‘Ugly Baby’ of a New Encintas City General Plan, Continues to Be Shown-Off by The Encinitas City Planning Staff

Bad habits sometimes are hard to break; smoking, junk food, not following directions.

Take the Staff direction about the ‘ugly baby’ first ‘draft’ of the comprehensive general plan ‘update’.

On September 14, 2011 the Encinitas City Council reasserted control over the million dollar new general plan process that Deputy Mayor Jerome Stocks not only described accurately as an ‘ugly baby’, but demanded and got a ‘disclaimer’ attached to the 1,000-page document.

While the City Council gave planning staff permission to show off the ‘ugly baby’ ‘draft’ at the 25th Anniversary party because it had been publicly advertised; other ventures out of City Hall with the document were verboten, permission was not given to venture out to the Leucadia Farmer’s Market, continue sending out hundreds of e-mails touting the ‘ugly baby’  or anywhere else that was not an ‘official’ ‘city’ event only.

‘Open House’ informational booths-City Events Only'; is how it’s worded in the approved minutes from the meeting.

If the staff cannot take ‘input’ from the elected City Council members, how much of public input is actually being heeded?

Yes, the staff has stubbornly continued to appear about town in hope that they can somehow convince someone that their ‘ugly baby’ is actually beautiful.

The other elements of the new general plan action on Item 13 in the City’s approved council minutes from that evening of September 14th 2011 are here from the chagrined City Council members are below:

"Gaspar moved, Barth seconded to amend the time line as follows:

• Incorporate the City’s commissions to review the General Plan elements that pertain to their scope of work followed by a review of each element by the Planning Commission and final review by the City Council at their work sessions.
• GPAC should still be involved as specified in the schedule.
• Open House informational booths - at City events only.
• Schedule workshops in each of the City’s 5 communities for public input and available for all citizens to attend.
• Create a stakeholder group to garner additional input.
• Final Council session with staff presenting the finding from the GPAC, Community workshops, other opportunities, planning commission, work sessions, other commission work sessions, etc.

Motion carried.  Ayes:  Barth, Bond, Gaspar, Stocks.  Nays:  None.  Absent:  Houlihan. 

COUNCIL CONSENSUS

There was Council Consensus to create a Council Stakeholder Subcommittee and to appoint Council Members Barth and Gaspar to the subcommittee to work with the Planning Department to finalize and refine the proposed structure of the planning process schedule and to also define the composition of the stakeholders group and return to a future City Council meeting with an amended time line.

There was Council Consensus to add the following disclaimer to all documents/brochures:

Disclaimer: This is a draft document and has not been reviewed or approved by the Planning Commission or City Council.

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The New Encinitas Business Network Commercial Corridor Focus Group has already learned the hard way that just because the Staff receives clear direction from management or council members that this doesn’t necessarily mean that staff will actually follow that direction.

For this reason and a dozen others we thank the Encinitas City Council for their unanimous vote to take the leadership or facilitation of General Plan process away from the Planning Staff and turn it over to an ‘honest broker’.

An apologist for this severely flawed general plan stated at the Monday, September 19th, Citywide ‘Celebration’ of this ‘Draft’ told one city commission member in attendance that evening, ”What is wrong with these commercial property owners? Don’t they understand that we are doing them a favor by adding ‘mixed-use’ to their properties? That means they can make more money. They should just take their extra income and be happy with it instead of causing all this trouble.”

In answer to this question; no one ever asked the New Encinitas commercial property owners what they thought about being targeted by this plan since August 19, 2009. The property owners of the two commercial corridors were clearly excluded from this process for the first 15 months and were told upon learning their properties had been targeted to solve a ‘state’ problem; (that might significantly constrain their financial incomes, and that of the entire city of Encinitas), “The public input part of the land-use element is closed to further input. But there will be several informational meetings this summer to tell you about all the proposed changes.”

Some city officials have been told of this initial meeting and were incredulous and skeptical at this restated exchange between owners and staff members. But, that is ‘why’ we videotaped the exchange, and, in fact, the entire meeting at The Grauer School.

Finally, this question begs to be asked, ”If the staff isn’t complying with the ‘ugly baby’ portion of the Action Item Direction from the officially approved minutes above, then are any of the other parts of the motion/unanimously approved actions being conformed to; or, is the staff going to continue to be allowed to operate free of direction and accountability; and, if so, what remedies are left to the business community and residential communities of New Encinitas?

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After repeated viewings of the meeting from 9-14-11 we believe the City Council meant for two other items to be incorporated into the 'motion' that was unanimously mapproved; 1) That the Environmental Impact report not be triggered for creation until after a final City Council workshop meeting incorporating data and recommendations from all the commisions; and 2) That the original 1989 General Plan be reistated for red lining and strike outs; so that the recommended changes can be more clearly discerned.