Appeal rejected and new mayor selected

 

After hearing both sides of the debate during a packed city council meeting Dec. 13, members of the Buellton City Council rejected an appeal to the planning commission’s recent decision to grant a minor use permit for a horse and utility trailer sales dealership on Avenue of Flags. The council also selected Russ Hicks to serve as Buellton’s new mayor.

In a 4-1 decision, the council denied the appeal by Robert Perry, who asked that the permit be revoked because it wasn’t in keeping with Buellton City’s General Plan drawn up in 1992 when he was on the Buellton City Planning Commission. Victoria Pointer was the one dissenting vote.

Pointer asked that a traffic study for Avenue of Flags be conducted to determine safety issues at the U.S. Highway 101 off ramp, before any vote be taken.

 

She also asked the council to consider petitions, signed by approximately 70 individuals, and letters, which had been gathered by Perry and others promoting the appeal.

The signatures had not been reviewed by staff to determine if they belonged to Buellton residents and registered voters.

The council’s decision allows a one-year permit, which can be reviewed and renewed for three years, to operate All American Trailers North on the lot at 653 Avenue of Flags.

The resolution includes a stipulation to prohibit access to the lot from Central Avenue. The new permit is effective Jan. 1, 2008.

 

At the beginning of the hearing, Marc Bierdzinski, planning manager, reviewed both options for the permit and appeal, which had been prepared by staff.

He pointed out that technically, according to California state law, which takes jurisdiction in the absence of city statues, the definition of a minor use permit includes the ability to sell horse and utility trailers and does not require an addendum to the permit.

He said that until the applicants began putting trailers on the lot, the issue had not come up in the city and there were no detailed regulations for automobile sales – or trailers – within the city limits.

During the meeting, Perry and three other Buellton residents, speaking for the appeal, reviewed the history of the lot and the property owner’s previous business, Tri County Auto Sales, citing numerous infractions and traffic safety issues.

 

Perry also read a letter from Carl Maler, which gave details of how Maler, in an apparent sting operation, tried to engage the owners of the new trailer dealership to see if they would attempt to sell him a trailer even though the city had asked them to wait until after the appeal process was completed. Perry claimed their attempts to show Maler trailers off the site were against Department of Motor Vechicles regulations.

Steve Bollinger, speaking for permit applicants Gene Klaft and Aaron Schwarzwalter, said his clients have been “very much maligned” by the petitions and printed letters to the editor in local newspapers, and that he felt responsible to set the record straight. He said that his clients are not against the General Plan and that the trailer lot was a good use of the property until the vision of Avenue of Flags could be completed in the distant future.

 

“It takes time and revenue to expand and redevelop properties, and until that time, this is the best available site and use for this business and lot,” he explained. He added that the whole issue had been handled by the opposition in a very “sneaky and underhanded” way when the only thing his clients wanted was to be “cooperative and operate a legitimate business” within the city limits.

Other speakers, including Joan Hartman and John Burnaby, both for the appeal, discussed the safety issues on the street and the vision of the General Plan. Ernest Haglund and Mark Mendenhall, former city councilman and planning commissioner, both spoke in favor of the permit, listing tax revenue and legality of the original permit as principal reasons.

Concerning traffic safety issues on Avenue of Flags, one resident pointed out that the principal safety concern should be how the road goes from two lanes into one in front of the new Vintage Walk development and how vehicles parked at those businesses will be backing into the only available lane of traffic when they leave the business site.

 

Two other individuals, not residents of Buellton, also were allowed to give their comments and spoke in favor of the permit. Some speakers asked what the true agenda was for the group against the permit.

Perry, answering in a rebuttal, said the group’s agenda was to give incentive to the property owner to find a better use for the lot more in keeping with the General Plan.

He again referred to his years spent as a planning commissioner and the General Plan conceived during that time.

Bollinger, the last speaker on the issue, said the flyer and petition circulated by appeal proponents “duped and misinformed the public.” He explained how all the property issues mentioned by Perry in his original statement had been abated and how his clients had tried to work with the city from the beginning to obtain the permit, even though state law allowed for trailers to be sold under the owner’s permanent permit for the lot.

 

Bollinger also pointed out an investigation his group had done on signed letters, which were against the permit, that had been presented to the city council. The signatures on the letters were supposedly signed by current and past employees and affiliates of Santa Ynez Valley Trailers, currently the only trailer dealership in the Santa Ynez Valley.

He showed several affidavits, which claimed that some of the signatures on these letters were fraudulent and had been forged. He said he was turning the affidavits over to the city for further action.

Hicks, speaking about the appeal during the voting process, said it was good to see this much interest about issues in Buellton. He complimented the staff for the thorough job of showing both sides of the problem and said the vote should give closure to the permit process.

Ed Andrisek, council member, said Avenue of Flags is the economic engine for the city’s survival and that flexibility helps move the community forward. Referring to Perry’s remarks about the General Plan devised in the 1990s, Andrisek added that several updates have been adopted since that time.

“We should not revert to the 1994 vision,” he said. “Thank goodness we have not let Buellton develop in such a vacuum.”

 

During a break in the meeting after the vote, Bollinger pointed out that while Perry repeatedly had referred to his time on the planning commission and his part in developing the General Plan, an investigation by Schwarzwalter and others had revealed that Perry was dismissed from the commission in 1994 after an incident involving trailers.

“We never wanted to be contentious and cause problems, but all this misinformation being spread by the petitions caused us to do investigations of our own and we had to come out swinging and defend ourselves,” he insisted.

After the break the council gave its gratuities to Mayor Diane Whitehair for her service over the past year, including the swearing in of the new board of directors for the Buellton City Chamber of Commerce. She received a gold clock from the council.

 

Hicks was then nominated to be the next mayor and the vote carried 5-0. Andrisek nominated Dale Molesworth to serve as Mayor pro tempore. The vote carried 4-1 with Victoria Pointer voting no. Citing the need for consistency, the council voted to keep all the appointments to boards, commissions and committees, as presently constituted with the exception of the Policy Committees for the League of California Cities.

During the committee reports the council discussed making a long-term commitment to conversion technology and whether the city should be a customer or a partner in the future.

Steve Thompson, city manager, advised the council to accept the application for Art Mercado for the Parks and Recreation Commission, and the motion carried 5-0.

 

Thompson also received a state service award, presented by the council, for his 12 years of service to the city and his 35 years of service as a government and municipal employee and manager in the state of California.

Representatives from Bethany Clough Landscape Architect presented a 50 percent plan review of the Botanic Garden at River View Park.

 

The park is expected to include dozens of trees, which can be purchased by individuals as a part of a fund-raising effort to finish the project. The site work and grading is progressing with the irrigation portion of the project recently finished. Another review of the Garden will continue when the project is 80 percent complete.

The next Buellton City Council meeting will be held Jan. 10, 2008, at 6 p.m. at the Buellton City Chamber.