🚀 go-pugleaf

Here is an editorial I dashed off for a local monthly paper here, the San Diego Earth 
Times.... reporting on development plans for an endangered coastal mesa, Carmel 
Mountain...if you are interested in the prior background article referred to [The 
Values of a Neighborhood] - just let me know, and I'll forward it to you.

The neighbors will go another round;
by Carolyn Chase

Last month's article "The Values of a Neighborhood (San Diego Earth Times)," about 
Pardee's plans to develop Carmel Mountain/Neighborhood 8A urged you to provide the 
people-power needed to persuade the City Council to get a better deal and if at all 
possible find a way to facilitate conservation of this special place.

The deal came down at City Hall on Halloween and the public was there in
force. At least 260 San Diegans took the trouble to come downtown in
opposition to the Pardee/Manager proposal. The Council remarked on the
city-wide public interest in this process. (The City Clerk's Office reported 278 
OPPOSITION slips filed, 151 in favor with another 5 slips filed late in OPPOSITION.)

With limited space for a complication issue, I've decided to bestow a few awards:

The Patience and Decorum Award goes to the audience who, being promised a
"time-certain" agenda item for 2pm, were left to wait until 4:45 for the
item to begin, with a 6-3 vote to continue the item taken at about 6:45pm.

The Best Friends Award goes to Scott Harvey who addressed his 20-year
"close friendship" with Pardee VP Mike Madigan. Madigan is finance co-chair
for Harvey's State Assembly Campaign. He explained that since the City
Attorney opined that he did not have a conflict of interest, then he must
not.

Pardee gets the Grass Roots/Environmental Impersonation Award. The Greens,
dressed in full matching costumes as gnatcatchers came in a close second,
but were outdone by the Pardee significant others, consultants and
employees who evidently aren't needed at the office when their boss goes
downtown. They arrived early [10am], wearing badges that said "Preserve the
MSCP." I hate to be too cynical, but somehow I don't expect them at future
hearings to actually support the Multiple Species Conservation Program.

The Most Disingenuous Award goes to Mike Madigan who claimed he was being
asked to "give up one of the last remaining resources of our company."
Correct me if I'm wrong, but last time I checked Pardee was one of the
wealthiest developers in Southern California, and owned by one of Fortune
magazine's top 50 industrial companies.

The "If These Are Friends" Award goes to the representative of the SD Urban
League, who, testifying with Pardee, accused the Solana Beach School
District of "racism" for in his interpretation that the District was
assessing higher school fees on "affordable housing" units than on "million
dollar homes."  An Honorable Mention also goes to the District since while
having struck a last-minute deal with Pardee to favor the development, they
were in the unenviable position of being accused in public of both racism
and money grubbing without any basis. Juan Vargas and George Stevens
receive special mentions here for thinking somehow that higher school fees
were going to be paid by poorer people, when the point really was how much
Pardee was going to be assessed and on what basis.

The fees are assessed per-child without regard to income or race. The
number of children is estimated based on types of units. If Pardee is
allowed to build more single-family homes, they then end up paying lower
school fees, because statistically smaller families live in the larger
houses.

Based on statistics that show that "detached" houses [more expensive,
larger lots] on average only contribute .25 children, and "attached" units
usually contribute 2 children, therefore Pardee's fees would be higher for
the more affordable housing.

Someone did manage to point out that it was difficult to tell the color of
the people who might end up living there in the future, much less whether
seniors might end up in any of the proposed living quarters meaning fewer
children would actually need school facilities. This is the type of
development it would seem that Pardee would prefer to build.

Seems to me it would have made more sense for the Urban League to be
testifying against Pardee for trying to build developments that minimize
the attached and more affordable units and where more minorities could be
able to realize an opportunity to consider living in the Carmel Valley
area.

The Don't Tread on Me and What's the Truth? combined-Award goes to the
smaller property owners who seemed to have been left out of negotiations
with the City Manager - even though their land use designations were being
changed in the Pardee/Manager Plan. When questioned by the Council over
whether or not the City brought these owners into the process, City Manager
Jack McGrory and City staff replied that yes, they did work with other
owners to forge the "compromise." At least one smaller parcel owner angrily
testified that this was not the case, and privately afterward another owner
assured me that she was not part of the process. As a member of the public,
I'd like to know the truth. If I were a member of the City Council, I'd be
angry with the negotiators for not respecting smaller property owners.
Without property-owner consensus and community support, a plan should not
be shoved through.

The New Neighbors Award goes to another one of the one-acre parcel owners
who told me a story of woe about her dream of building on her one acre. She
pointed out an error in my article in referring to 8A as part of the
"Future Urbanizing Area." I apologize for this error. 8A was not part of
the FUA. She realized at the time that purchasing land in the FUA could
mean that she wouldn't be able to build. Her purchase was based on the
Tentative Map in 1975 showing development, without which she is now
hard-pressed to afford to bring utilities on to her property.

The Most Articulate goes to Councilmember Barbara Warden who asked a key,
simple question: "Is this the best land use plan for this site?" She
succinctly stated that the Pardee/Manager Plan did not contain elements
that she would expect to find based on other, complex, difficult, but
successful development plans she had seen forged in the past. Without those
elements, she could not support the plan.

Bravo. So even though Mike Madigan claims he will not give up any more land
beyond the "line the City Manager drew on our property," the parties were
told to try again to find "a holistic solution," involving all the property
owners and community members and seeking consensus. All your support is
appreciated. Stay tuned. You will undoubtedly be needed to participate in
this process again. If you want to be added to a list of folks to be
contacted as the process continues, please call me at (619)272-2930 or email 
cdchase@qualcomm.com.


Carolyn Chase is a member of the Citizens Advisory Committee for
Pe�asquitos Canyon, Chair of San Diego's Waste Management Advisory Board
and editor of the San Diego Earth Times.