... for now. They'll be back with more lawyers and maybe more council members next time.
NCT:
The latest housing proposal for the old Pacific View Elementary School site failed to gain favor Wednesday night with a majority of the Encinitas City Council.
The next battle over the prime coastal property's future is likely to occur in a courtroom, proponents and opponents said after the council's 2-2 vote on a rezoning request, which would have allowed the housing proposal to proceed. The council needed a super majority vote to approve the request.
Looking furious moments after the council vote, Encinitas Union School District Superintendent Tim Baird shook his head and repeatedly said, "Unbelievable."
Baird, who just swindled Encinitas homeowners into taking on 30 years of debt to buy iPads for 4th graders, should take a pill. There's no Constitutional right to have your land rezoned for maximum profit.
Stocks and Bond voted for the rezoning; Houlihan and Barth voted against it. Gaspar bizarrely "recused" herself because she hadn't been on the Council for the first rezoning vote. Does she not understand what recusing is? You recuse yourself when you have a conflict of interest, not when you weren't on the Council for prior related votes. Most likely, Gaspar is just afraid to piss off the developers and school district by voting "no," and the public by voting "yes." That's not a recusal; that's a cowardly "present" vote.
Tim Baird was understandably irritated. He has only himself to blame. He has misplayed this from the very beginning. Jerome Stocks was also visibly irritated. There's a back room deal to sell this property at a bargain price to a developer in order that a group of people make a big profit. Think John DeWald or David Meyer. Both names are making the gossip round.
ReplyDeleteThere was discussion whether a legal covenant to not do low income density bonus can override the state mandate. City Attorney Glenn Sabine didn't give a convincing argument that the covenant could withstand a legal challenge by the developer after the school district sells the property. Especially to David Meyer, as he helped write the density bonus law and knows the loopholes.
Tim Baird and the school board are fools if they pursue litigation against the city for denying the zone change. Like the Cardiff Kook and the Surfing Madonna, the public is overwhelmingly in support of preserving Pacific View as public property. This is why Stocks was working furiously to avoid a vote approving the zone change, but without a super majority, thus forcing a vote of the public. Both Stocks and Sabine tried to scare everyone by saying is was risky and a judge would overturn this too.
After Tim Baird got his $44 million school bond, he looks like greed personified is pushing the rezone and sale of this property. Does he have no sense of civic responsibility?
What is unbelievable is how much compensation Tim Baird receives for such a small school distirct. Encinitas Union School District is an elementary K-6 district with 9 schools and about 5,600 students in it. In 2009, Sign On San Diego reported his base pay was $205,000.00. I am trying to find out his current pay as the Encinitas Union School District as of July, 2011, has not frozen nor cut saleries.
ReplyDeleteThis opera has been going on waaaaaaaaaay too long: Pacific View was closed a decade ago using fudged up numbers; while everyone was crammed into Paul Ecke Central, that suffered for it; ALL so the district could sell a prime piece of property 'near' the beach. Now, because as usual, they are confused, the property is worth only a third of what it was a decade ago. Geniuses!
ReplyDeleteThen when it was available to the City for .25 cents on the dollar; the council cut a deal for a dollar a year to park their vehicles there, not because they needed the space, but to override the Naylor Act. Spearing the Con?
WHY? Because Danny Dalager didn't want any money being diverted to Pacific View that he could spend on the 'Park That Will Never Be'.
Now that Guerin, Dalager and Cotton have been jettisoned; the new flag bearer to save Pacific View is the very same person who fought the hardest to sell it out, in league with Dee Snow of the school district; Houlihan has switched sides and NOW is crying that the sky is falling.
As for Baird, if there were actually an overriding authority to turn Baird into, the amount of ed codes that have been violated under his leadership appear to be endless. Even the Rotarians shrink from him.
This deal started out twisted and remains twisted.
But don't blame Baird; his school board is actually responsible; though the local rags will never report the school testing scores, they are terrible.
They should rent the property to the Encinitas art community who will make it beautiful, provide access to the arts to children who have lost it from school, and will put some of those "art criminals" to work, educating the community about important things like creativity, expression and beauty.
ReplyDeletehere is some info where the $ is spent.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ed-data.k12.ca.us/App_Resx/EdDataClassic/fsTwoPanel.aspx?#!bottom=/_layouts/EdDataClassic/finance/GeneralFund.asp?reportNumber=4&level=06&County=37&district=68080