Council OKs $100,000 for Planning Blueprint

City officials on Monday agreed to spend $100,000 on a process to help residents and civic and business leaders draft a 30-year vision for the city.

The effort is seen as a precursor to a planned update of the city’s Comprehensive Plan, a blueprint for city development last revised in 1989.

The money will be used by a six-member committee of City Council and Planning Commission members that will oversee a 40- to 50-member advisory group of citizens, business leaders, environmentalists and others.

The overriding goal, officials say, is to put the city in charge of its destiny, rather than reacting to the real estate market and development proposals.

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Many in the city “feel like everything is being done to us, either by these outside forces that come into town, or that come into play politically,” said Councilman Sandy Smith, chairman of the new committee.

The planning effort will unfold throughout the year, with subcommittees focusing on topics such as economic vitality, the environment and architectural design.

The money approved by the council on Monday may be used to hire consultants to guide the politicians and citizens through the process, as well as to cover printing, copying, postage and other administrative expenses.

Smith, however, said he and others want to keep spending to a minimum and “guard against hiring out-of-town consultants to tell us what to do with our town.”

Participants plan to take on some of the city’s most pressing and controversial topics, such as erosion problems on the beaches, use of vacant commercial lots, the possibility of upscale housing in the now-vacant hillside canyons, growth limits and housing density.

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The work will eventually be folded into the Comprehensive Plan, which is scheduled for an update in 2000.

“We see it not as being top driven, but driven from the bottom up,” said Councilman Brian Brennan, who along with Smith and Councilman Jim Monahan will represent the council in the effort.

Meetings of the six-member committee will initially be held every other week, and will be open to the public. Any policy-setting decisions will be made by the full City Council.

The the panel’s next meeting is scheduled for Monday at 8 a.m. in the City Council conference room at City Hall.