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PODCAST and ARTICLE. Podcast from the San Mateo County Coastside Design Review Committee on Thursday, October 10th, 2024 in person at 504 Avenue Alhambra, 3rd Floor, El Granada and as a hybrid meeting. The Board of Supervisors appoints the Coastside Design Review Committee (CDRC) to ensure that new development is compatible with the physical setting of the site and the visual character of the Montara, Moss Beach, El Granada, Miramar and Princeton communities. Contact Luis Topete, Design Review Officer (650) 363-1825.
Agenda for 10/10/2024.
Story Pole Petition by David Alumbaugh “Story Poles Requirement: Change to SMC Coastside Demonstration of Project Scale Policy”
and
Story Pole Petition by Birgitta Bower “Bring back the story poles“
Story Pole Demonstration of Scale Policy, July 11th 2024.
Story Pole Correspondence to the CDRC. “Half Moon Bay has story poles, the unincorporated Coastside doesn’t. Clearly, someone doesn’t want story poles and they are winning. But if it is not the CDRC, not the County, not the Community, who is it?” ~ Birgitta Bower
The Case of the Missing Story Poles by Birgitta Bower, October 2024
The Coastside has been without story poles for 4 1/2 years. If you didn’t have a house going up in your immediate neighborhood, you probably don’t care, and if you are a builder, you were relieved that it only took a poster to “demonstrate scale” as is required for the design review. Pre May 2020, everybody put up story poles as a matter of course. Then the County discovered a legal slip up: the Policy used could not legally require story poles. Their solution was to put out a Policy saying you could use a poster instead of story poles if you preferred. After 4 years, in July 2024 , they revised that Policy, but the main point is still the same, you can do a poster if you prefer.
So why didn’t they just fix the Policy to make story poles required, since that is what the “County and the community prefer” according to the latest Policy? That’s the mystery. Where to find the clues?
You can listen to/watch audio/videos from the monthly CDRC (Coastal Design Review Committee) meetings. Unfortunately the meetings are only audio after May 2021 (According to note in “Chair Reports”: “County Council is reluctant to approve publishing the CDRC Zoom video meetings because of legal ramifications”). The sound is not great, and without video it’s hard to follow who is speaking.“ The October 2024 meeting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o43PFXhjDso&t=3s) had 2 hours specifically dedicated to the story poles.
There are also clues in the posted “Chair Reports”. They start in 2016, but they end for some reason in August of 2022. Here are some excerpts from the chair report notes that illustrate the torturous process of trying to bring back the story poles.
March 14, 2019: “Policy Note: The requirement for Story Poles is not a codified regulation and therefore not a hard requirement and is subject to the discretion of the committee.”
November 14, 2019: “Staff usually requires story poles, except in situations where vegetation or topography is prohibitive.”
February 13, 2020: “See links by Katie for other Story Pole docs. Katie researches the cost of story pole builds = $2,000 to install, $ 1,000 per visit by surveyor to certify. Mark suggests using measuring tape fixed to pole from FG to Ridge, instead of Surveyor Certification cost and effort.”
June 11, 2020: “ A Draft Story Pole Ordinance is in process. See 6/11/2020 email sent by Katie Kostiuk which follows CDRC discussion. CDRC would like for this Ordinance to be processed as an Urgent Ordinance. Process to be clarified by county staff…”
November 12, 2020 “CDRC cannot require Story Poles as a Policy, though could require Story Poles if adopted as an Ordinance. Story Pole Policy to Demonstrate Project Scale using Story Poles or other option. Until further notice, CDRC will use the May 28, 2020 doc until a new Story Pole Ordinance is adopted”.
“Future Direction – CDRD prefers for story poles to be a “requirement”. A Draft Story Pole/ Demonstration of Scale Ordinance is in process. See CDRC approved 7/9/2020 doc ATTACH B, https://www.smcgov.org/media/76036/download?inline=) sent a letter on Oct 7th, 2020 to Staff requesting the doc be used in the formal Public Process for the new Ordinance.”
“Director Steve Monowitz has directed staff via Planner III, Ruemel Panglao to develop the new Ordinance requiring a Demonstration of Scale, a change to Design Review Regulations, including the application for Design Review. Staff intends for broader public access process to include developers, homeowners, design professionals, and others. Ruemel to develop a work plan.”
January 14, 2021: “Ruemel Panglao has drafted the new Ordinance requiring a Demonstration of Scale, a change to Design Review Regulations, including the application for Design Review. Staff intends for a broader public access process to include developers, homeowners, design professionals, and others. Ruemel to distribute the Work Plan to CDRC after the Draft has been approved by Steve Monowitz. Ruemel to ask Joe LaClair if the CDRC and public can provide input to the approve Draft (i.e., ref letters from the public sent to CDRC for specific projects in Design Review, esp July 9 2020)”
March 11, 2021: “Ruemel has noted – The more complicated than expected Story Pole Work Plan is required because to refer to “A Demonstration of Scale” vs just Story Poles: which must go through due process. An urgency Ordinance is a type of Board of Supervisors Resolution and takes almost the same amount of time. There would need to be some community urgency expressed. Steve Monowitz and Joe LaClair did not think this Ordinance rose to the level of urgency. Ruemel to report on the external stakeholder outreach plan at CDRC meeting, date to be determined.”
April 8, 2021: “County is working on obtaining a facilitation consultant for the external stakeholder outreach plan. The first public hearing is projected for Aug 2021. 4/8/2021 Melissa Ross is the new San Mateo County Planning Services Manager, managing the long range planning efforts which includes the Demonstration of Scale Project.”
September 9, 2021: “Status: Ruemel is working on a Survey that will precede the Public Meeting. Ruemel along with the Office of Community Affairs, Mediation Consultants, and Supervisor Don Horsley’s Staff develop and execute an Outreach program that includes survey monkey and an outdoor event booth with Spanish translation.”
October 14, 2021:”Status: All survey edits have been received and will be distributed to senior staff for confirmation. The Outreach Program Development is in process with input from the Office of Community Affairs.”
July 14 2022: “SMC long term planning has shelved the outline for adopting a story pole ordinance as a requirement until further notice. Proposals – Attention notice: to Applicant from Planner. It is highly recommended that story poles be installed especially when the mass exceeds the typical mass of the average neighboring homes.”
The last Chair note is in August 2022. So long story short: May 2020 there was a new Policy for Demonstration of scale, story poles were recommended, but not enforceable. The CDRC tried to get an Urgency Ordinance for required story poles with a letter in July 2020. Then there was going to be public outreach, but in March 2021, lacking “community urgency”, the Planning Director killed the effort. Surveys and outreach was then planned. Then all efforts from the County ended in July 2022. The CDRC has kept on talking about the story poles at every meeting since. For some reason the County went through the trouble of making a new Policy in July 2024, that functions the same as the 2020 Policy.
That brings us to the October 2024 CDRC meeting. 6 members out of 8 present (there are 5 vacancies). At least one member of the CDRC (also a builder) doesn’t want the story poles back. The cost of building story poles was discussed. Now it is not $2000 to install & $1000 to inspect as noted in 2020, but numbers like $8000 and $10,000 were mentioned. So quite costly and considered too much to expect from home builders by some members, although I think a builder present mentioned $1000 just to make the poster with the designs. Some thought that neighbors could pay for story poles since it was for their benefit. Another argument against story poles was the waste of the orange plastic webbing (that another member/builder said he just rolled up), and wood posts (that the same member/builder said he reused) was said to be environmentally problematic. A tape on a post to illustrate height was suggested instead of the inspection of the story poles to make it more affordable. The County planner wanted a vote; 4 members wanted the story poles, one didn’t, one wanted story poles, but only if the builders got compensated some other way, so they didn’t “suffer death by a thousand cuts”.
The story pole saga will continue. Hopefully the public outreach that was planned in 2021 is going to happen at some point. If you want to try and influence things now here is a story pole petition by David Alumbaugh and “Bring Back the Story Poles” by Birgitta Bower.
Actually, there may be more important changes in the works than the story poles coming back or not.
Mentioned at the October 2024 meeting, and also in the notes over the years, is a desire from the County to change the Design Review Standards that the CDRC bases their work on. At the meeting you can hear County Planner Camille Leung mention that the standards need to be more “objective”. I wrote and asked her “why”, but she only referred to what she was saying at the October meeting and it is beyond me to find the answer.
The ADU (auxiliary dwellings unit) rules set by the State of California calls for “ministerial review”, as in objective standards, that doesn’t require CDRC or planning committee input. Depending what degree of ‘objective’ the County wants for houses in general, it puts the role of story poles and the CDRC into question. Curiously the County simultaneously thinks the CDRC is useful for expanded tasks. It is mentioned in the notes that the CDRC could take on reviewing commercial buildings. Also, at the start of the October 2024 meeting Camille Leung mentioned that the County wants the CDRC to sign off on their CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) decisions. The Moss Beach representative asks ‘why’ and objects that the CDRC doesn’t have that competence. Camille Leung replies they could get a 15 minute talk on the topic to take care of that.
The CDRC members often lament that people are only interested in their work when it affects them personally, they want more public involvement, and the CDRC needs to fill vacancies and some terms are expiring soon. I think it would be great if some of our current representatives could reach out to the Coastside Community and comment on the story poles, the work they do and the purpose of the new “objective” Design Standards. Their mission is stated as “to ensure that new development is compatible with the physical setting of the site and the character” of the Coastside, and that is important to all of us.
Author: Coastside Buzz
Me
