Editorial: More clout for planning boards
Members of the Rancho Bernardo Planning Board are absolutely correct in asking the City of San Diego for more opportunities to comment on upcoming development projects in their community.
A letter signed by Chairman Mike Lutz and endorsed by the city-required panel points out repeated examples of the city planning staff approving significant new construction in Rancho Bernardo without a chance for planning board members, or the public, to review and comment. That puts the volunteer board in a difficult and powerless position.
No local review is required when an upcoming project is deemed by the city as “ministerial” in nature. While that might imply the project would likely not be a big deal that is often clearly not the case. Some recent examples:
• The razing and rebuilding of the former Elephant Bar so it could become Phil’s BBQ. “This work, although well publicized, was never subjected to resident review and has resulted in signage and parking issues that could have been better addressed,” Lutz wrote.
• A remodel of the Rancho Bernardo Town Center and addition of a 5,000-square-foot building, which the board members learned about by reading the Rancho Bernardo News Journal.
• The razing of the former Traveler’s Inn and Hooters restaurant to make way for the Sharp Rees-Stealy medical complex. “This project is very large and has major visual and traffic impacts and yet ... was not reviewed to any extent by the Planning Board and affected residents,” Lutz wrote.
Lutz said the Rancho Bernardo Community Plan “specifically states the City is to seek input from the Planning Board of such matters” and it “details the (board’s) residential, commercial and industrial objectives ... Yet even with this, (city officials) bypassed us, essentially making it a ministerial project.”
The problem is not limited to Rancho Bernardo. Residents in Point Loma last week went public over their concerns that the Peninsula Community Planning Board was not contacted about a four-story duplex project that they say is completely out of character with their neighborhood. The project has the city’s blessing.
We would like to see City Councilman Mark Kersey get involved and take a leadership role in giving local planning boards more control over new development. It might not be easy changing long-standing city rules, but it’s a task that needs to be done.
