The November 29 Hymettus Estates’ hearing was rescheduled. Why? Because city staff decided to make up the rules as they went.
They violated city Municipal Code not once, not twice, but three times. They shortened the comments deadline to noon from 5 pm; they did this in the notification mailed out to area residents, they did this in the Coast News legal notice, and they again violated code when they mailed the hard copy notifications out after the Municipal Code deadline.
Staff was once again on a mission to do a favor for the developer by ensuring anyone wanting to submit project comments for Council to consider would be unable to do so. Residents came home from work the day before Thanksgiving to find notices in their mailboxes citing a deadline that had passed just hours before.
Pleas from residents to follow the law and properly re-notice the meeting according to code fell on deaf ears. From the person answering the main line, up to the aptly-named “Development Services Director” and Assistant City Manager, the mantra was the same: “All we can do is extend the comments period.” When asked how they would let folks know about the extension, they were unable to respond. They seemed to think they'd hit on a real solution.
Fortunately for Encinitas residents, [City Manager] Karen [Brust] can not only read code; but abide by it. When the violations were brought to her attention, she took immediate action and directed the November 29 agenda item be pulled and rescheduled. This should allow staff to learn how to tell time and count days on a calendar to avoid breaking the law again, but I wouldn’t count my chickens.
Anyone suspect that maybe staff shortened the submission deadline so they could bug out early from work the day before Thanksgiving?
Any bets on how hopping mad this developer was at once again getting so close to breaking ground, only to have it delayed by yet another staff screw up?
Any guesses as to who on staff directed this mess?
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Hymettus appeal rescheduled due to insufficient public notice
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( Sniff, sniff) I smell a lawsuit...Marco?? Marco?? Anyone??
ReplyDeleteSo easily avoided, but "staff" simply cannot color inside the lines.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that post Vina era is still up,to this crap. Corruption here is obvious and should be investigated if the city manager is sincere. Clearly, someone needs to be fired and the developer needs to be investigated. Staff did this on purpose as a return favor for what?
ReplyDeleteSanta Fe Christian bought the empty lot across from the high school on Santa Fe. It is zoned residential but they want a sports field. They put up an 8ft fence(now 6ft) and graded they whole lot while also carving out the hillside. They also changed the runoff so that next big rain will flood three houses. No permits, no water on the dust, and they sprayed persticides the day before. Neighbors complained, job site has been shut down for several weeks now.
Surprised they didn’t even bother to bribe someone in the city. They maybe still up and running if they would have.
Who at planning do I need to contact? I want to make sure they know any shenanigans like like they just pulled will result in a lawsuit, civil and criminal. Individuals at planning will be named as well as the city. I will make these sellouts life a living hell, take their money, and send them to the poor house. They need to understand the consequences and losing a pension and a criminal record may just do the trick.
Clearly, the city manager (Brust) is the only one up to the job. Start there.
DeleteClearly the CITY COUNCIL doesn't do IT'S job. Do the council members drive the streets of the city?? Are the wearing blinkers?? Do they not see what happening?? The property owner on Santa Fe has turned his large lot into a storage yard, it's not zoned as a storage yard. Today he/she has created a Christmas tree lot. Why is the south side of Santa Fe without sidewalks?? Why are there still potholes in the road after the resurfacing?? Why have the utility pole been allowed to remain while there are no lines attached??
DeleteThis list is limited to Santa Fe drive but feel free to include your neighborhood...
The answer to these and other failures are an elitist city council that does give a rats ass about anything but being re-elected and/or higher office.
...doesn't give a rats...
DeleteRemember the guy selling street tacos from his house on Santa Fe?
DeleteI’ll add that the sidewalk work done on Santa Fe, so far, is useless. No concrete in places and telephone polls/untility boxes smack dab in the middle. Everyday kids step out into the street to go around them. I don’t think they are done but it has been like that for a while.
Pretty much a jackass move by Santa Fe Christian. They knew they were not allowed to move that much dirt and had to account for runoff. As it currently sits, runoff now has no where to go, they closed it off so it will pool and flood houses. They went through the same thing on the Solana campus, its not new to them. Did they really think the neighbors and the city would be cool with building a full on sport field and facilities in a residential neighborhood? That is worse than 3 story “affordable” housing.
I’ll add that the city did their job in this case and did it swiftly in shutting it down. Not sure if they will have to put the dirt back or if they will be punished continuing to work without permits but no field so far. Hopefully they just sell it to a developer.
Doesn't sound like a Christian thing to do.
Delete1 pm- it wasn't street tacos, it was burgers and they were good. Every burger he made came with bacon. He knew what people wanted. Btw, the city sold him a business license knowing full well he couldn't pass the health inspection. Took his monies anyway. Very deceitful on the part of the city.
DeleteSanta Fe Christian is in Solana Beach. Start there..
DeleteIs this the project in which Catherine, Tasha, Tony and Joe supported the developer and Mark opposed (4-1) supporting the residents?
ReplyDeleteYup.
DeleteWhat was standard operating procedure with Jeff Murphy and Gus Vina, is now in Roy Sapau's hands.
ReplyDeleteHe is just as big a liar as his former bosses were. At least he hasn't been made a permanent replacement as the head of Planning. Yet?
When the city was trying to kill Prop A at the community participation meetings, he, Roy, along with every Planning Dept. lackey, was there spreading lies about what Prop A would bring forth.
Fortunately some informed citizens were there to counter the lies to the members of the public that were there to learn the truth. There was not one Planning Dept. operator who spoke the truth to the public that night.
I often wish we had recorded some of these supposedly informational statements that the Planning Dept. was spreading that night.
Roy was right there and talking the same shit to anyone who would listen. I did, and tried to let the public citizens know better when he walked away to spread more of his lies to others.
Roy was far from alone that night. They, the Planning Dept., all did the same thing. They were under orders to do so. That is apparent.
Perhaps every meeting with the public should be recorded with the Planning Dept. A little sunshine is long overdue.
The incestuous relationships with certain developers is unashamedly evident by the cosy nature that they have with each other, and the senior planners make no bones about it. Sickening.
As Todd Mireau once said during a council meeting, we are not there to defend the community. We are there for the developers. One could have heard a pin drop for a few seconds in the crowded chambers that night.
Defending the community is not in their job description and perhaps it should be. Dream on. I know.
Extending this meeting will do nothing! You can only count on Muir to support the residents. The others will again vote for the developers!
ReplyDeleteExtending the meeting is not the point, as the Hymettus folks know the four will approve without missing a beat, no matter what is presented at the appeal.
DeleteThe point is holding staff to account and exposing them to a too-compliant council and seemingly-unaware upper management. Time to stop enabling this devious staff, stop making their excuses, and stop talking about how hard they work.
And each member of the planning dept will receive a 100+K pension.
ReplyDeleteI just read 4:26's post and almost started crying. I know about every word of it is true, and I wonder what happened to the city that I, and so many others, voted to incorporate. We saw it as a way to have our own power, instead of the County. And, now we have exactly what we had not wanted. How did it happen?
ReplyDelete3:12- Thats right and each member of the fire princess club will receive a $150,000 pension.
ReplyDeleteThat is why the City Manager has told the plannning staff to suppport any business bringing in higher taxes like high density housing and more bars.
The shortsighted part of this flawed direction is property tax on residential properties provides over $60% of the tax revenue for the City and by selling out the City to developers and bar owners, the city is damaging the potential for higher property values.
A good City Council member would focus on existing residents quality of life improvements and deter high density housing, the sketchy homeless, and more bars. Of course none of our existing City Council and City Manager done understand these points.
The latest Encinitas Guerrilla's "Mole Speaks" offers a spot-on explanation as to why the city council behaves as it does:
ReplyDeleteMole Speaks
“I’ve been a mole hidden in Encinitas city government for many years. On the rare occasions I’ve spoken out, I’ve done so anonymously as a public service.
“As many activists have emphasized, to understand the City Council’s behavior you must follow the money — look at the city’s revenue sources. They explain what the council supports and what it doesn’t.
“Property and sales taxes are the city’s two main revenue sources. Therefore, the council favors whatever maintains or, better yet, increases those revenues. Commercial and residential development boosts revenue from both sources, so there are few instances where the council denies either type of development.
“No council member wants to get on the wrong side of city employees, whether they’re directly employed or retained by contractors. Crossed employees ostracize any council member who treads on them, rendering the member ineffective and virtually assuring defeat at the polls.
“Council members and candidates give the appearance of supporting the best interests of the residents, but in practice they support the city’s revenue sources. Revenue is largely consumed by employee salaries, benefits and pensions. Compared with the private sector, the city is overly generous with its employee compensation.
“Of course, city employees pursue their self-interest, not the residents’ interests. That’s especially maddening when city employees use the residents’ tax money against them. The employees have the residents and council enablers over a barrel.
“Council members can’t master the many complex issues, so they depend on the employees for information, analysis and guidance. That tilts the playing field toward the employees’ agenda. Whether or not employees who abuse that advantage last long in their jobs depends on the council members’ and the city manager’s inclinations.
“No City Council wants to preside over bankruptcy or even a decline in revenue and surplus, so the solvency ball keeps rolling. The council has to walk a fine line between keeping city employees happy and not arousing too much resident anger.”
Situation makes a mockery of representative democracy.
DeleteThe planners use their positions to retaliate against citizens who uncover when they make mistakes, alter files, and show patterns of incompetency. They are the most hated of all of the city employees. They should have been laid off starting in 2008 when building permits dropped off, but Teresa Barth and Patrick Murphy cooked up the idea of the General Plan Update "to keep planners busy!"
ReplyDeleteThey have spent millions of dollars on a string of consultants and have thus far have been able to do anything except for spend our money and outsource their jobs.
The post asks questions of who on staff directed this mess. The answers are always the same. First, Scott Vurbeff, our so-called environmental planner who doesn't know anything about environmental code and can't actually do provide the documentation that CEQA requires in an application. The environmental planner is supposed to provide specific documentation and details of which documents he used to make determinations--including page numbers. Vurbeff is often paid by developers to do environmental reviews, so how can he be unbiased? The other is Roy Sapau, who has a list of bad behavior towards citizens. Every citizen group has had the same complaints against the same people.
ReplyDeleteAre you listening, Karen?
We have a new Planning Director.
ReplyDeleteHopefully she will not continue her depts. past bad behavior, and will prover her worth to this community, and not just be a doormat for every developers project that comes in.
Some senior planners need to go and we all who they are. Lets hope the new director knows the history of some of her senior planners.
We will be happy to meet with her, if some haven't done so already. Lets hope she doesn't trust the word of her senior planners and will hear us and from us.