The annual election of candidates for the Ocean Beach Planning Board is coming up. The election will be held March 9th at the OB Rec Center. There are vacancies in each of the 7 Districts that make up OB.
OB Planning Board in action, August 5, 2009. Photo: Frank Gormlie
The OB Planning Board – the grandparent of all planning boards and committees – is the official advisory body to the City of San Diego and the San Diego Planning Commission. It has jurisdiction over construction projects and planning issues within Ocean Beach, and is mandated to require such projects to conform to the OB Precise Plan – the planning outline for the community.
The establishment of OB’s Board was the result of years of trials and tribulations of community residents back in the early and mid-1970s. The Board was brought into existence when local citizens and small businesses responded to the urban planning crisis that faced OB in the early seventies. And it was the first of its kind – it was the very first democratically-elected community planning committee not only in San Diego but the entire State of California.
Check the accompanying District Map to see where you live.
Here are some details:
The Planning Board will conduct its election on Tuesday, March 9 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center, 4726 Santa Monica Ave.
Candidate petitions may be obtained from the OBPB or by e-mailing obpbelections@yahoo.com. All candidate nomination petitions must be submitted by February 14.
Candidates must present to the board a nominating petition signed by at least 35 electors of the OBPB district in which he or she desires to run, must be at least 18 years old and meet at least one of the following criteria:
• Has been a resident of the OBPB district for at least 30 consecutive days.
• Is the owner of real property situated in the district for at least 30 consecutive days.
• Is a business person with a business address in the district at which employees or operators of the business are located for more than 30 days.
In addition, any candidate must have attended at least one general meeting before they are eligible to run. The next general meeting is scheduled for February 3rd, and then for March 3rd. (It is unclear as of this writing whether the March 3rd meeting qualifies a potential candidate. Please contact the Board for questions here.)
Voters may also place advisory propositions upon the election ballot by submitting a “qualified” proposition petition at a board meeting.
To be qualified, the proposition must be verified by the OBPB secretary as having been signed by 225 electors within the Ocean Beach planning area.
The Ocean Beach planning area is bound to the east and south by the middle of Seaside Street from Nimitz Boulevard to Greene Street, the middle of Greene Street from Seaside Street to Froude Street, the middle of Froude Street from Greene Street to Adair Street, the middle of Adair Street from Froude Street to the Pacific Ocean and extending seaward to the city limits.
Copies of the map of the planning area are available at www.oceanbeachpb.com. For information, call (619) 224-1280 or e-mail thomasgawronski@att.net.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This was sent to us:
Here’s my big question: Where are all the young people who were so excited about Obama’s election? It would be easy enough for me to decry the threat of perceived pro-developer interests on the Board in and OB, but I really have no basis for doing so beyond my fearful hunches, and I am not sure that is the best way to get traction regardless.
One of our Board members was recently elected on a wave of young voters in OB, and it was something to see. That nascent political energy is what I would want tap into as the best way to help OB moving forward. Where is their Frank Gormlie?
I would just like to give them a love tap to the back of the head and tell them that freedom isn’t free. OB is what it is today because the community fought for it tooth and nail for a 40 year period. And now it is their turn, to do so however they see fit.
You wanted to change the world? Then do it. You don’t need to go to Kabul to serve, you can do it right here in OB.
I noticed in the photo a suit and tie are not required, that is good because I do not own one, nor ever care to. Just wonder if a old writer, poet, standup comic who considers OB my last home town, could help keep OB the way everyone I have met since I moved here 4 years ago wants it to stay. I am sure willing to give it a shot.