Christy Weir - after all these years, still a snake in the grass
A few weeks ago I wrote an e-mail story that had Ventura City Council candidate Christy Weir portrayed as a "snake in the grass".
A couple of Christy Weir supporters aggressively challenged my assertion and now is the time to give those folks a better sense of what I meant.
Let's start by recalling that over three years ago and within six months after Bill Fulton and Christy Weir were elected and Rick "King" Cole arrived as City Manager, we citizens were dragged through the gauntlet of planning hell with endless meetings, forums, workshops and orientation sessions designed to deliver a planning process that was supposed to eliminate confusion and chaos for the land owner and builder as well as all Ventura citizens. The results of all these meetings, forums, charrettes and other endless navel gazing efforts was to bring forth the Downtown Specific Plan (DSP) which was supposed to clarify for all just what could be built downtown and where. We were also told that variances should not be necessary now that we had an understandable guide.
It took about 3 years to get this DSP discussed, massaged, re-discussed and mostly finalized. The idea was supposed to be something that would telegraph to owners and builders the appropriate land use for the property in the downtown area. With that as background, let's look at what happened at the City Council meeting last Monday. You might want to refresh you recollection of that event by reading an article entitled, "City votes to limit downtown condos" written by King Cole's publicist, VC Star reporter Kevin Clerici.
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/oct/24/city-votes-to-limit-downtown-condos/
In a vote of 5-1, our stalwart City Council voted to fundamentally overturn the Ventura planning policy for properties on a 5 block long stretch of Main Street. In the Downtown Specific Plan (DSP) - the one where the ink is hardly dry - most of those properties are identified as "T6.1 Urban Core". The way the "development code" of the DSP reads is that property classified as T6.1 Urban Core may be developed with ground level commercial use but also can include "live-work" spaces. The DSP provides for heights up to 4 stories in the T6.1 Urban Core and are permitted "by right" _1/. The T6.1 Urban Core by definition as I read it, also provides for multifamily and home ownership structures. In other words, the plan provides for residences in that area.
http://www.ci.ventura.ca.us/depts/comm_dev/downtownplan/chapters/3_development_code.pdf
With that definition in mind, it seems that Christy Weir and her erstwhile planning maven Brian Brennan decided to ignore what they had sold the public as the planning solution - the DSP. Monday night as they superimposed their own will over that of the people, they used as rationale that the City had received some noise complaints from areas of downtown so they now thought that nothing involving residences should be built along that 5 block area.
In addition, Weir said that ""Right now, there is a real demand for offices downtown". Right now? Weir and Brennan are going to overturn thousands of hours of work and thousands of dollars of consultant and city staff time because "right now there is a demand for offices downtown"? Where is her proof and study? You can bet these two would require a lot more proof from someone appearing before them in Council chambers, that's for sure. Maybe like Johnny Carson's fictional character "The Great Karnac" Weir can just find the truth in thin air. Do Weir and Brennan's public policy decisions depend on what they had for breakfast or what side of the bed they arose?
Further, does recent college art department graduate Weir believe her planning and development wisdom should drive the future of downtown? Apparently she does and that's scary.
The article went on to state, "Local architect David Ferrin said the proposed changes were heavy-handed. Ferrin told the council he has a client who wants to build a handful of apartments above a clothing store at the corner of Main and Chestnut streets, next to the Ventura Theater."
We're sorry for you David and too bad for your client. You must have gotten the idea your plan was possible by reading the City's - the ink is still wet - DSP. Sorry David, you fell for what Christy - the snake in the grass - said in the past. Sorry David, those statements and commitments no longer apply.
Poor hapless David in closing said, "There is already so much regulation," he said, adding that many of the buildings in the downtown core are historic and would be difficult to dramatically alter. Weir encouraged the architect to talk to his client about considering office space at the busy corner." Ah yes David, "take this quarter and call someone who cares", as the Travis Tritt C&W song suggests.
As a solution for the obviously public policy-challenged Weir, the right answer was to instruct the police force to continue to enforce the city's noise ordinance. It appears that Ventura's noise ordinance was recently updated and ready for enforcement. But no, these two City Council geniuses' decided to completely redo the published planning policy without calling a forum, meeting or a charrette. Maybe all that planning, talking, talking, planning is just for us citizen folk, not the 7 clowns on the city council? When they want a change, they do it in one night. Maybe it should be Christy Weir for Queen? The heck with democracy... that's for everybody else.
Frank Pecarich
My understanding of "by right" in land use planning is the following:
A permitted use allows land use by right. When a land use is "permitted" by the governing agency, politics don't enter the process. Compliance with the development standards is all that is required.
Submitted by:
Rellis Smith
res@venturastuff.com