KIMCO Proposes 179 New Apartments for Westlake Shopping Center

Could they do the same at Linda Mar or Fairmont Shopping Centers?   This is "SmartGrowth"!!

According to 12/11/2017 Daly City City Council report:  "The applicant, Kimco Reality Corporation, has submitted an application to redevelop a portion of Westlake Shopping Center adjacent to Park Plaza Drive The project consists of replacing the existing two-story 53,662 square foot commercial building and 60 space surface parking lot, currently on the north end of the existing building, with a six-story mixed use building including a below grade parking garage accommodating 260 parking spaces, 34,458 square feet of ground floor commercial space, and 179 upper-story apartments. The existing building is comprised of 23,232 square feet of medical office space, which would not be replaced, and 30,430 square feet of retail space, which would be replaced with 34,458 square feet of retail space at the building’s ground floor."

Submitted by Victor Spano

Restaurants with the best views in the world, including a few you can visit in California

Pacifica scores!

http://m.sfgate.com/travel/article/restaurants-with-the-best-views-in-the-world-12421913.php#photo-7387600

Posted by Steve Sinai

City Council meeting, Monday December 11, 2017

Attend in person, 2212 Beach Boulevard, 2nd floor. Or view on local television or live feed Pacific Coast TV. If you missed meetings, view on PCT26 YouTube!  The city council meeting begins at 7 p.m., or shortly there following. City Council updates and archives are available on the City Council website.      Channel 26 television schedule, see Monday, 11/27/17.  

 Interactive City Council agenda, 12/11/17.      City Council agenda, 12/11/17, pdf pages 156. 

Closed Session, 5:30 p.m.

Items 13, 14. Thank you Mike O'Neill
for your years as Mayor!

A.     CA government code 54956.8, property negotiations, instructions to negotiators, price and terms of payment:  Friend Development Group LLC, a Delaware LLC, 2212 Beach Boulevard.  
B.    CA government code 54956.8, property negotiations with Brendan Murphy, price and terms of payment:  A portion of 540 Crespi Drive, APN 022-162-420.
C.    CA government code 54956.9 )d) (1), existing litigation:  Scenic Coast v. CA Dept of Transportation, et. al., San Mateo Superior Court Case DIV523973.

Open session, 7:00 p.m.  Call to order, roll call, salute to flag.  Closed Session report.  Proclamations, none. 
Special presentations.  1) HIP  Housing, Alie Sobczak.  2) Beautification Advisory Committee Mayor's Awards.  

Consent Calendar   
1.      Approval of financial disbursements (checks), FY 2017-18, report.  a) 11/3/17 - 11/14/17.
2.     Approval of Minutes, report.  a) 11/27/17.
3.     Proclamation confirming existence of a local emergency, coastline Westline Drive to end of Beach Blvd, report.  a)  photographs, 12/6/17.
4.     Cancel City Council meeting, 12/26/17, report.
5.     Establish and adopt zone regulation ordinance limiting number of Alternative Financial Services (AFS) businesses, and require a use permit requirement for operation, exempt from CEQA (second reading), report/ordinance.
6.     Amend the Emergency Preparedness and Safety Commission ordinance to increase membership (second reeading), report/ordinance.
7.     Resolution declaring results of the 11/7/17 consolidated municipal, school and special district election, report/resolution. a) Certification.
8.     Change order #1, Collections System Project FY 2016-16 COO5D: C2R Engineering, amount $60,000. Wastewater Enterprise Fund 34, report.  a) Contract and change order, revised budget $614,758.65.
9.      Approve commercial and industrial stormwater inspections and related services: Eisenberg, Olivieri & Associates, Inc., not to exceed $50,000 each year or $200,000 for duration of the contract,  report. a) Agreement.
10.    Resolution supporting Manor Drive Overcrossing Improvement Project, and authorizing application requesting Measure A Highway Program Funding (grant from .05 cent SM county highway improvement taxes), report/resolution.
11.     Approve the 2016-17 City new developer mitigation annual fee report, (State AB 1600, Mitigation Fee Act, 1987), report.  a) City AB 1600 report 6/30/17, 11/22/17 revised.
Oral communications. Public; Council, Staff.  Consideration items, none. 

Public hearings
12.    Recology of the Coast contract franchise agreement (12/31/2022):  2018 rate adjustment, report, resolution. a) rate schedule, (6.66% rate increase over 2017).  b) Recycled tonnage 2017 (ROTC) interim 2017 report.  c) Notice of public hearing, 12/11/17.
13.   City council reorganization. a) Outgoing Mayor's remarks.  b) Presentation to the outgoing Mayor. c) Selection of new Mayor. d) selection of new Mayor Pro Tem. e) incoming Mayor's remarks.
14.    Adjournment followed by refreshments.     Note photograph from City Council, Mike O'Neill vote history. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh

Open the Shoreline Protection Process

By Mark Stechbart & Jim Wagner


After last Monday’s Council meeting confusion over protecting our neighborhoods from ocean flooding, it’s clear we are in for a long year-long slog.

After 5 years and innumerable reports, the California Coastal Commission authorized San Francisco to repair and reinforce the golf course sea wall. SF pays for the work, not Pacifica.

The City of Pacifica will be on the record with a letter to SF expressing the need and urgency to begin work on long deferred Sharp Park sea wall maintenance before the winter storms. All our neighborhoods north and south of the course will benefit from the protection.

The good news is common sense and rational practicality carried the day by a narrow 3-2 vote.

A great deal for Pacifica, right?  Well, we have two votes on the Council (and people in the audience) that don't have a concern for or see any urgency in the possibility of winter storms breaching the Sharp Park sea wall.

We actually have folks in this town who want to debate sea wall maintenance that protects our neighborhoods rather than act now to prepare for storms we know are on their way.

This curious wait and debate mentality leads us to raise a caution flag on the underlying process of shoreline protection planning. The devil is always in the details. The cure is complete open government as this very important process unfolds.

City Council has an Ad Hoc Meeting Group to discuss shoreline protection. They last met October 27 with no public notice or public participation.  This group discussed a) creating a technical work group; b) frequency and method of project updates to Council and the public; c) discuss community sensitivity regarding scenario/horizon recommendations… (what does that even mean??); d) future meeting schedule.

This Ad Hoc group is thought to be responsible for citizen appointments for a coastal planning advisory group which will meet three times through August 2018.

We raise these issues to mandate complete transparency and full community input. All coastal planning and shoreline protection meetings and advisory groups need to be fully noticed in the Tribune and the city website; videoed by community TV 26; full public testimony opportunities on all items and compete minutes. Just like city council and all affiliated city committee meetings.

Ad Hoc meeting minutes from October 27 are not available. The meeting was behind closed doors.

Let’s open this to the public. The nature of the Ad Hoc discussions are no different than a Council study session.

When citizen advisory applications are reviewed, let’s conduct a normal public interview process to evaluate applicants. The applications need to be posted on the city website.

All documents and committee emails must be a public record, just like Council’s are now.

In all meetings, the public gets 3 minutes to discuss items not specifically on the agenda and also on each discussion item before a decision is made by the committee. Again, copies Council’s practice since 1957.
This is the boring minutia of making government work for everyone in town. Some people may dismiss this as overboard. However, some people in town want to endlessly talk about the present ocean rise danger to our homes, businesses and Hwy 1, without any urgency to act. We think that’s overboard.

But at the end of day, City Council, open the currently closed doors. And please explain what “discuss community sensitivity regarding scenario/horizon recommendations” means. Does not sound good.

( Wagner and Stechbart are long term Pacifica residents active in the Pacifica Business and Community PAC supporting forward looking solutions to Pacifica issues)

*********************

this agenda contains the items I was complaining about in guest column...  last item indecipherable, rest significant with no detail...

www.fixpacifica.com/docs/LCPUpdate.pdf

 
 this is why ad hoc meetings need to be public and recorded...

***********************

Submitted by Mark Stechbart

Pacifica Tribune: Sharp Park Sea Wall OK'd Coastal Commission: Managed Retreat is Not Feasible

The headline in the 11-22-2017 Pacifica Tribune last week tells the story: "Sharp Park sea wall OK'd". I'd link to the story itself, but either they have not posted it on-line or I can't figure out how to find it. The article is a good summary of the recent California Coastal Commission decision granting a permit to the City of San Francisco to maintain and improve the Sharp Park sea wall. Some excerpts:

"The California Coastal Commission, recognizing the importance of the Sharp Park Sea Wall in protecting both Pacifica's historic golf course and the adjacent neighborhoods, has approved a permit to preserve and maintain the structure, including it's rip-rap armoring... 

Commission Chair Dayna Bochco... asked Commission staff what would be the likelihood of the surrounding neighborhoods being flooded without the protection of the sea wall. District Director Dan Carl said, "It's a 100 percent certainty if the berm wasn't there... you would open up a whole new can of worms with respect to Highway One and the residential neighborhoods surrounding the golf course"...  

The sea wall created a fresh-water habitat in the Laguna Salada and surrounding wetlands which are now home to two species protected under the EPA."

For anyone with a lick of common sense, this seemed an obvious outcome. You need only to look at what the Sharp Park sea wall protects:

The choice is simple - either maintain the sea wall, or play Russian roulette every winter waiting for an El Nino bullet to:

• Flood Pacifica neighborhoods
• Flood Highway One
• Salt poison the managed freshwater habitat of  Laguna Salada - home to the endangered California Red Legged Frog and San Francisco Garter Snake
• Flood the affordable recreational resource and important historic public golf course - Alister MacKenzie's Sharp Park masterpiece. 

The Coastal Commission decision was made, but San Francisco Rec & Park repair and reinforcing work of the sea wall is yet to begin. The consequences of a breach would be devastating to the community, endangered species, and Pacifica civic fiscal fortunes. To borrow a phrase: Winter is Coming.

We got lucky last year. The Pacific storm bullets are loaded in the chamber and the cylinder is spinning. Any Pacificans in favor of sea wall work starting before old man winter pulls the trigger might want to attend the Monday November 27 Pacifica City Council meeting and comment on Item 11:

"11.   Resolution supporting the City and County of San Francisco for Sharp Park Golf Course facility berm and maintenance repair and improvements, and incorporating flood mitigation, report, resolution."

It should be an easy decision - right?  Well, it should've been an easy decision for the Coastal Commission, yet 3 of the 12 Commissioners argued against granting the permit. The Pacifica City Council should send a strong, clear message to San Francisco stressing the importance and urgency of maintaining the berm now.

This is not a hypothetical concern. We know what will happen if  the sea wall is breached. We know because it happened before. The smaller un-reinforced berm that preceded the existing structure was over-topped by the 1982-83 El Nino storms. We know the population of endangered California Red-Legged frogs living in the managed fresh water Laguna Salada habitat was devastated by the berm failure. In a "My Turn" letter published in the same Pacifica Tribune edition cited earlier, Pacifica resident Robine Runneals explains exactly what happened to neighborhoods:

How Petaluma is cracking down on Air BNB and collecting revenue

They got an enforcer/contractor, "Host Compliance" who has made a booming business out of helping cities make money off AirBNB and VRBOs....Could "Host Compliance" help Pacifica?

http://www.petaluma360.com/news/7671624-181/contractor-to-enforce-petaluma-short-term

Submitted by Victor Spano

California should be able to reduce public employees’ pension benefits, Jerry Brown argues

Gov. Jerry Brown got most of what he wanted when he carried a proposal to shore up the state’s underfunded public employee pension plans by trimming benefits for new workers.

Five years later, he’s in court making an expansive case that government agencies should be able to adjust pension benefits for current workers, too.

A new brief his office filed in a union-backed challenge to Brown’s 2012 pension reform law argues that faith in government hinges in part on responsible management of retirement plans for public workers.

“At stake was the public’s trust in the government’s prudent use of limited taxpayer funds,” the brief reads, referring to the period when he advocated for pension changes during the recession.

While the brief targets a specific provision of the pension overhaul he championed, its arguments suggest he favors broader pension changes that affect current employees.

“It was as good as anything the lawyers we use could have written,” said Dan Pellissier, president of an advocacy group that that wants to reduce California pension obligations for public employees and retirees.

Read more...

Submitted by Mark Stechbart

City Council meeting Monday, November 27, 2017

Attend in person, 2212 Beach Boulevard, 2nd floor. Or view on local television or live feed Pacific Coast TV. If you missed meetings, view on PCT26 YouTube!  The city council meeting begins at 7 p.m., or shortly there following. City Council updates and archives are available on the City Council website.      Channel 26 television schedule, see Monday, 11/27/17. 

Interactive City Council agenda, 11/27/17.      City Council agenda, 11/27/17, pdf pages 194.

Open session, 7:00 p.m.  Call to order, roll call, salute to flag.  Closed Session: none; report none.  

Ah, no worries now until the next Holiday.
Otherwise what???  Happy Thanksgiving!

Special presentations:  1) Proclamation:  Veteran of the Year.  2) Special needs registry: Police Chief Steidle. 

Consent Calendar   
1.      Approval of financial disbursements (checks), FY 2017-18, report.  a) 10/1/17-10/31/17.
2.     Approval of Minutes, report.  a) 10/23/17.
3.     Amend the City wastewater maintenance ordinance, (adopting the discharge elimination program), second reading: a  CA Regional Water Quality Control Board 5/12/11 requirement, report. a) ordinance change.
4.    Adopt resolution requesting the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) allocate $55,000 matched Transportation Development Act (TDA) funding, FY 2017-18, for our City pedestrian/bicycle project, report/resolution. 
5.    Approval of Cotton Shires & Associates 400 Esplanade bluff infrastructure preservation project amendment, $54, 000, report.  a) agreement, b) site map.
6.    Approval of TESCO Controls, Inc.agreement: Sharp Park and Linda Mar Lift station PLC and communication system upgrade, $162,744, report.  a) agreement.
7.    Salary schedule (for part-time workers) update, 1/1/18, resolution: a) draft schedule. b) draft schedule, showing changes.
Oral communications. Public; Council, Staff. 

Public hearings
8.    Amend the City Municipal code to regulate zoning limiting the number of alternative financial service (AFS) businesses, and establish use permit requirements for operation of an AFS Business, (exempt from CEQA), from the City Planning Commission: introduce, waive the first reading, report.
a)  proposed ordinance.  b) PC report, 11/6/17.  c) PC resolution. d) draft PC Minutes 11/6/17. e) written public comments. 
9.   Approve use permit and site development permit amendments for the equalization basin and associated structures, 540 Crespi Drive, report/resolution.  a) Mitigated Negative Declaration (time of day limits), b) use permit (soil hauling).
Consideration
10.   Letter regarding investigations of the President of the United States, report.  a) City Council Minutes, 10/23/17.  Letter to Congresswoman Speier: b) Draft letter version 1. c) Draft letter version 2.
11.   Resolution supporting the City and County of San Francisco for Sharp Park Golf Course facility berm and maintenance repair and improvements, and incorporating flood mitigation, report, resolution.  a) Letter to the Coastal Commission, 11/7/17.
12.   Consider increasing membership of the Emergency Preparedness and Safety Commission, and amend the City Ordinance to do that, report/draft ordinance.
13.   View of quarterly Investment Report, 9/30/17, report. a) COP reconciliation report, 9/30/17.
Adjourn. 
Note graphic from Daily Do Good, 11/17/15, "Put the giving into Thanksgiving... 5. Adopt a Turkey!"

Posted by Kathy Meeh

Planning Commission meeting Monday, November 20, 2017

Attend in person, 2212 Beach Boulevard, 2nd floor.  Or, view on local television or live feed Pacificcoast.TV, (formerly pct26.com).  If you miss civic meetings, view on PCT 26 You Tube!  The planning commission meeting begins at 7 p.m., or shortly there following.  Planning Commission updates, archives are available on the City website: City Council Agendas, and City Planning Commission.  Channel 26 television schedule, see Monday, 11/20/17.  

 

Interactive Planning Commission Agenda, 11/20/17.   Planning Commission Agenda, 11/20/17, pdf pages 266.

Open Session, 7:00 p.m.  Administrative:  Approval of Minutes, none.  Designation of liaison to City Council, Dan Stegink:  Alternative Financial Institution Ordinance.  Consent items, none.

Communications:  Public oral.

Item 1.  439 Harvey Way

New Public Hearings 

1.  UP-84-17, PE-175-17: 439 Harvey Way (APN 022-031-190), Rockaway Beach area.  Conversion of an existing non-conforming single-family residence to a conforming commercial veterinary clinic ground floor, with an apartment unit second floor, report.  a)  Land Use and Zoning.  b)  Draft Resolution.  c) Project plans  d) Residential dwelling revision.

2.   GPA-93, RZ-195-16, SUB-234-16: vacant lot, 500 feet west of the intersection of San Pedro Terrace Road and Peralta Road (APN-023-075-050), Linda Mar area northwest of Linda Mar Rehabilitation facility. Subdivide 2.42-acre lot into 6 lots for future single family residential development.  General Plan reclassification: land use from high density residential to low density residential; and, zoning from C-3 (service commercial) to R-1 single family residential, report.  a) Draft Resolution/Ordinance/Conditions of Approval.  b) Land Use and Zoning. c) Tentative Subdivision Map.  d)  Study Session report, 7/16/07.  e) Study Session report 5/5/08.  f) Arborist report.  g) Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND), initial study.  h) Compliance monitoring report - San Pedro Creek, 2007.  i) Pacifica - IS/MND Response to Comments. 

Communications:  Planning Commission, Staff, Adjourn. 
------------------------------  

Notes.  Item 1: 439 Harvey Way location see Google map; site photograph above from Zillow.  Item 2: vacant lot, APN 023-075-050, San Pedro Terrace Road, see Loopnet listing, includes Google map. 

Reference, development/planning acronyms.  APN, Assessor's parcel number.  CDP, Coastal Development permit. CZ, (Coastal Zone Combining) zoning districts. DP, development. GPA, General Plan Amendment.  LDR, low density residential.  PE, Parking Exception. PSD, Site Development permit. PV, Variance. S, Sign permit. SP, Specific Plan. RIA, Rent Increase Application.  SUB Subdivision. TA, text amendment (ordinance). UP, Use permit.  Zoning. California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).  CA CEQA Guidelines, Article 19, Categorical Exemptions: Class 1 categorical exemption, section 15301. Freestanding single-family residences set-back and parking, C-1, neighborhood commercial. C-3, Service Commercial.  R1, single-family residential, Reference.com. S, City of Pacifica Sign ordinance.  CA code, accessory (second residential) dwelling units, 65852.2.  Zoning/Planning Handouts, City of Pacifica.  RZ, rezoning. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh