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Politics & Government

The Alma Plaza Learning Curve: A Near Replay [Part 3 of 5]

Two years after the ill-fated Alma Plaza hearing at the city council in 2007, a similar project would come before the council and again test the public trust.

 

The following guest opinion is part of our weeklong coverage of transparency within local government as part of Sunshine Week 2012.

The 2100 block of El Camino Real, which included JJ&F Market, a beloved family-owned neighborhood grocery store, six decades on the site, was part of a stretch of neighborhood commercial zoning along El Camino Real adjacent to College Terrace.

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Permeating the application process of developer Patrick Smailey were familiar tones from the Alma Plaza experience a few years earlier.

Once again an applicant claimed a site was not viable under its neighborhood commercial land use designation.  

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Once again a request was made to amend the Comprehensive Plan.

And once again a proposal for a Planned Community (PC) zoning was brought forward. 

For Alma Plaza, the alleged savior for retail and a minimal grocery was an abundance of market-rate housing. On JJ&F’s block, now dubbed “College Terrace Centre,” it was an oversized complex dominated with premiere (Class A) office space, geared to regional, rather than local business.

Once again the matter came to the Planning & Transportation Commission, which had a policy of strongly discouraging communications outside of a public hearing.

Once again the Planning Commission denied the applicant’s request to initiate PC zoning based on submitted plans.

And once again the applicant appealed the decision to the city council, but only after pausing to roundly trash the commission in the press (The Daily Post ran an above-the-fold headline: “A theatre of the absurd”).

The noise-to-signal ratio continued at extreme levels. A PR firm was already in full force. The upcoming council hearing was now “the last chance to save JJ&F.” Any changes to the developer’s plan, he said, would eliminate the delicate thread that would allow him to lease a small market and some additional retail within the new complex.

On the day prior to the release of the council packets, the completed staff report of several hundred pages was bound and ready for distribution. Staff had offered no position on the matter.

With local newspaper headlines conveniently blaring “Mtn. View Wants JJ&F,” the applicant walked into the Planning Department and submitted a 36-page document. Its substance consisted of a few revisions to the project.

Staff felt the changes were enough to change from its neutral position and to recommend initiation of the PC zoning process. They quickly issued a two-page follow-up memorandum to accompany the next day’s release of the bulky staff report.

The late submission was not as egregious as what occurred when Alma Plaza came to City Council two years earlier, but it was close enough to bring back memories and disappointment. Council member Pat Burt expressed them to staff at the start of the council hearing, four days later.

After staff’s presentation, council questions, and lengthy public comment, the meeting was put off for two weeks prior to council deliberation.

After the release of the council packet for the continuation hearing, the applicant team submitted another lengthy document. It was made available to council members by the city clerk “at places” on the council dais.

Council member Larry Klein stated that he would ignore it. He later called for staff to return with a policy on late submissions. It was reinforced by unanimous approval of his motion on a subsequent evening.

It was July 2009, but by the end of the year, staff had not yet returned with a policy for the council to review. Once again progress to institutionalize good government reforms would have to wait until at least the next year and another new set of council members.

Would it make a difference? We’ll continue the story tomorrow.

READ MORE: Part One of The Alma Plaza Learning Curve—The Late Submittal

READ MORE: Part Two of The Alma Plaza Learning Curve—First Responders

 

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