17 responses to findings and recommendations
F1
The work of some Community Planning Groups can be delayed by a lack of diverse membership and citizen interest.
Response: Disagree Partially
Score: 0
The City partially disagrees with the Grand Jury's finding. City staff has not seen any evidence that a lack of diversity on CPGs has created project delays. Furthermore, CPGs are independent self-governing organizations which are voluntarily created and maintained by members of communities within the City. Council Policy 600-24 recognizes CPGs as "private organizations" and establishes minimum operating standards for CPGs to follow in order to maintain their status as an advisory body to the City. Article Ill of Council Policy 600-24 as well as the Administrative Guidelines include provisions...
F2
The degree to which members of CPGs are representative of the geographic sections of the community and diverse community interests cannot be determined.
Response: Disagree Partially
Score: 0
The City partially disagrees with the Grand Jury's finding. CPGs provide the City's Planning Department with up-to-date membership rosters each year following the CPG elections. However, the CPGs are independent, self-governing organizations and while a majority provide comprehensive rosters which include information pertaining to the representation of its members, others only provide basic contact information. Council Policy 600-24 does not include a requirement that the City determine the degree to which members of each CPG represent diverse community interests. The CPGs are required to dete...
F3
Selective consolidation of some CPGs in adjacent areas could, in some cases, increase diversity and facilitate the review and processing of development proposals and community plans Fact: CPGs review discretionary projects and make recommendations to the City government on land use matters. Fact: In their advisory capacity Community Planning Groups sometimes request from developers additions or modifications to a project that are unrelated or only marginally related to the proposed development.
Response: Agree
Score: +1
The City agrees with the Grand Jury's finding. See Response to
F4
San Diego City Council Policy 600-24 Guidelines provide sufficient guidance on inappropriate additions or modifications.
Response: Agree
Score: +1
The City agrees with the Grand Jury's finding.
F5
If a request with a marginal relation to a project occurs, it can either be resolved by the city staff without significant delay in the process or form the basis for satisfactory compromises between the developer and the CPG. Fact: San Diego City Council Policy 600-24 and the guidelines relative to that policy provide guidance for the diverse composition of the CPGs. Fact: Diverse membership is necessary to represent the varied residential and business interests of the community. San Diego City ...
Response: Agree
Score: +1
The City agrees with the Grand Jury's finding.
F6
Membership of some CPGs is not sufficiently diverse to represent their communities.
Response: Disagree Partially
Score: 0
The City partially disagrees with the Grand Jury's finding. CPGs are independent, selfgoverning organizations which must adhere to Council Policy 600-24 to be recognized by the City Council. Article Ill of Council Policy 600-24 includes provisions related to assuring a diverse membership representing community interests. Specific categories of membership are further defined in each of the CPG bylaws in accordance with the Bylaws Shell included in Council Policy 600-24. The City does not direct or recommend the election of specific individual members. City staff does recognize that diversity am...
F7
In some cases, there are insufficient volunteers to allow CPGs to maintain a diverse membership.
Response: Disagree Partially
Score: 0
The City partially disagrees with the Grand Jury's finding. In accordance with Council Policy 600-24, members of CPGs shall, to the extent possible, be representative of the various geographic sections of the community and diversified community interests. As independent, selfgoverning organizations, it is incumbent upon each of the CPGs to actively recruit members to represent the diverse groups which are present within their community and have been identified in Article Ill, Section 2 of their bylaws. City staff does recognize that diversity amongst certain CPGs can be improved and is availab...
F8
Neither the CPGs nor the City have recruitment procedures that meet the stated goal of increased diversity. Fact: Members of the City of San Diego’s Planning Department do not attend every CPG meeting.
Response: Disagree Partially
Score: 0
The City partially disagrees with the Grand Jury's finding. Article V, Section 2 of the Council Policy 600-24 Administrative Guidelines includes recommendations related to publicizing CPG elections to attract a diversity of candidates from various membership categories, including having CPGs publicize elections on their websites, sending email blasts, posting notices at public places, placing notices in community newspapers, as well as utilizing the City's TV Channel (TV24) and the City's website. City staff is available as a resource to assist CPGs with recruitment efforts.
F9
Policy, procedure, or development issues sometimes arise during CPG meetings and if left unanswered or incorrectly answered, can result in unnecessary confusion or delays.
Response: Unknown
Score: 0
above, the City provides the option for the Development Services Department's Project Manager to attend the CPG meeting in which a project is being heard, given certain criteria.
Recommendation 18-04: Consider directing the San Diego City Neighborhood Services Department staff to closely monitor CPG actions and provide timely guidance to preclude requests for inappropriate project additions or modifications. Response: The recommendation has been implemented as staff from the City's Development Services Department already monitors CPG actions and provides guidance regarding CPG recommendations...
F10
If members of the City Planning Department attended all CPG meetings, issues could be resolved in a timely manner. Fact: The City of San Diego conducts an annual in-person Community Orientation Workshop (COW) and has an electronic version (eCOW) of that training available on-line. Fact: City of San Diego new CPG members receive training when they initially assume their duties. Fact: Continuing CPG members are not required to review the orientation materials once they have begun serving on the bo...
Response: Disagree
Score: -1
The City disagrees with the Grand Jury's finding. Staff from the City's Planning Department are primarily focused on long-range planning. In most instances, questions which arise in the development review process relate to other disciplines (traffic, engineering, environmental, etc), and therefore a single staff member may not be able to address project-related issues. This would require staff from many different disciplines to attend the CPG meetings, similar to the Planning Commission and City Council hearings. It is the responsibility of the project applicant to be able to address any quest...
F11
The training provided by the City of San Diego - the Community Orientation Workshop (COW) or the electronic version (eCOW) - provides adequate preparation for new CPG members.
Response: Agree
Score: +1
The City agrees with the Grand Jury's finding.
F12
Periodic review of training materials would help continuing board members stay current on the Brown Act and changes in City policies.
Response: Agree
Score: +1
The City agrees with the Grand Jury's finding. RESPONSE TO RECOMMENDATIONS:
18-01
consolidation of some CPGs should take place.
Response: Unknown
Score: 0
below. Finding 4: San Diego City Council Policy 600-24 Guidelines provide sufficient guidance on inappropriate additions or modifications. Response: The City agrees with the Grand Jury's finding.
Finding 5: If a request with a marginal relation to a project occurs, it can either be resolved by the city staff without significant delay in the process or form the basis for satisfactory compromises between the developer and the CPG. Response: The City agrees with the Grand Jury's finding. Finding 6: Membership of some CPGs is not sufficiently diverse to represent their communities. Response: The ...
18-02
Determine if the Planning Department should develop methods and provide
Response: Implemented
Score: 0
The recommendation has been implemented as the Planning Department has already taken steps to develop some tools to assist CPGs in both understanding the current makeup of membership within their group and developing a list of potential methods which CPGs can utilize to improve their recruitment process and meet the objective of this recommendation. This includes the creation of a standard template for CPG rosters, which requires each CPG to identify the membership category for every member. Further, the Planning Department is working with the City's Performance and Analytics Department to dev...
18-03
Determine if members of the Planning Department staff should attend all
Response: Implemented
Score: 0
The recommendation has been implemented as staff from the Planning Department did an evaluation of the staff resources necessary to attend all CPG meetings every month. It was determined that the addition of 7 new Associate Planners would be necessary to perform this function. A preliminary analysis of the costs determined that the current average annual cost including salary and benefits for an Associate Planner is $106,630. Therefore, there would be an annual budget impact of an additional $746,410 for the Planning Department to fund these positions. Following this evaluation the Planning De...
18-04
Consider directing the San Diego City Neighborhood Services Department
Response: Implemented
Score: 0
The recommendation has been implemented as staff from the City's Development Services Department already monitors CPG actions and provides guidance regarding CPG recommendations as provided within policy documents and staff procedures. Further, staff Proactively discusses this subject during CPG trainings including the COW, PCOW, and Project Review Trainings. Staff from the Development Services Department and the Planning Department will continue to review the standard documents distributed to both CPGs and applicants to ensure they provide clear and up to date instructions.
18-05
Determine if all CPG members should be required to complete the eCOW
Response: Implemented
Score: 0
The recommendation has been implemented. City staff has determined that it would be beneficial to require that all CPG members either take the eCOW or attend an in-person COW every two years as a refresher.
