The Ocean Beach Town Council will be hosting a Candidate Forum for OB Planning Board candidates and then during the same meeting, the Council will sponsor a public discussion on the homeless.
This logistically challenging event will be on February 24th, at the Town Council’s monthly meeting. It will be held at the Masonic Temple, located at 1711 Sunset Cliffs Boulevard.
Jim Musgrove, Council Chair will call the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Then there will be the secretary and treasurer reports, plus City ,county and state reps updates. It is estimated that the OBPB candidates forum would begin around 7:30.
Once that is over, there will be a discussion on the homeless situation in Ocean Beach. Groups who wish to offer some sort of presentation are asked to inform the Town Council in a timely manner (the 3 week rule will not be enforced.)
Here is a link to the OBTC website.
The OB Planning Board is holding its annual election on March 9th at the OB Rec Center.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Funny, but if I read my calendar properly, the meeting will be held on Wednesday, the same day as the Farmers Market. Somehow, it seems to me that there’d be a lot more participation on a Tuesday prior to or a Thursday following. Or is it just me?
Well finally….let’s get these people out in the open and really ask some hard questions.
1. What is your platform?
2. Where do you stand on the issues?
3. Do you support the tazoring of naked swimmer frat boy guy?
So WHO is leading the forum? Is it open for questions from the audience or is there going to be a mediator or what? Should the quaint little people of the hamlet wish to attend should they leave their torches and pitchforks at home?
its an OB Town Council meeting. They have adjusted their normal agenda setting procedures to include a forum on homelessness, due to the community’s interest in the issue. You need to contact the OBTC if you would like to speak at the meeting. As per the post above, this is not an OB Rag forum and as such, most of your questions can only be answered by Town Council folks. Please re-read the post.
um Lisa ?
can you really be serious? the questions you want answered should be directed to the OB Town Council, not the OB Planning Board!
maybe you need to read the article, then take a deep breath and read it again!
& weren’t you on the OBTC at one time?
Dear live- “Please B-Kine to our little trolls-The planning board is the proper venue for addressing these issue (planning and land use)-Lisanob has indicated that she will come to the meeting which displays more courage than I’ve seen from others who prefer to hide behind a keyboard or the mask of ‘private citizen'”-Nadir Raydr
From the posts….It would appear that the Town Council is hosting a candidate forum for the upcoming Planning Board elections.
Forgive ME….if I mistook that.
The Planning Board has pervue over all issues land use and development and can include all issues covered by the City of SD Gen Plan or the OB Precise Plan….which is a pretty wide range of issues.
Might not cover tazoring drunk naked frat boys though.
I have never been on the OBTC and you guys creep me out when you ask for my address…what I do…etc.
….also…..
Almost forgot.
Did I miss it…….where were the results of the poll that was running on this because the last I saw it….the opinion was running dead even on whether or not the community was in support of these transient youth.
Oh, right, that’s because we were busy working on a new poll question:
Would you attend a town hall meeting on whether LisanOB’s smarmy-ass is good for the community?
-Yes I would attend the meeting
-Lisanob is giving OB a bad reputation
-Lisanob is a good for nothing troll
-Lisanob is my hero (but so is a ham sandwich)
Actually, I have no idea. Frank? Did you get poll results for that last one? If I recall, there was a dead heat not over ‘support’ of the youths, but over people who would attend the meeting and people who wanted to kick all the bums out and live in a fantasy world where homeless people don’t exist. Because if you don’t see them, they’re not really there….. Which is how I should probably treat lisa-nob
Jon….it’s interesting how you tout yourself as progressive and tolerant….yet just because your name is posted on the side of website as a “once-in-a-while” amateur writer, you feel entitled to lambast myself or basically anyone (true troll or not) who offers a slightly different view. I’ve offered my slightly different views for quite some time on this website and also offered legitimate content (vice some of the regular sensationalized drivel designed to boost up hits and obviously adverstising dollars — check out the growing logos to the right if you don’t agree) and yet you are never delayed in attacking my differing view.
It should be clear here that it is YOU that is attacking ME personally and not even adding relevant content to the discussion. How does that support your tolerant and progressive self-righteous facade now?
Per the rules of the website (of which you are expressly connected as poster or author) this site is not to be used in that manner.
I find you hypocritical and downright cowardly.
Nice stache though…..hope to see you at the meeting for once…..since I’ve never seen you there before!!!!!!
Uh, Lisa? “… the quaint little people of the hamlet wish to attend should they leave their torches and pitchforks at home?” And now you’re putting jon down because he responded to you “personally”? You just put our entire community down – and you’re complaining that jon came to the community’s defense. Nice try.
Oh please. Every time you pop up on this message board you chastise the blog and the community you live in, and the moment someone dishes back at you (with humor even!) you cry victim?? Spare me.
Glad you like the stache at least. I get lots of compliments on it.
STASH? JON DONT KNEED A FREAKIN’ STASH? :>{P
“the regular sensationalized drivel designed to boost up hits and obviously adverstising dollars —” Damn! Wish I had thought of that.
And thanks for the prop to our advertisers:” check out the growing logos to the right”
My personal recommendation of things to bring to the meeting:
1) Tolerance.
2) Acceptance of views other then your own.
3) Unconditional love and respect for all other living beings.
4) A message of tolerance and a wish to respect human rights of ALL who call our community “home.”
5) Ideas on how to provide shelter and restrooms for homeless.
6) Realization that the money the homeless get panhandling goes right back into our local economy. Now how’s that for full circle!
7) Understanding that every other community in America is seeing an increase of homeless due to the economy. We are not alone!
Leave the pitchforks, fire and lynch mob mentality at home. Bring peace, love and an open mind!!!!
I sure hope the travlers that are in Ocean Beach show up for this meeting. It will be insightful to hear the perspective they have. I hope they come in force to hear the thoughts of Ocean Beach.
Right Frank….I am one of the quaint people in the hamlet as well. Way to come to your co-author’s aid in blind defense even though it isn’t even a cut on OB. Would you rather be a metropolis? A city-state? Whatever…I don’t know why you guys are so sensitive. Quit crying and get busy getting a good list of questions together.
Jon — “pop up”? I consistently comment on land use and community planning issues because it is what I do for the City. So….don’t call it a come back…I been here for years (that is LL Cool J fo ya).
Here we go again — since you guys are busy defending your uber-corporate blog:
1. Density….. Pro density versus Smart Growth in reduction of carbon footprint
–Variances for affordable housing and density as well
2. Paid parking in order to reduce street vehicles and encourage garage use — Parking variances for density building and affordable building
3. Reduction or variance in development impact fee
4. 30′ height limit — do we still need it? hahhaha I’m sure that will get some comments (not even trolling there)
5. Variance of height limit to add solar or wind energy sources
6. FAR variances (why does OB have an asterisk next to its FAR in the Municipal Code)
7. How to improve commercial business opportunities that support professional firms – or businesses that we need in OB
8. How to improve mass transit — reduce vehicular carbon footprint — bring light rail to OB
9. Urban farming – community gardens – green roofs
10. Builder’s Rights vs. “community character”
11. Where is our new Precise Plan and Public Facilities Financing Plan?????????
12. Exemption of Historical Reviews for properties clearly not maintained
I’ll let you debate on which side of any of these that I stand….but that is irrelevant. We BOTH want to know where the candidates stand. We simply just want to know in order to vote for the candidates that we support our desires the best.
AND……
Can we agree that the town council won’t possibly be a fair moderator of this event at all…..can we get someone in there that will ask some tough questions?
Jon/Frank — Might want to read Cindi’s rules….1 through 4 at least. YES…conservatives and republicans live in OB…. Hey, OB might even be a red Hamlet! Ha ha! I’m bringin’ my pitchfork!
those are certainly all important issues. I look forward to hearing some of the candidates’ answers to these and other questions.
Lisa, good questions. As someone who serves on the Board and who may or may not run again, I will answer some of these as a private citizen right now. First, a quick clarification about our role in the process. We are not charged with writing code or determining funding and certainly not whether large-scale transportation projects take place. Our role is to give a voice to the community on land use and development issues and to make recommendations in an advisory capacity to the City on specific projects or land use issues. We operate according to our own Precise Plan, first and foremost, which is in the process of being updated. We are not there to enforce zoning so much as we are another set of eyes on it. I mention this because a lot of your questions, however interesting, are actually more related to other entities within the planning process.
For instance, we are not in charge of density. It is the City’s General Plan and Zoning Ordinance that determine population density and distribution within Ocean Beach. The City projects that we will grow from about 14k to 15k over the next 20 years or so. With that in mind…
* That’s not going to support light rail. I am a big public transportation guy, but that would not be cost-effective in any way, shape or form. Ideally, I’d like to see more bus transit over time, specifically to downtown via the highways.
* Many within OB have worked hard on the Precise Plan update. This is an imperative in order for the community to have a voice in land use and development issues. I can’t comment to much on a draft document, but I have read it and approve of the goals outlined in it. Many of them speak directly to the issues you have raised. The biggest obstacle to it being adopted, as far as I understand it, is that it requires an EIR. City reps have informed that $250k exists in the current City budget for this purpose. We shall see. For now, we are left with a rather outdated document that leaves us making tepid arguments against “bulk and scale”, as you have pointed out in past posts.
* If retaining the 30-foot height limit were up to me alone, I would support it. There are very desirable levels of density, traffic and walkability in Ocean Beach, and the height limit is in my opinion a crucial component to maintaining them.
* The big one you posed is “community character” vs property rights. That is an argument that speaks to the core of urban planning itself. I can tell you this… an overwhelming majority of people in OB place a very high premium on retaining the community character that exists here. I have voted against several projects for this reason, and I would not wish to see OB gentrified and condo-fied to the point where we lose the essence of what this place is. But it is a case-by-case basis and that argument does not always apply. Property owners, be they residential or commercial, are also very much a part of the “community”. I have voted in favor of some projects (one of them may or may not have been at Saratoga and Abbott) where I do not believe that a legitimate case was made for why the property owner’s rights needed to be restricted. Long story short, while I lean strongly towards preserving the community character of OB, I will look at all of the evidence and do my best to give each applicant a fair shake based on what our Precise Plan and bylaws say. Overall, I feel it is important to mention that the process generally works best when community stakeholders are working together to find win-wins and mutual interests.
Other quick hits… paid street parking no, affordable housing maybe (have voted consistently to approve what can be referred to as affordable housing stock, could hypothetically vote in favor of the traditional kind on a small scale if I saw the actual project, though not exactly sure how it would fit here), urban farming is approximated pretty well by the farmers market, big yes to green building and would hypothetically grant variances (but prefer incentivizing over mandating when it comes to residential properties), strongly support historical preservation when applicable and not interested in rewarding people for not maintaining their properties….
Lastly, you have mentioned carbon footprinting a few times. I was fortunate enough to study with the guy who originally developed the concept of measuring our environmental impact in terms of a “footprint”, which I mention less to be a showoff and more to illustrate that it is a concept not lost on me. To that effect, I say look around at OB. It is a very low-impact community. You have people who shop locally, who travel around by foot, beach cruiser or longboard, who live in smaller living spaces, driving smaller cars and who are just generally not participating as much in the unsustainable lifestyle that so many other Americans do.
There’s stuff that can be done around the margins (increased bus transit), but generally speaking, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Lisanob-Thanks for reducing your opinions to writing especially the ones regarding community planning. Would that we get away from the petty personal argruments and begin focusing on issues and matters of principle. Now we have an idea about the foundation for your presentations on the blog. Look forward to meeting you. Danny
p.s. Thanks Seth for your response.I’m gonna for one from the candidates for dist. 1 OBPB|:>p