By Julie Mehta
Under pressure from Measure G supporters, the City Council reversed the stance most of its members have taken in the past month and agreed to give applicants affected by Measure G a choice of what planning process to follow.
A week after a heated meeting in which members of the Save Our Neighborhoods Initiative Committee threatened the council with recall if members insisted on sending potential developers directly to the ballot, the council voted 3-2 on May 15 to let applicants go through the city planning process first if they wished. Councilmembers Ann Marie Burger and Karen Tucker dissented.
City staff had recommended that the city conduct environmental and design review on Measure G-affected projects only after the voters had approved the needed zoning change. The staff said this method would save the city time and money and give the voters the greatest say possible. Mayor Paul Jacobs has said that the city would be giving a project a "stamp of approval" prior to an election if forced to complete its review first. Jacobs maintained this concern last week but said he was willing to try giving applicants that choice anyway.
"I'm not convinced this is the better method but I'm not convinced it will not work either," said Jacobs. Councilmember Don Wolfe threw his support behind this plan, proposed by Councilmember Gillian Moran because she said she wanted voters to have as much information on applications as possible.
Tucker agreed but said she felt that responsibility belonged to the developer, not the city. She and Burger also said they feared people would be unclear on the fact they were voting only on a zoning change, not on all the details of a development.
"No one in their right mind would go through the whole process first," knowing that the final zoning-change decision rested in voters' hands," said Tucker.
Jim Shaw of SONIC, meanwhile, said he cannot imagine people not wanting the city to first review their applications. He still feels the city should review all projects before a vote but is encouraged by the compromise solution approved last week.
"I have to give them credit for making a positive change. It was a little surprising--I felt sure they had pretty much made up their minds but I think Gillian (Moran) got the message across that there should be more flexibility."
Shaw still is bothered by the fact that the council unanimously decided that exceptions to the Measure G requirement should be considered only if an application is rejected by the voters. But the council was in sync with SONIC's wishes when it voted to let applicants decide when their projects will be on the ballot and require them to pay for the elections.
The council also agreed that an evaluation of the implementation process should be conducted after the first case. That will likely be the Binkley lot-line adjustment application scheduled to come before council on June 5. Councilmembers stressed that the implementation process is not set in stone and can be modified if necessary.
"It was kind of encouraging what they said They seemed to admit they're not all-seeing and all-knowing," said Shaw. "SONIC will be keeping a careful eye on the process."
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, May 22, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved