Ocean Beach Planning Board Sept 5th: Pedestrian Master Plan, Sunset Cliffs Traffic Calming and Rehab on Pescadero

The Giddings’ residence at 4662 Pescadero.

Here is the Agenda for the Wednesday night meeting of the OB Planning Board. It meets at the OB Recreation Center, at 4726 Santa Monica Avenue – usually the meeting starts promptly at 6pm.

The main items on the Board’s agenda appear to be:

• a presentation by Gary Pence, Senior Traffic engineer on the process of selecting stop sign placements, and an update on what’s being called “the Sunset Cliffs Boulevard Traffic-Calming Study”.  The Board has been subject to a request by an Ocean Beach resident to install a stop sign at Bacon and Saratoga due to the high incidence of accidents there.

• an overview of the Ocean Beach Pedestrian Master Plan by consultants, where the study area for OB will be illustrated.  This was raised as an on-going issue at the August 1 meeting. Ocean Beach has been waiting for the street’s safety improvements (including a cross walk) for three years.

• a vote to deny or approve the walls in the public right of way for an existing single family residence being built on the Giddings’ residence at 4662 Pescadero.

Here is what our reporter, Brenda McFarlane, stated in her report of the August 1 Project Review Committee of the Board:

The owner is seeking a Neighborhood Development Permit for walls in the public right of way for an existing single family residence. The problems faced by the Board included;

1. The encroachment of a wall was there when the current residence took over ownership of the property in 1987 from a family member. The wall was there in 1972. No record of a permit was available at the city.
2. The owner hired a contractor who not only refaced the existing non-permitted wall but built an entry way that could be described as a wall, columns, a fortress or a fence, depending on the describer. The contractor never informed the owner that a permit would be needed.
3.  The owner claims that the new additions were necessary to her safety and well being. Additionally, she cited her handicapped status as mitigating reasons for the additions. She had two neighbors attest to the issues they’ve all had to deal with regarding homeless people and neighborly parking nuisances.

The Board, as a whole seemed to agree that they were willing to look past the issue of the unpermitted pre-existing encroachment on the property but were not willing to grant a variance for the “columns” that were added by the owner.  Several board members cited the Precise Plan which is clear on wanting  a community of homes that invite pedestrians in, not keep them out.  As one board member noted, the edifice in place didn’t exactly encourage trick or treating.  Another member noted that while the work was good, it looked like it would belong in Rancho Bernardo, not Ocean Beach. A representative, presumably an architect of the owner, requested that the board put off making any final decision regarding the issue until he had a chance to get the city’s response and  come up with an alternative plan.  The Board agreed.