Met with mixed response by planning groups, Planning Commission denies recommendation

By Ashley Mackin | SDUN Editor

After mixed response from planning groups, including the San Diego Planning Commission, the Monument Flag Project will be heard by the City Council on May 15.The Hillcrest Business Association (HBA) is leading the project to install a permanent pride flag on Normal Street in Hillcrest.

The project includes the installation of a 65-foot flagpole with a 12-foot by 18-foot rainbow flag. San Diego LGBT Pride will pay for maintenance of the flag and pole after construction is complete, with funds from private donors pre-paid.

HBA executive director Ben Nicholls said there would be minor landscape adjustments made to the medium to create a pedestrian area with low benches. On the base of the pole, there would be a place where plaques could be installed.

The proposal has received varied responses from the community planning groups. The Uptown Planners voted to recommend the project in an 8-6 vote at their Feb. 7 meeting.

However, the City Planning Commission, whose role is to offer recommendations to the City Council, heard the project at two separate meetings, eventually voting to deny the recommendation. A motion must receive a four-vote majority to pass with a formal recommendation. At the April 12 meeting, the Planning Commission voted 3-2 to not recommend the project, one vote shy of the needed four, thereby requiring the return to the Planning Commission for a final vote.

Planning Commissioner Tim Golba said, “It’s easy to be very supportive… [but] you have to look at what happens the next time. Does it open up the potential for flag applications that might not be as accepted as yours, or might be much more controversial than even yours would be.” Golba voted not to recommend the project.

HBA board president Nicholas Moede said, “The Pride Flag will send a strong signal that Hillcrest stands for diversity and tolerance,” he said.

At the April 26 meeting, the Commission had enough members for a four-vote majority, and voted to deny the recommendation 4-2. The project will still proceed to the City Council for a final vote, but it will be on record that the Planning Commission does not support the project.

HBA Marketing and Communications Director Lisa Weir said the HBA is looking forward to presenting the project to the City Council. “Although [the April 26] recommendation from the Planning Commission was not in support of the Hillcrest Pride Flag, we’re excited to bring the ?project forward to City Council on May 15,” she said.

“Ultimately the decision to? approve the Hillcrest Pride Flag falls on the shoulders of council. We’re optimistic that council understands the importance of supporting? such a symbolic monument: a flag that stands for universal?acceptance, tolerance and inclusion in Hillcrest,” she said.

Original plans called for construction to begin in June, and completed in time for the San Diego LGBT Pride Festival in July.

For more information, visit fabuloushillcrest.com