Council Candidates Share Concerns for Pacifica
Five candidates for the three seats on the Pacifica City Council met with dozens of potential constituents over the weekend at the Sharp Park Golf Course restaurant for a public forum. It was a chance for candidates to discuss their thoughts on the biggest issues on the coast and how they plan to address them.
Robby Bancroft and Christine Boles are running for the seat in District 2. Paul Chervatin and incumbent Councilmember Sue Beckmeyer are looking to represent District 5. And Mayor Mary Bier is running unopposed in District 3. More than 70 people attended the meeting and had the option to buy and eat breakfast during the two-hour event. The forum was hosted and moderated by Pacifica Democrats and streamed live on Pacific Coast TV.
Affordable housing was one of the more passionate topics during the session. Chervatin, who opened by saying he ran largely to oppose development on San Pedro Mountain, suggested much of the city’s required 1,892 Regional Housing Needs Allocation mandated by the state should go to senior housing. The housing allotment is a massive increase from the 419 units allowed in the last cycle.
“In order to build affordable housing, we have to have the land use and zoning policies in place to do so,” Bier said. “We have the opportunity to do that right now with our Sharp Park Specific Plan. It’s an opportunity for our community to let us know you want to have housing.”
“If we are not building what we need, we may lose local control over our planning decisions and grant funding to build this kind of housing,” Boles said. “(The state) is going to focus on the cities that have a plan in place to do it, and our track record is already a hindrance to them believing we can do this.”
Other major themes included planning, homelessness, climate change and the budget deficit. All candidates emphasized a need to adopt comprehensive plans to address housing, traffic and sea level rise. Beckmeyer, who was elected to council in 2018 before the city switched to district elections in 2020, noted that the council had made progress by updating the 40-year-old General Plan and submitted a draft Land Use Plan to the California Coastal Commission. Part of the reason things are the way they are on the planning front, she said, was because the plan was out of date, and it has taken longer than expected to update the plan with new data on sea level rise.
“We’re going to have to plan because, eventually, we’re going to need to move infrastructure,” she said.
Another big topic was the pending deficit. With dwindling American Rescue Plan Act funds, Pacifica is facing an upcoming budget deficit of $2.7 million in fiscal year 2023-24. The gap could grow to $3 million by the fiscal year 2029-30. Candidates shared a range of ideas on how to stimulate commercial businesses, beautify certain town hubs, and noted the pros and cons of a proposed half-cent local sales tax that would generate $2.6 million a year. The increase would bring Pacifica’s tax rate from 9.375 percent to 9.875 percent, similar to Belmont, Daly City, Redwood City, East Palo Alto, San Bruno and South San Francisco. This tax will be on the November ballot.
The topic of homelessness prompted discussion about the city’s legal hurdles and how it dealt with those living in vehicles. Last year the city was sued by the ACLU and the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County and Disability Rights Advocates who challenged the city’s oversize vehicle ordinance that allowed recreational vehicles and motorhomes only on certain streets and only for 72 hours. The plaintiffs argued that was unconstitutional and discriminatory.
After settling the case, the city funded the Pacifica Resource Center’s safe parking permit program. Bancroft shared his range of experiences working as a data analyst for Google, and running a restaurant before and during the pandemic. Bancroft once worked for PRC and acknowledged the need to balance the safety concerns of residents in homes with providing essential services to those living in vehicles.
“The goal of the parking program is not to work the system,” he said. “The goal is housing, and there are rules in place, and I know there are a lot of safety concerns. We’ve heard them and addressed them.”
By August Howell, Pacifica Tribune | Aug 24, 2022
Watch Robby Bancroft - Pacifica Democrats Candidates Panel (8/20/22) by Kevin Burleigh:
