Term limits for planning, sponsor group chairs rejected

A Dec. 5 San Diego County Board of Supervisors hearing on the board policy which covers community planning and sponsor groups resulted in the adoption of training requirements, rejection of a proposal to limit consecutive service as a planning or sponsor group chair, and referral to county staff of proposals to change the public noticing requirements and to allow non-resident business or property owners to serve on planning groups.

Board Policy I-1, which addresses planning and sponsor groups, was adopted in March 1968. “These groups were directed to work closely with local residents and the community,” said county Land Use and Environment Group program manager Megan Jones.

The county has 18 community planning groups and eight community sponsor groups. Community planning group members are elected by residents of their community planning area and currently must be registered voters in that planning area. Community sponsor group members are appointed by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, and residence within the planning area is not necessary.

“Their contributions on behalf of the communities are valued by county staff,” said deputy chief administrative officer Sarah Aghassi.

In addition to advising the county on discretionary land use projects, the planning and sponsor groups’ opinions are solicited by the county’s Department of Public Works for capital improvements and Traffic Advisory Committee regulatory matters, the county’s Department of Parks and Recreation, the county’s Department of Housing and Community Development (which administers Community Development Block Grant funding), the Sheriff’s Department, the California Department of Transportation, the U.S. Border Patrol, local fire and water districts, and other governmental agencies. “County planning and sponsor groups are valuable resources to the county,” Jones said.

In April 2011, the county supervisors created a Red Tape Reduction Task Force to examine the land development permitting process and identify potential operational improvements. Most of the task force’s 35 recommendations were adopted in early 2012 or dismissed as redundant.

One of the most controversial recommendations was a proposal to eliminate or restrict planning and sponsor groups. In March 2012, the county supervisors opposed the elimination or other curtailment of the advisory groups but directed county staff to develop a policy on training which included requiring training before being seated, requiring annual in-person or on-line training, and making indemnification of members contingent upon completion of training and “good standing” (defined as one or fewer Brown Act or Policy I-1 violations).

Although the supervisors rejected the task force’s proposal for member term limits at the March 28 hearing, they directed county staff to explore options for rotating the service of group chairs.

As county staff was developing the revised policy, additional clarifications and updates were added. Although the supervisors rejected the task force suggestion to eliminate free planning or sponsor group appeals of a county Planning Commission decision to the Board of Supervisors, the revisions clarify that free appeals only extend to projects within the appealing group’s planning area (including a road if the development itself is in another planning area). The revisions also clarified that a group’s official recommendation must be to the county; it can still make a recommendation to the county if a third party such as Caltrans or an Indian government solicits the group’s opinion and may send a copy of its recommendation to the third party, but since the county itself will be working with that third party the official recommendation will be to the county.

Chairs and vice-chairs of planning and sponsor groups are elected annually by a group majority. Most groups do not limit the number of consecutive years a member may serve as chair or vice-chair (the Jamul-Dulzura Community Planning Group rotates its chair). County staff offered the alternatives of annual rotation with no term limits, group-selected chairs and vice chairs with term limits, and annual rotation based on seniority.

The county currently places advertisements of planning and sponsor group agendas in local newspapers. The Brown Act only requires a legal notice of the meeting, and county staff proposed a 2-inch by 4-inch advertisement with the time and location of the meeting and a Website where the agenda could be located. In addition to cost savings issues (the county currently spends about $90,000 annually on such notices), eliminating notice of a full agenda would allow the chair to agendize additional items with the proper 72-hour notice.

Jim Russell has chaired the Fallbrook Community Planning Group since 1988, the second-longest service in the county. Russell told the supervisors that the Fallbrook Community Planning Group also serves as Fallbrook’s design review board and that it has five standing committees. “The planning group hears the same projects that the Board of Supervisors hears,” Russell said. “It takes a pretty strong board to hear points of view that disagree.”

Russell explained that the county supervisors, who rotate their chair annually, have staff and also have security personnel if meetings become unruly while the planning groups have only a chair to keep the meeting in order. “Not everyone can do that,” he said.

Russell also favors retaining the full agenda being posted in the newspaper for community readers. “They’ve come to rely on it pretty heavily,” he said. “This is pretty much a pretty radical departure.”

Jack Wood is the first vice-chair of the Fallbrook Community Planning Group and the chair of the group’s Land Use Committee. He doubted that rotation of chairs would be beneficial. “They’re not all qualified to run a meeting as our current chairman is,” he said. “We have to draw on what we feel are the most qualified people.”

Wood noted that members assess each other before voting for the chair and vice-chair positions.

Wood also opposed the smaller advertisement. “A 2-by-4, I would miss it,” he said.

“People rely on our local weekly newspaper and it’s very important that they have an idea of what’s going on,” Wood said.

Wood explained his awareness of other Fallbrook citizens reading the agenda in the Fallbrook/Bonsall Village News. “People cut it out and they bring it to the meeting,” he said.

“The rest I don’t have any particular issues with,” Wood said of the proposed changes. “A lot of the recommendations that have been made are certainly positive.”

Supervisor Ron Roberts suggested that the newspapers themselves might print the agenda since it is of interest to the community, but not all newspapers are able to do that.

Jack Phillips, who has chaired the Valle de Oro Community Planning Group since 1981, is the longest-serving chair. He noted the various other groups who interact with chairs and told the supervisors that the changes would interfere with the planning group’s ability to represent the community. “Many of the revisions still restrict the functioning of a planning group,” he said.

Josan Feathers lives in the Casa de Oro part of the Valle de Oro planning area. “Institutional knowledge would be lost,” she said of proposed chair term limits. “The leadership will be inconsistent and possibly chaotic.”

Donna Tisdale, who has chaired the Boulevard advisory group since 1990, is the next most experienced chair after Phillips and Russell. Feathers noted that 54 percent of the 26 chairs have been in that position for more than four years. “These leaders’ experience and knowledge is essential to comprehend the intricacies,” Feathers said.

At one time Russell planned to step down as chair after 12 years in that position, but nobody who could obtain board support to replace Russell desired that office. Feathers added that the Board of Supervisors has a staff of paid professionals while planning groups have no such staff.

“We support the training,” said Pala-Pauma sponsor group chair Charles Mathews.

Because a sponsor group member need not live in the planning area, the sponsor group includes Pala tribal chair Robert Smith, who was officially appointed by the Board of Supervisors on April 3. Smith served the remainder of the term which will expire in January but opted not to seek another term, and the night prior to the Board of Supervisors hearing the sponsor group recommended Rincon tribal vice-chair Stephanie Spencer for appointment. Mathews noted the importance of planning and sponsor groups being able to interact with third parties such as Caltrans and tribal governments. “We believe that we have to work together as a community,” he said. “Part of that is to be able to address these issues.”

The requirement that recommendations be made to the county does not preclude representatives from other governmental agencies being placed on a planning or sponsor group agenda.

Mathews also opposed the reduction of notice advertising. “In my mind it is detrimental to full community involvement,” he said.

The Dec. 5 meeting was the last for Supervisor Pam Slater-Price, who retired after 20 years on the Board of Supervisors. Slater-Price started her political career on the San Dieguito Community Planning Group in 1982. “In that rural environment people do things a little bit differently than in cities,” she said. “We don’t want to provide any barriers to people getting information.”

Slater-Price remembers being on the planning group as a novice. “The chair made everything clear,” she said. “The chair has to run the meeting and keep order and they also have to have a good knowledge of their community and the background.”

Supervisor Bill Horn suggested that the county could notice a less detailed agenda. “I do think a notice should be in the newspaper. It doesn’t have to be a full agenda,” he said.

“We want to have an open government and have everything available,” Horn said. “You do need to have a small outline at least the size of an obituary.”

Horn said his opinion was that those with professional interests tend to look at Websites more often than most community citizens. “We’re not all civil engineers that have a project that’s going before the county,” he said.

Horn was willing to support long-term limits on chairs as a compromise but opposes rotation of chairs. “You do need to be aware of what’s happening,” he said.