By Tony de Garate / Special to the OB Rag
Six members of the Peninsula Community Planning Board (PCPB) were selected by voters in annual elections held March 20 at the Point Loma/Hervey Library.
Two incumbents – Peter Nystrom and Paul Webb – were returned to office for three-year terms. Voters also elected three newcomers:
- David Dick, the top vote-getter among all 10 candidates;
- Don Sevrens;
- and Jon Linney.
Incumbent Mike Ryan, who serves as the board’s first vice chair, tied for fifth with Linney and agreed to complete the one year remaining on an existing vacant position.
The final vote totals of the six winners were:
- Dick, 170;
- Sevrens, 94;
- Webb, 94;
- Nystrom, 89;
- Linney, 77;
- and Ryan, 77.
There were four runners-up:
- John Dodge, 67 votes;
- Robert Goldyn, 66;
- Eric Mironowski, 28;
- and Timothy Sneeden, 21.
In addition, write-in votes were cast for six other names. Norm Allenby and Shannon Osborne, the other two incumbents whose terms expired, chose not to seek re-election.
The six winners will join the other nine members and be installed at the board’s next regular meeting on April 17 at 6:30 p.m. The board will then elect officers and committee assignments for one-year terms.
The seven square miles that comprise the Peninsula Community Planning Area abut Ocean Beach and include these neighborhoods:
- Ocean Beach Highlands,
- Point Loma Highlands,
- Loma Alta,
- Loma Palisades,
- Loma Portal,
- Fleetridge,
- Roseville,
- Sunset Cliffs,
- Wooded Area,
- La Playa,
- Roseville
- and the former Naval Training Center renamed Liberty Station.
In contrast to the Ocean Beach Planning Board elections, the Peninsula planning area is not divided into districts; all successful candidates serve at-large. The PCPB is one of the city’s 40-plus planning boards that have been sanctioned by the City Council to make recommendations on land-use and quality-of-life issues.
While the polls were still open (voting continued until 8 p.m.), the regular meeting began at 6:30 p.m. Here are the highlights.
‘Monster House’ draws protest
The “Monster House” – that’s the uncomplimentary term some neighbors use to describe a structure in the 1600 block of Plum Street where a remodel has been incomplete for some six years. It’s time to consider criminal action against the owner, according to Jerry Lohla, a resident of nearby Lowell Street.
Lohla alleged the owner has failed to comply with a city-issued Notice of Violation. He said he’s gathered more than 100 signatures protesting the house and will return next month to ask for the board’s formal support.
Pipeline repair and Rosecrans Street traffic
Proposed repairs to the aging, 17-mile fuel pipeline that runs between Naval Base Point Loma and Marine Corp Air Station Miramar could carry some bad traffic consequences. La Playa resident Jim Gilhooly, a long-time critic of the way the pipeline has been maintained, warned of traffic snarls that could result when a portion of of the pipeline is relocated to Rosecrans.
“We have gridlock already, just imagine what’s going to happen once they dig it up,” Gilhooly said.
The Navy is scheduled to release an Environment Impact Report in a few weeks, he added.
Two places to meet up for CycloSDias
Nicole Burgess, board member and bicycle activist, invited interested cyclists to meet up for CyclosDias, the city’s second open-streets celebration that will be held in Pacific Beach March 30 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. along Garnet Avenue and Cass Street.
The first meet-up spot will be the Hervey/Point Loma library, 3701 Voltaire St., at 9:15 a.m. The group will travel to the second spot, the Robb Field Skate Park, and a “parade of bikes” will leave for Pacific Beach at 9:45 a.m., Burgess said.
Drunks and vandals to clean up marshmallows?
Low-level offenders would be allowed to perform community service and earn a dismissal of charges under a plan being developed by the City Attorney’s office. It’s called a community court, and it would reduce much of the stress on the criminal justice system, said Howard Gess, neighborhood prosecutor for the office’s Western Division.
He said the program would be patterned after similar programs in Washington state, San Francisco and Los Angeles and should be in place by year’s end. It would be for people caught doing graffiti or being drunk in public – not DUIs or domestic violence, Gess said. Asked for an example of the type of service that could be performed, Gess suggested cleaning up marshmallow gunk the morning after Fourth of July celebrations in OB.
‘Mysterious shadows’ denounced
One person’s green technology is another person’s eyesore.
Several residents denounced a plan by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority to replace noise monitoring poles at three locations:
- the cul-de-sac at Quimby and Plum streets,
- 1625 Froude St., and
- the 3500 block of Browning Street in front of Loma Portal Elementary school.
The authority plans to replace aging wooden poles with metal ones and install 4 ½-foot-by-5-foot solar panels to provide power. But Jay Shumaker, who chairs the board’s Project Review Committee, charged the design was flawed and the panels cast “mysterious shadows.” The board voted in support of the plan but only if the poles were wired to the grid for power, eliminating the solar panels. Sjohnna Knack, program manager of Airport Noise Mitigation, said the authority would abide by the vote.
Street vacation OK’d
The board voted 7-3-1 in support of vacating an unused right-of-way on Plum Street near a property owner in the 3300 block of Cañon Street.
The right-of-way abuts a site envisioned as a pocket park in city plans. Half of the property will go to the property owner, the other half to the city. The property owner said the vacation would allow him to maintain landscaping and he doesn’t plan to build on it. Some board members argued the entire right-of-way should be used for park purposes. But Mark Brencick, architect for the property owner, said the city can’t legally include the right-of-way in a future park unless it’s vacated.
Simon says put me in Congress
Fred Simon, Republican candidate for the 52nd Congressional District currently held by first-term Democrat Scott Peters, introduced himself. Simon, a former Point Loma resident who lives in Coronado, described himself as a former trauma surgeon and director at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla and owner of a health care business. Congress needs people who “are more qualified to look at budgets and the finances of this country,” he said. “I believe in empowerment, but not entitlement. The No. 1 thing I’ll be focused on is returning the money to the communities.”
Coons asks for support in City Council quest
Bruce Coons, PCPB member and14-year executive director of Save Our Heritage Organization, asked supporters to contact members of the City Council and endorse his application to serve out the final eight months of the term of the District 2 position, which includes the beach areas and Peninsula. (The position became vacant with the election of former City Councilman Kevin Faulconer to mayor.)
Coons said he moved to Point Loma at the age of 3, met his wife 39 years ago in Ocean Beach, and resides in a historic home in Loma Portal. He said he’s running because the interests of residents have too often been pushed aside. “Since I’ve been here in ’58, I’ve seen constant onslaughts on the quality of life.” He said the question he will always ask when business comes before the council is: What will it do to improve beaches, transportation, parks, good wages and small businesses.
Tracy Cambre, interim representative for District 2, said the City Council will take two days (April 14-15) to select among the 19 applicants.
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