Chair John Ambert to Step Down
When the Ocean Beach Planning Board met last Wednesday, Feb. 7th, they approved 2 projects, one at 4664 Adair Street and the other one a two, 3-story house project on Bermuda (see separate post here), had a presentation by Geoff Page regarding the 30 foot height limit (see separate post here), created a sub-committee on transportation and set the ball rolling for their annual election coming up in March.
Drawing for proposed 4664 Adair project.
Adair Project
The owner gave a brief presentation on his application for a coastal development permit to demolish an existing residence and detached garage at 4664 Adair, and to build in its stead, a 2-story with attached garage. Mickey, the applicant owns the property, designed the new house and will direct its construction. Plus he and his family plan to live there. “For me,” he said, “my wife and 2 kids.”
During the Board discussion on the project, it was brought up that it meets or is below the FAR (floor-area-ratio) and height limit. The neighbors’ views are protected, and the unique style was noted by a few. South of Point Loma Ave – which this is – one Board member said, the neighborhood is more open to eclectic designs. Several gave the owner props for being a resident-builder.
A motion to approve the project was made, with language encouraging the owner to install solar and to deal with stormwater drainage, an issue in the immediate area. It passed unanimously.
Election Set – Ambert Leaving
The Board reviewed materials for the March 7th annual election to the Board. The voting will take place from 4 to 7pm on Wednesday, the 7th, and the regular monthly Board meeting will take place that evening beginning at 6pm to 8pm. Of the 14 seats on the Board, 7 are up for grabs, as per the Board’s bylaws. OB has 7 planning districts and each district has 2 representatives on the Board. The date, map and applications were all approved. (For more info, go to the OB Planning Bd website here.)
Current Chair John Ambert announced that he was stepping down from being chair and from the Board itself. He urged his fellow Board members to consider taking on the necessary chair responsibilities, adding, “it’s not for the meek.” John has been chair for at least 2 years, and has been on the Board double that.
Members of audience look at documents and drawings, during a break in the discussions. Feb. 7, 2018
It’s not clear at this point, just which incumbents will run for their seats, although Craig Klein indicated that he would be running for re-election.
New Sub-Committee on Transportation
Transportation issues are constantly coming before the Board or are at-issue out in the community. Such as a “traffic-calming” measure of a traffic circle at Bacon, or the loss of a parking space for an improved bike path – and as Board member Dan Dennison stated, “We need a group to deal with transportation issues – like city changes to the Bicycle Master Plan.”
Before approving the concept fo a sub-committee, it was confirmed by a reading of the bylaws that non-Board members may participate on sub-committees, as long as there are more Board members and as long as it’s chaired by a Board member. The Board did also decide on waiting until after the election to see who is still on the volunteer panel.
Other News / Issues
The OB Lifeguard project is in engineering, Ambert announced, where they’re analyzing is footprint. “This is our number one capital improvement project,” he said and encouraged the Board to continue to push the city to follow-through with the project.
The Board co-sponsored the recent town hall meeting along with other community groups, Ambert reported in an almost-farewell speech, to increase neighborhood watches and to deal with all the arson and vandalism OB’s suffered recently. The other groups are “clear allies,” he said.
Sunset Cliffs Natural Park Hillside Improvements – were announced by Virginia Wilson, as the city is beginning its 2nd phase within the 35 acre park: to remove non-native plants, to build a trail system and do a re-vegetation with native plants. Work began in January and be mostly completed by June 2018. Because of all this, there will be limited closures in the park. Areas will be fenced off for the revegetation.
Dennison responded by asserting the community always has to be against the city’s plans for the money spent. “We can do a whole lot better,” he said, “we can’t stop the erosion.”
Board member Richard Aguirre then launched into a rant, “this is just the beginning,” he warned. He formed a group back in 2000, he said, to stop city plans. “Surface run-off,” he said, “is the source of the erosion.” But now, with city plans, there will be metered parking in the park’s lots, campgrounds built, a ranger station will go in, “the master plan is atrocious,” he declared. Allowed to ramble on for over 5 minutes during the audience non-agenda 2-minute comment period, Aguirre accused the park committee of being “15 opinionated people.” In rebuttal, Wilson read the park’s guiding mission statement.
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