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Easterling sworn in as newest member of planning group
By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun
ALPINE — A seat on the Alpine Planning Group, which has remained empty for several months, was filled last Thursday as Jim Easterling was sworn in, by former chairman Mark Price. His confirmation to the seat has been months in the coming and has spurred much controversy in the community.
Anyone who has followed along in the pages of The Alpine Sun recently, has, no doubt, seen the spate of opinion coming from residents regarding his nomination to the seat. Most of the letters raised concerns about Easterling’s ties to development companies in the county, and the placement of another developer on the board.
After being sworn in, Easterling tried to address some of those concerns. He read parts of a letter to the editor from Campo resident Mike Thometz to
The Alpine Sun, in which Thometz calls for the withdrawal of Easterling’s nomination on the grounds that the group did not adhere to the law.
“I want to try to address some of the concerns that have been raised about my appointment,” Easterling said. “I am not a developer… I do work for a company that is involved with the building of high rises… but those are only in the city of San Diego.”
The seat in question was vacated by Scott Lamb in September when he moved out of Alpine. As he had done in the past, then-chairman Mark Price advertised the vacancy prior to its having been declared — an oversight to which several members objected.
A hard-fought vote between candidates at the October meeting resulted in the majority approval of Easterling and a minority report objecting to the standing rules violation brought a letter from District 2 Supervisor Dianne Jacob.
Easterling’s appointment would have been on a November board of supervisor’s agenda, but Jacob delayed it in order to review the minority report filed by APG members Jane Fitz and Paul Rohal. The report said the group’s standing rule regarding appointment of new members to a vacant seat was not followed when the group took action on the undeclared vacancy.
Jacob said she reviewed a tape of the October proceedings before making the decision that Fitz and Rohal were correct.
In a Dec. 2 letter to the group, Jacob upheld the minority, writing, “…the APG standing rules have not been followed and therefore I am returning this appointment back to the Alpine Community Planning Group so that the item can be considered in accordance with the APG Standing Rules.”
Price then placed on the group’s Dec. 8 agenda, consideration of a motion to suspend the rule and fill the seat. Just before the meeting, he removed it: “The minority seemed determined to have us vote on the announcement of the vacancy,” Price said. “After giving it thought, I decided to see if they were serious about voting on a vacancy or whether they were more interested in stalling the appointment. I gave them that opportunity.”
The vacancy was not declared, due to an argument over the language on the agenda, and Price later announced the Jan. 11 special meeting with suspension of the standing rule and filling of the vacancy as the chief items.
At that meeting, after suspending the groups’ rules regarding the filling of vacancies, Easterling was voted in by eight members of the board, with Fitz saying “no vote,” and Cheryl Lenz, Joe Forlenza, Rohal and Ned Holmes abstaining.
Easterling has been a resident in Alpine for more than 20 years and has been active in various groups include Kiwanis. He currently serves as the vice-president of the Alpine Fire Protection District board of directors.
Cell Sites:
New cell site proposals in Alpine, and throughout the Back Country, have been plentiful in recent months. One Alpine resident was on hand at Thursday’s meeting to argue against one particular such site.
“They seem to be able to put cell sites up at will,” said Rocky Anderson. “I wanted to build a two-car garage on my property and got turned down flat, but now my neighbor wants to put in a cell site…that’s my complaint.”
Board members discussed the cell site situation during the meeting, ultimately finding that their hands were largely tied on the issue.
“The feds have been getting their hands in this,” said Chairman Jim Mowry.
Doug Benson added that cell sites have been mandated by the federal government for communications purposes, and that they have the ultimate say about where they will be placed.
According to Joe Forlenza, chairman of the cell tower ADHOC committee of the APG, Alpine’s cell tower master plan is currently under review at the county level. He expects that to receive input from the county in the next few weeks.
Rocrest/Lilac:
Residents who had asked for the removal of a proposed road connection along Rocrest and Lilac Roads, were vindicated at Thursday’s APG meeting, as the board voted unanimously to support sending a letter to the county requesting the removal from working maps.
The concern was incited by a road proposal from the county as part of the General Plan 2020 process. The proposal would add, to the GP 2020 circulation plan, a connection from Rocrest south to Lilac.
There was some confusion among residents and subcommittee members about why the proposal was still on the map, after having been denounced several times.
“This connection would allow a tremendous amount of traffic from Alpine Heights, right down through our quiet little community,” said Maryann Anderson. “These two roads are private roads, and maintained by the property owners.”
The letter will go to the county and to GP 2020 Alpine planner, Bob Citrano.
The GP 2020 process has been ongoing for several years, and according to Price, a pushed-back target date of summer 2007 has been set for acceptance.
Parks:
Parks and Recreation subcommittee chairman Brad Bailey updated the group about the current offer from resident Tom Dyke to donate 40 acres and sell 10 acres of land to be used for a park in Alpine.
Many group members were concerned about the perception that the 40-acre parcel donation was contingent on the county purchasing the smaller parcel. According to Bailey, Dyke attended the last subcommittee meeting and informed the group that there was no such contingency.
Price asked about Dyke’s condition that a non-denominational chapel be built on one of the sites. Bailey said that the chapel was still a condition on the properties.
“He can add any condition he wants to the offer,” Bailey said.
The subcommittee is still looking at several other sites on the parks list to the county.
“We’re looking at Wright’s Field still, and we’re still looking at the other options,” Bailey said.
“I think that it would really be a disservice to this community to take any of the options off the list until it’s a done deal,” Price said.
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted Jan. 31 to have county staffers look into access and lighting issues for a 40-acre parcel, and to explore whether money is available to pay for a smaller 10-acre parcel.
“I am committed to helping the community of Alpine acquire the park land, and this action is the first step in working to accomplish that goal,” said District 2 Supervisor Dianne Jacob.
“In my opinion, Alpine is closer than ever to having a large active park,” said George Barnett, chairman of the Active Parks and Recreation Committee of Jacob’s Alpine Revitalization Steering Committee. “It looks like we have a bona fide offer from Tom Dyke — let's really charge at this.”
According to Barnett, no cost has yet been set for the 10-acre property, but Dyke is willing to consider “a very favorable price.” An appraisal of the land, located adjacent to the Tavern Road on-ramp, will be among the duties of county staff.
Standing rules:
After a coordinating committee meeting held on Feb. 16, the APG addressed the issue of suspending the group’s standing rules. At that meeting, the group created a list of suggested changes to the rules for this year.
One major concern was raised about the wording of item ‘G’ on the list, which states that, if there is a belief of a violation of the standing rules, the allegation and the proof must be brought forward at that time. The group will then vote on the alleged violation. If the vote affirms the allegation, the group may then vote to suspend the rule that has been violated.
“This pretty much says that ‘we’ll have the rule, but if anyone disagrees with the rule, we can vote to suspend those rules,” said Leona Bennett. “This could really be a slippery slope.”
Price, seconded by George Wood, moved to accept the changes and send them to the county for final approval. Some members asked that the changes should be vetted by county staff, prior to the APG accepting them.
“I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t let the county look at these before we vote,” said John Goddard. “It could help to alleviate come of the tensions in the community.”
A substitute motion to send to the county first failed for lack of a quorum, with Doug Benson, Pat Cannon, Easterling, Mowry, Price, Larry Urdahl and Wood voting no. The original motion passed with a vote of nine, Fitz and Rohal voted no, and Forlenza abstained.
Other APG news:
Larry Urdahl stepped up to take the position of group secretary at the meeting, but had to step down as chairman of the trails subcommittee due to time constraints. That position will be filled at the next APG meeting. If no planning group members will take the job, the seat will be open to members of the public.
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