The meeting drew a larger than usual crowd for the Commission's 9 a.m. Thursday Feb. 20 meeting at the Bay Shore Library.

The Belmont Shore Parking and Business Improvement Area Advisory Commission (BSPBIAAC), created by the City Council, consists of seven members chosen by the Mayor and confirmed by the City Council. Three advisory Commission members must own real property in the designated geographic area; three must operate a business within the area -- at least two of whom must be members of Belmont Shore Business Association's Board of Directors -- and one member must be a Belmont Shore resident

LBREPORT.com provides on-demand audio of the proceedings [not currently available on City Hall's website but expected in the coming days.] As is routine, there was no audio amplification in the library's community room; we captured ambient audio; the result is intelligible but less than our optimal quality. The audio is in two sections because the meeting paused briefly to enable some people to feed coins into nearby parking meters.)

First section

Second section

City staff brought artist drawings of the proposed surface lot (below).

The President of the Belmont Shore Residents Association, Terence Enderson, displayed historical documents (dating from 1989), City Hall studies and Council actions in opposition.

Other residents said City Hall's actions had enabled intensified business uses on 2nd St. and worsened the parking situation. BSRA Secretary Jeff Miller testified that if the Commission supports paying what he portrayed as a high price for eight parking spaces, the Council might rethink its current policy that lets the Commission use Belmont Shore parking meter revenue for Belmont Shore items (parking meter revenue elsewhere goes into the General Fund for citywide uses.)

"[T]hink carefully before even thinking about proceeding with this house purchase and having this issue brought up to City Council, where I think many of the Council members might think about is it really a good use of parking meter revenue when the city is so strapped for cash to spend upwards, close to a million dollars, to purchase and develop eight parking places. The City Council might just decide that that's not a good thing and they might take that revenue back from this Commission and put it back into the General Fund. We would all lose if that happens, so please think about this and reject this idea," Mr. Miller said.

Two speakers testified in support: one was a Shore business owner, the other was Mike Sheldrake, President of the Belmont Shore Business Association, who said that "those who are opposed to this project, instead of just arguing about it, I would suggest you consider forming an investment group and purchasing the property."

Advisory Commission chair Bill Lorbeer said the business community has for years been paying an annual assessment (after voting to form a Mello-Roos self-assessment district) whose revenue he said was intended to facilitate purchasing property to provide parking. Mr. Lorbeer said the property parcel immediately adjacent to an alley is zoned to permit parking.

After voting 4-1 to support City purchase of the property, the Commission approved a separate but related motion (advanced by Commissioner Kurt Schneiter) to ask that the City Council consider, if legally possible, compensating the adjoining homeowner with cash or portion of property if an appraisal were to show a decline in their property value.

The property at 205 La Verne had been publicly listed for sale when the Council, in a November 5, 2013 closed session, voted 9-0 to authorize management to make an offer on the property, which the seller accepted in December subject to contingencies. Completing the transaction would require City Council voted approval in a public session.

Some speakers called the action secretive and objected to inviting public testimony after the City had already taken steps to purchase the property. Commission President Lorbeer said it would have been counter-productive to discuss purchasing the property before making an offer to purchase it, said there will be additional opportunities for the public to be heard (Planning Comm'n and City Council), noted that the Commission's vote is advisory only...and said the policy of seeking to acquire properties (not by eminent domain but via Mello-Roos sums) had been publicly on the books for years.

City staff present at the meeting indicated the City's offer brought a counter-offer that was accepted in early December. There was no December advisory Commission meeting and the property purchase wasn't agendized for the Commission's January meeting.

The issue is now poised to percolate first to the non-elected Planning Commission and ultimately to the elected City Council...entering an election cycle which includes the 3rd Council district.

Developing with further to follow on LBREPORT.com.

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