In their 3-2 vote, with Chairman Glenn O’Grady and Commissioner Jody Hubbard opposed, the commissioners took the unusual step of denying the latest proposal for a design review permit on the grounds that the project shouldn’t have been before them at all that night.
It’s only been a few months since commissioners rejected the previous proposal and city planning regulations state that unless a project’s backers are submitting a vastly different redesign, they must wait a full year before submitting a new plan, Commissioner Bruce Ehlers said as he put forward the denial idea.
His proposal was immediately backed by Commissioner Al Apuzzo, who hadn’t attended the July meeting when the previous proposal was rejected but said he had reviewed both that plan and this new one.
Monday, December 10, 2018
Beacon's skyway rejected again
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Jody hasn't even been sworn in and is already going against the community.
ReplyDelete...just like Tasha did before her. Will the voters ever learn?
DeleteJody said she supported the "new" project because it was sufficiently different, thus the project wouldn't have to wait one year to be resubmitted. Then later she said several times that all stairway are alike.
DeleteIn fact the "new" project wasn't significantly different. It was the same project with some minor design changes. A stairway is a stairway. She will make a bad council member.
You have to have a stairway there, for when the bluff eventually collapses. Anyone arguing against this is arguing against gravity. The collapse of that whole area is going to happen, so unless you want to lose access at some point, you better have an alternative like the stairs in place. Stairs work at Grandview, why not at Beacons?
DeleteThe consulting engineer admitted at last week's meeting that in the event of a landslide, the stairs at both ends could be damaged and unusable. At no point has anyone from the city made the claim that the stairs will provide access in the event of a slide.
DeleteStaff will do anything to push this through, so what do you know that they don't, 1:00 PM?
Sure, then you rebuild the stairs. If the Coastal Commission won't let you backfill the whole hillside like the neighbors to the south did, you need a set of stairs. Otherwise you have no access.
DeleteIt's not a question of loving stairs, or stairs vs. trails etc. It's a question of do you want ongoing access at that location?
At $3M a pop, rebuilding the stairs is a too-expensive option. Tony K. will have no trouble supporting that, as he likes to overpay for trophy projects then crow about having accomplished something - think Pacific View.
DeleteDespite Surfrider's claims, the CCC did not say no to fixing the trail. And no one is talking "backfill the whole hillside," so like Surfrider and the unfortunate cyclist's comments at past workshops, you are putting words in other peoples' mouths.
IF there is a slide, both trail and stairs would be impassable and access cut off for a period. The city engineers, after some tooth-pulling, admitted the stairs will not help in the case of a landslide.
And then everyone basically decided to argue and do nothing until one day the bluff collapsed and access to the beach was lost.
ReplyDeleteThere was a great deal of silly accusations and blame, but in the end it didn’t matter. No amount of shouting would bring back beach access.
so much BS... access will remain. How about making the roads safer so bicyclists are not run down by dumbass drivers of death machines. Where is the prosecution on this one?
ReplyDeleteWhere is the decision of blame on this one? Still waiting for an accident report. Weird it's taking this long.
DeleteJody supports more affordable income housing, so it will be nice to see Cardiff get it's fair share this time. Bring back Lake Drive for affordable housing!
ReplyDeletethe beauty and uniqueness of the trail at Beacon is the forced interaction between those going up and those going down. travelers can choose to be generous, yielding, kind, or other.
ReplyDeletethe trail reveals character.
do we want general public access or something of and for the neighborhood?
something that is truly unique and to be preserved...
Vs. seven stories of stairs. Talk about loss of access.
Delete7:57,
DeleteOn a scale of 1-duuuuuuuude, how high are you?
Actually, the uniqueness of the trail and setting helped push the PC away from voting for the staircase, dude.
DeleteYou can't preserve a hillside sliding into the ocean....
ReplyDeleteHey Clueless, that trail has survived for more than thirty years, and for the most part, it is because the locals worked on it themselves without the city's permission.
ReplyDeleteIf someone puts tons of concrete on that sandstone cliff to support a stairway, you will see a collapse.
The huge difference between a trail that can be cheaply and easily and quickly restored, compared to tons of concrete pilings that will exacerbate the sandstone to fail and cost millions to repair, has to make one , or anyone, wonder wtf?
There is no bedrock there to anchor the tons of concrete needed for the stairway. Surely not at the depth that the plans are calling for. This is a recipe for disaster.
Add in the fact that the concrete support pad on the beach will be 30' closer to the water.
Add in the fact that Neptune Ave. will be narrowed as to be a danger for anyone strolling by, or driving by, or walking by, or riding by, or parking and opening your car doors. wtf?
Thank you Planning Commission for your denial. Now on to our council. Their minds need to be changed.
Hey Clueless 11:34 - if it slides there's no more parking lot. Sure, you can always build a trail. Black's goat trail comes to mind. But you also have to have a starting point on the bluff.......
Delete7:58 is the same rude poster who called someone a "moron" on another thread. Ignore it. Not worth engaging with someone that out of control. They can't think clearly.
DeleteHey Fellow Clueless 7:58am. If there is a slide, there will be no more parking?
ReplyDeleteYou must have an inside track on the future to make that claim. Great to know you know what you think you know.
I think, therefore I am, I think.
It has been around 35 years since the trail was rebuilt by the locals. They did a pretty good job.
Even you have to recognize that fact.
Try anchoring tons of cement pilings on a sandstone bluff and even I can predict the future.
Install a large cement foundation pad on the beach 30' closer to the water and I can make another prediction.
Narrow the roadway on Neptune like the plans indicate and I can predict the future again.
This is not ready for primetime. The tight roadway planned is a recipe for......... Even you must realize that.
Some loss of parking is unavoidable. We can agree on that, at the least.
Hopefully even you can see the narrowed roadway is unacceptable.
Emergency vehicles demand more width than what is in the latest design.
Round and round we go.
Line the toe of the bluff with granite boulders, then terrace and plant the bluff all the way to the top. Leave the trail as it is and maintain it. It could use new support posts near the top. Fix the bowed railing along the sidewalk and leave the sidewalk and parking as it is. That's as permanent a fix as anything.
ReplyDelete