COMMUNITY COMMENTARY

Allan Beek

Here are the answers to the questions posed by Chamber of Commerce

President Richard Luehrs’ in his Community Commentary last week,

(“Chamber questions Greenlight initiative,” Feb. 12).

1. Does Greenlight apply to schools, churches, etc.?

Only if the project is large enough to require a General Plan

amendment. In the last 12 years, there have been four amendments for

churches -- none of which would have required a vote -- and one for a

school, which would have.

2. What effect would Greenlight have on the revised Traffic Phasing

Ordinance?

None. The initiative does not affect any ordinances.

3. Where will the funding come from to hold the numerous special

elections the initiative would trigger?

Greenlight will not trigger any special elections. The initiative

specifies that any vote be at the next municipal election. However, a

developer may request a special election at his own expense.

4. How many special elections would actually take place?

None (see above).

5 (a). Does the initiative ensure that new development is still

studied for its environmental impacts?

There will be no change to the environmental review process.

5 (b). Will all new projects go on the ballot without this sort of

review?

No, only major General Plan amendments go on the ballot. Only about

one out of 2,000 projects requires a major General Plan amendment.

6. Does the initiative include all developments in the “preceding 10

years?”

No amendment adopted before 2000 will be reconsidered or put to a

vote. However, earlier amendments will be looked at as one of a series of

minor amendments which, taken together, could be equivalent to a major

amendment and the traffic congestion caused by it. This provision was

added to prevent developers from splitting large projects into smaller

phases in order to avoid voter scrutiny.

7. How will the Greenlight initiative amend the city’s General Plan on

various requirements not related to traffic?

It doesn’t. It amends the City Charter.

8. Is this a citywide measure, or is it segmented into 49 individual

“zones” of the city?

The Greenlight initiative looks at prior amendments in the same

statistical area. (City planners divided the city into 49 statistical

areas, which have been accepted without change ever since. For example,

Newport Shores, Cliff Haven and Eastbluff are statistical areas.)

9. If the city is to be broken down into 49 individual zones, what

sort of city administrative cost will the initiative create to track all

of these zones?

The 49 areas simplify the work for the city. In processing an

amendment, it will only be necessary to review the records for one area,

not for the whole city.

10. Who will pay for all the research that will need to be conducted

to determine if a special election is needed?

Determining if a vote is required doesn’t take any research. It is a

matter of simple arithmetic that the city staff can perform. No expense

is involved.

11. Will the Greenlight initiative really stop any traffic problems in

the city?

It already has. Requests for about 1 million square feet of office

space were recently dropped. Greenlight was given as the reason. This is

a reduction of almost 2,300 peak-hour car trips every day. Prevention is

the best solution.

12. Is this initiative intended to replace the review of new

developments that occurs by the city’s trained and qualified staff, the

Planning Commission and the City Council?

Definitely not. The review process will be unchanged but we believe it

will be conducted with greater care when it is known that the results

must be explained to the citizens.

It is good news to read Richard Luehrs’ promise that the Chamber of

Commerce will become educated on the Greenlight initiative. We proponents

welcome this promise, and match it with our own promise to educate them

as quickly as possible.

We thank the Pilot for publishing these questions and answers. We have

found that the better the people understand the Greenlight initiative,

the more they support it.

ALLAN BEEK is a member of Greenlight, the group pushing the Protect

from Traffic and Density initiative on the March 7 ballot.