Politics & Government

Letter to the Editor: Dave Roberts Calls on County Leaders to Not Abolish Local Planning Groups

One candidate for the Third District County Supervisor seat weighs in on the topic of community planning groups.

Editor’s Note: The following commentary was written by Dave Robert, the Deputy Mayor of the City of Solana Beach and a candidate for Third District County Supervisor seat, which includes Encinitas.

A proposal to eliminate community planning groups in the county unincorporated area goes against my core belief that citizens should have a strong voice in government decision-making.

In my view, you can never have enough public participation. After all, who better to decide what makes a great community than those who actually live there?

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Of course, I am well-aware of the other issues – issues that are just as important. A few community planning groups are not operating with the utmost attention to legal protocols. This has put the county – and taxpayer dollars – at risk. That is unacceptable. We must work to correct these very important issues. But throwing the baby out with the bath water is not the way to solve a problem. We must work together to keep our planning groups – and their important contributions to community character – intact.

San Diego County is 4,261 square miles--larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined.  With this vast expanse of land to manage, the County of San Diego established Planning and Sponsor Groups 43 years ago. The idea was to solicit input from the very citizens who would be impacted by the Board of Supervisor’s land use decisions.  Local residents would have an opportunity to be a part of planning now and for future generations.  Today, there are 26 Planning and Sponsor Groups; 18 Planning Groups are directly elected by the voters in their communities. 

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Retired Vice Admiral John Ryan, who is president and CEO of the Center for Creative Leadership, was quoted recently as saying: “I think the best leaders, the ones that sustain a lifetime of leadership, are those that never stop asking for feedback.”  I couldn’t agree more!

Two recommendations will come before the County Board of Supervisors on February 29th. The board can abolish, or severely limit, the function of Planning and Sponsor Groups under the guise of reducing red tape. 

The first recommendation would rescind Board Policy I-1, which created local planning groups. The second recommendation would limit the scope of the Planning or Support Group’s review to only the preparation and amendment of the General Plan, the Community Plan and the Public Participation Plan.  Seven planning group members for each group would be limited to two two-year terms within a ten-year period.  In addition, these groups would no longer receive free appeals to the Board of Supervisors. Additionally one county staff and one county counsel would attend meetings, creating an unacceptable expense. 

Either option, if adopted, would drastically alter how land use plans make their way through the County. I am calling on our Board of Supervisors to vote AGAINST this drastic step to abolish local planning groups. We must find an acceptable compromise to retain this important public voice.  Local input from those most impacted by a proposed project is critical to the Board’s decision-making process. 

While I strongly support most of the county’s Red Tape Task Force recommendations, especially measures to save taxpayer money and to make the county far more business-friendly, I strongly oppose any recommendation that takes away the opportunity for local input and abolishes local planning and support groups. 

It is interesting to note that my home city of Solana Beach was incorporated over 25 years ago due to resident frustration with the county over imposing unwise planning decisions on our community without listening to our local concerns. Other cities in the region formed for much the same reason.

Quality of life means listening to citizen input. We must not repeat history. We must learn from it.

If you have a Letter to the Editor that you would like to submit, please email it to Marlena.Medford@Patch.com.


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