Stop Sign on Evergreen, Run-Off Ponds at Slough, and 30-Foot Breach on Ingelow Street
By David Hutchinson
A small group gathered at the Point Loma Library for the Peninsula Community Planning Board’s October meeting on Thursday, Oct. 16.
Only seven board members attended—one short of the quorum necessary to vote on agenda items. Rather than postpone, the board opted to hear its agenda anyway, hoping at least one more member would show up before the meeting ended.
Treasurer Andrew Hollingworth began with a summary of the board’s finances. They have $1,160 in the bank— plenty to cover the three overhead line items discussed: a Zoom Pro account, a P.O. box, and website maintenance.
During non-agenda public comments, First Vice Chair Mandy Havlick announced her candidacy for City Council. Those interested in Havlick’s campaign (and free coffee) can attend a meet-and-greet at Kakawa Coffee on Sunday, Oct. 19, from 10 a.m. to noon.
Margaret Doyle, communications director for Councilmember Jen Campbell, updated the board on several items of interest. The city approved a stop sign for the intersection of Evergreen Street and Elliott Street, facing traffic on Elliott Street, in response to a resident’s traffic service request. The sign should be in place by the end of the year.
The city will also continue collecting its new trash fee after a judge denied an injunction to prevent it from doing so while a lawsuit challenging the fee moves forward towards a trial.
In other revenue-related news, the City Council expects that paid parking at Balboa Park will generate $15.5 million in 2026, a figure it has relied on to balance the budget. According to Doyle, two council members had “major concerns” about balancing the budget with parking fees, but not enough to sway the decision.
Second Vice Chair Angela Vedder asked for an update on a hanging pedestrian beacon the board had requested above Catalina Boulevard. Doyle confirmed that the city had initially approved the request but, after consulting with Urban Forestry about a nearby tree, decided to install the beacon on a post instead.
Randy Reyes, Mayor Todd Gloria’s community representative for council districts 2 and 3, attended the meeting to announce three new affordable housing developments that opened in San Diego within the past week. Located in East Village, Midway, and Clairemont, the projects add a total of 570 units to San Diego’s affordable housing supply, each with supportive services available for residents.
Next, the council turned to its first official agenda item: restoration of the slope extending from the alley between Mentone Street and Montalvo Street into Famosa Slough, a delicate (and beloved) saltwater marsh ecosystem that shelters 240 species of birds throughout the year. When it rains, water flows from the surrounding surface streets into the slough, carrying trash and pollutants and altering its salinity in ways harmful to wildlife. Over the past few decades, a nonprofit called Friends of Famosa Slough has worked with the city to create treatment ponds that capture runoff, and the drainage from the alley between Mentone and Montalvo is one of the last that needs attention.
Anthony Salvani and Kris Eckert, civil engineers from the city’s Stormwater Department, presented their design to capture runoff at a curb inlet and channel it through an underground drainpipe directly into treatment pond No. 1 on the slough’s south side. Jim Peugh and Tim Fleming, chair and vice chair of Friends of Famosa Slough, expressed support and gratitude for the project while voicing concerns about an access roadway for heavy machinery included in the design. These objections seemed to surprise the Stormwater Department engineers, who told the board they hadn’t previously heard those concerns.
The moment’s dramatic potential dissipated when Board Chair Law reminded the group that, since they didn’t have a quorum, they couldn’t vote on the matter anyway.
The agenda’s second item took up less discussion: Yasmeen Obeid, community engagement coordinator for the Commission on Police Practices, gave a short presentation about the organization’s mission and scope. The commission is a body of the city with investigatory, review, and auditing powers that works independently of the mayor, police chief, and SDPD to provide citizen oversight of law enforcement. The group is hosting a community roundtable on Dec. 8 at 5:30 p.m. at the Valencia Park/Malcolm X Branch Library.
Finally, local architect John [last name unknown] informed the board about a development planned at 3041 Ingelow Street (previously covered in the Rag by Geoff Page) that defies the neighborhood’s 30-foot height limit. The architect said he has emailed the head of Development Services about the project but hasn’t received answers about why it’s being allowed to proceed. He requested no action from the board, simply bringing the news as an informational item.
Board Chair Law proposed a virtual meeting next week to vote on the items covered in Thursday’s meeting. With that, the assembly dispersed into the night.
Wow, this is very helpful in learning about land use planning on the Peninsula. Thank you so much. Do let us know if any information is forthcoming about that project on Ingelow that is busting the height limit. I appreciate the link to Page’s original article.
Very nice. Account of the meeting, well done.
For me, the amazing information was that the PCPB could not get at least 8 of its 15 members to attend the regular monthly meeting. I don’t ever remember that happening. Pretty sorry affair,
Glad our future is in the hands of a Council that cannot be bothered to attend the meetings. How is this acceptable? Geoff referred to it as “amazing” but I can think of other less flattering adjectives. Do you jobs or step aside. The issues you are voting on are personal, emotional and life changing for the people of San Diego. We deserve better.
Okay but don’t forget these are volunteers and the “jobs” they have are keeping watch over the Peninsula on their own time. Not showing up is not good and if they can’t handle a monthly meeting, they ought to step aside, as Sara said. Yet, in the back of their minds may be the repeating refrain, Mayor Gloria and the city council gutted the very essence out of planning boards by doing away with the requirement that developers had to appear in front of the planning boad.