Council Gets One Thing Right, The Other, Not at All

This editorial is the opinion of Bill Coburn, publisher of Sierra Madre News Net and 15 year Sierra Madre resident. It is not intended to reflect the views of any other person or entity with whom I am associated.

The City Council approved Dr. Sami's appeal of the Planning Commission's rejection of his proposed expansion project. That was the right thing to do. They had no grounds not to. The only real issue was the parking, and since Dr. Sami agreed to use the "In Lieu Parking" provision of the City Code, that issue became a non-issue. The City Council now needs to call a moratorium on "In Lieu Parking" while a parking study is done, and a Parking Master Plan is developed. Hopefully, it will include the "In Lieu Parking" provision, but at a more realistic rate of $10,000 per space.

So they did a good job of getting something right when there was really no other way to get it. But man, did they screw up on the General Plan issue. When it started out, it seemed like only one Council member, Nancy Walsh, was really leaning toward expanding the General Plan Steering Committee, yet somehow it ended up that the Council voted 4 to 1 to do just that.

Council Member Maryann MacGillivray, in my opinion, came on a little too strong at the beginning by asking her colleagues to repeal what had been approved as a compromise at a previous meeting, the authority to appoint technical advisory committees to assist the General Plan Steering Committee. I think she asked for too much, too soon. But she ultimately offered up an obvious solution, one that would have been an excellent compromise. Her second motion, which died for lack of a second, was to accept the Steering Committee's work plan, ask for a time line, accept the Outreach Program, and leave the Technical Committee appointments on the table. In doing so, the Council could have allowed the Steering Committee to begin its outreach program and show the council just how inclusive it would be, and if the Council felt it was being inclusive enough, they could repeal them at a later date. If they didn't feel it was being inclusive enough, they could just appoint the Technical Committees.

Instead, they decided to expand the Committee to nine members. I think that was a monumental error. And they compounded it by then tasking the Committee with a job that they had just made it impossible to do. How can the Committee come up with a timeline, when they have no idea how long it's going to take to find out who is on the Committee?

I hope that Committee Chair Denise Delmar doesn't become so frustrated that she quits. She and the Committee did a great job on the work program and the outreach program, and I think they were off to a good start. If Delmar leaves, the Council (except Maryann MacGillivray) owes an apology to all the residents in this town.

I'm sure there's more that I will think I should have said or that I think I could have said more effectively or in a more cogent manner. But it's late, and I'm tired, so that's all I have to say on the matter. For now. It won't surprise me if I'm still so upset about this an hour from now that I get back up out of bed and amend it. We'll see. Denise - if you are reading this - hang in there. Many of us think you are doing a great job and are a critical piece of this puzzle. I hope this blunder by the Council doesn't overwhelm your desire to finish the job you've started.