The Peninsula Community Planning Board (PCPB) held its annual Candidate Forum on Thursday, March 5, 2015, at the Pt. Loma Library. Their elections will be held on Thursday, March 19 from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. also at the library.
As with the Ocean Beach Community Planning Board, the PCPB holds a Candidate Forum a few weeks before the annual March election to give the community an opportunity to meet the people running for the open seats and ask questions. And, as with OB’s forum and as happens with the PCPB every year, the event was sparsely attended.
Sparsely is actually a generous description – there were five members of the public in attendance despite announcements in the Beacon, the OB Rag, on the PCPB website and various email blasts. Three current PCPB members attended, not including the three incumbents running for another term.
The forum is conducted with the candidates sitting at the front table answering questions first put to them by the PCPB members after which members of the public could ask questions.
There are nine candidates running for five three-year terms and one term of one year to complete that of a member who had to resign before finishing the third year of his term. The following is a brief description of the candidates; candidate applications can be viewed on the PCPB website pcpb.net.
Amanda Behnke – Ms. Behnke us new to the PCPB and is an architect by profession.
Julia Quinn – Ms. Quinn has been the PCPB Chair for the last year. She has a background in land use and environmental planning and is recently retired from the County of San Diego.
Bruce Coons – Mr. Coons is also an incumbent and is well known as the Executive Director of the Save Our Heritage Organization.
Don Costello – Mr. Costello is a San Diego Fire-Rescue Estimator for the City of San Diego and has worked for the City for 35 years in various capacities.
Mark Krencik – Mr. Krencik is the third sitting incumbent and is also an architect. He currently chairs the PCPB’s Project Review subcommittee.
Mark Goldyn – Mr. Goldyn is also an architect who specializes in green building.
Eileen Brennan – Ms. Brennan is a former reporter for local TV stations and served as press secretary for former mayor Jerry Sanders.
James Hare – Mr. Hare is a retired city planner having worked for various cities including San Diego and Chula Vista.
Geoff Page – Mr. Page is a former PCPB member having served two terms and twice as board chair for two six month periods. He is a construction professional having spent his career here in San Diego.
There was another candidate, incumbent Mike Ryan, who decided at the forum that there were sufficient good candidates for the election and graciously bowed out. Mr. Ryan has been active in a number of community endeavors and was one of the main people responsible for the creation of the Robb Field Skate Park. Mike was recently appointed to the Cabrillo National Monument Foundation, which is where he will concentrate his efforts.
Questions to the candidates from PCPB members included such as their motivation for running and their expectations, the biggest issues facing Pt. Loma, and surprisingly, this question:
What does the recent City Council decision on One Paseo mean for Pt. Loma?
Even though it caught everyone by surprise – as the One Paseo project is up in Carmel Valley – the candidates had answers. The biggest lesson appeared to be the message that the City sent the planning boards when it voted to approve the project over the objections of four planning groups.
There were a few other comments worth noting. Mr. Krencik suggested creation of a Code Enforcement subcommittee to monitor code violations and report them to the City’s Code Enforcement Department.
Mr. Coons talked about working on the land use code to see if a provision could be made to prevent total blocking of private views, which are not protected at this time. This is a major source of complaints on projects the PCPB reviews.
Ms. Quinn mentioned that the 30-foot height limit is being assaulted by the City’s new interpretation of how to measure height and that action was needed to prevent more of that.
The few members of the public did ask questions. The first question was about how the PCPB obtains community input, how do they know what the community wants. It was pointed out that the PCPB has a website and regularly places announcements in the Beacon. It was also pointed out that the board members represent a sampling of the community and probably know what the community wants because they are members of the community.
Another community member asked if the PCPB would be willing to diligently pursue amendments to the Peninsula Community Plan. The Plan is outdated having been created in the late eighties but the City has said there is not money for an update, leaving only amendments as the present recourse. The candidates expressed a willingness to do so.
The last public question was about traffic and whether or not the PCPB could address that. Mr. Costello had one idea, trying to get the Navy to shuttle people into the Submarine Base to cut down on the number of cars that traverse Rosecrans every day.
Remember, the PCPB elections will be held on Thursday, March 19 from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Pt Loma Library. Eligible voters need to bring ID that identifies them as residents of Pt. Loma or something that shows they own land or operate a business within the PCPB boundaries. The only other requirement to vote is that a person be at least 18 years of age. The PCPB encourages everyone to get out and vote because the planning board represents the community for the City.
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