In a “semi-breaking” news flash, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer has come out and publicly endorsed the current OB Community Plan – the Plan that is being supported by every group in the community and thousands of its residents.
The U-T reported today – July 22 – that “Faulconer er said through a spokesman this week that he prefers reverting back to the previous version of the plan, which strongly discourages city officials from allowing exceptions to the community’s strict density limits.”
(The reference to the “previous version of the plan” is slightly incorrect; Faulconer is referring here to the CURRENT OB Community plan that has just been updated by City staff.)
In making this endorsement, Mayor Faulconer explicitly rejected the recommendations made by the San Diego Planning Commission, which voted to delete key language in OB’s plan that has allowed the village community to restrict building development, particularly bulk and scale. The language the Planning Commission wanted to delete refers to the “floor-area-ratio” a planning tools that OB has been using for nearly four decades to curtail over-development.
In an otherwise right on article by David Garrick, the lede paragraph states that the mayor “has endorsed a controversial community plan …” This is not true. The OB Community Plan is the plan that the Planning Board for Ocean Beach has been using since 1976. One can hardly call it “controversial”. Yes, apparently, it is controversial among the 7 members of the Planning Commission. And it is controversial to the small group of property owners on West Pt Loma Avenue who have been obtaining improper variances over the last four years.
There is a controversy – started by the Planning Commission. But the Plan itself is not controversial.
After a 12-year update process, the plan now is scheduled to go before the City Council on Tuesday, July 29th.
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See, nobody is all bad; even Faulconer gets it right occasionally. Does this mean he learned something from the controversy and debacle over the Barrio Logan plan?
This was Faulconer’s District as a City council member just a short time ago. If Faulconer really is supporting OB’s position, why is he speaking through a spokesperson? And the language said he “prefers” what OB wants. This does not sound like a strong endorsement to me, it sounds more like a way to curry favor with the community than anything else. Has Faulconer sent a recommendation to the Council?
The City Council just recently, for the first time in a long, long time, sided with an appeal of a project in Pt. Loma that the Planning Commission passed despite the Peninsula Community Planning Board denying the project. And the Council sided with the appellants eight to one if I heard the vote correctly. Does Faluconer already know the outcome of the OB appeal and is again jumping on a bandwagon? Seems to me a stronger endorsement from the mayor himself would be more deserving of praise than what has happened so far.
Cool – we’ll see…
Editor Dude: What’s the signature count update?!?!?!!!!?
Over 3700 !
Great news!
Ed.;
So what is that monstrosity north of the Lifeguard Tower?
WD Southwell