been a supporter of
the environment, she tends to look at the whole picture.
Next is
Ginny Jaquith, the replacement councilmember, who could well be the key
tonight, the swing vote. (She was not the first choice of Mayor
DeJarnett or Councilmember Digre.) Ginny is considered a moderate, and
is extremely knowledgeable in local government and community affairs.
She claims no political ambitions past November.
That leaves Sue
Digre as the only councilmember at the dais that could be said to
represent the unofficial, anti-growth, environmental coalition that has
dominated the City Council and heavily influenced Pacifica politics for
many years now. A coalition that, at the moment, looks decidedly
outnumbered.
Sue, a popular three-term
councilmember, has always been a proud standard-bearer for her
environmental allies. Her battle-cry of "Our Environment Is Our Economy"
may seem a little dated, a bit tarnished, in the midst of a worldwide
recession and our local financial woes, but it resonated well enough in
the last election for her to garner over 5,000 votes. She will gamely
defend her position, and the citizens she was elected to represent.
The
first order of business is a request by the Appellants (the groups that
filed the appeals, as opposed to the "Applicants" who have applied for
the Site Development Permit) for another postponement of the hearing,
due to the absence of one of their experts. This request was quickly and
unanimously denied. No one sitting at the dais had the stomach for
another delay.
The two appeals were then heard, presented by
spokesmen for the Appellants and countered by the Applicant's
environmental consultant. Sue Digre closely questioned some aspects of
the development plan, was reassured that the Mitigation Monitoring
Program would receive input from the environmentalists, and bowed to the
inevitable.
When it came time to vote, she joined the three other
councilmembers in unanimously supporting the Oddstad Assisted Living
Center.
Whether or not this is truly a harbinger of a more
balanced approach to governance in Pacifica will depend on a number of
things, not least of which are the upcoming elections in November.
Three
seats are open and their disposition could ensure a long-time,
progressive, pragmatic majority on Council that confronts our long
neglected problems and lays the groundwork for a sound financial future.
There are interesting days ahead."
Reference - City council meeting Minutes, 6/11/12, vote on page 20.
Posted by Kathy Meeh
