With Thanksgiving just around the corner, the city council dispatched its November 17 agenda in near record time. Most every action item was moved to the consent calendar, to be voted on without discussion or opposition, and passed unanimously.
The one exception was a public hearing to consider Mills Act agreements. Even so, the hearing, including the staff report and discussion, took less than a half-hour. Handing out turkeys and pie certificates to the winners of the Recreation Department’s annual Poster Coloring Contest winners took almost twice as much time.
“It was the smoothest Mills Act [hearing] I’ve ever sat through,” said Mayor Casey Tanaka.
The council added 11 new properties that met criteria for historic preservation. In exchange for not making any renovations to the outside of the house without explicit permission from the city council, owners get a 50% reduction in property taxes each year. The vote was 5-0.
In the 15 years since the city implemented the program, pioneered by State Senator Jim Mills in 1972, it has approved 72 properties and forgone $4,063,682 in tax revenues. “That’s how much we care about historic preservation in this town,” Councilwoman Carrie Downey noted in casting her vote to approve the list of homes.
The council also approved agendizing Councilman Bill Sandke’s plan to place speed cameras from the bridge to Orange Avenue in the Third and Fourth Street corridor. The idea, if adopted at a future council meeting, will require a change in California law. Currently the state bans speed cameras.
City Manager Blair King fleshed out the selection criteria for the Airport Land Use Compatibility Plan (ALUCP) working group. The proposed list includes representatives from the Coronado Real Estate Association, the Coronado Historical Association, Coronado Unified School District, property owners and elected officials.
He said that the city would try to appoint people from each of these groups with some knowledge of the issues. He gave as a hypothetical example, school board member Rear Admiral Lou Smith, a former port commissioner with broad knowledge of aviation issues and Air Installation Compatible Use Zones (AICUZ), a document that serves as a template for the ALUCP.
Besides the participants appointed by the city council, Tanaka said the Airport Authority, the lead agency for ALUCP, had told him and others at a meeting last week that it wanted to involve as many people as possible in the process. “Anyone who wants to be involved can be included,” Tanaka said. He encouraged people in the community to do so.
ALUCP is of great importance to the City of Coronado because it will impact some 400 residents, dozens of businesses and the city’s best-known landmark – the Hotel del Coronado.
AICUZ recommends placing all structures in the Naval Air Station North Island flight path in an Accident Potential Zone (APZ), a designation that doesn’t permit homes or the types of businesses that are there now because of safety considerations.
“With its expansive APZs, [AICUZ] could, if fully implemented, have devastating economic consequences on numerous individual property owners as well as the city of Coronado as a whole,” said William J. Dodds, Vice-President of the Hotel Del.
There was some discussion during oral communications about the new bicycle fines that will go into effect on January 1.
Resident Bill Dorr pointed out that he had never seen anyone get a ticket for riding without a light. “Bicyclists can see very well, but motor vehicles can’t see them, especially going 35 miles an hour,” he said. Because the practice is so risky, Dorr suggested that the city consider issuing “fix it” tickets for this type of violations to encourage people to comply instead of fining them.
Police Chief Jon Froomin explained that while there wasn’t a “fix it” ticket option in the new regulations, if a bicyclist had a non-working light on his bike, the police may issue a written warning in lieu of a ticket, just as they do for motorists.
The idea behind the lower fines is to encourage the police to more issue citations, King said. The fine for the first offense is affordable, even for a middle school or high school student, Tanaka added. If a bicyclist is caught doing the same thing a second or third time in a year, the cost escalates.
The first violation totals $85, the second $105 and the third $130. Each of those amounts includes the $80 court fee, exploding the cost of the modest fines that range from $5 to $50.
Lastly, the city council reappointed Dave Gillingham and Susan Keith to the Historic Resources Commission.
