The latest battle in the bylaws war between the city of San Diego and the La Jolla Community Planning Association (LJCPA) unfolded Thursday, April 5, when a majority voted to continue operating under a document that has not been approved by the city.
A motion proposed by LJCPA President Tim Golba to return to the old, unrevised bylaws, which have received approval from city staff, was denied 94-19 by trustees and resident members despite threat of decertification from the mayor’s office due to the group’s refusal to cooperate.
“We are a corporation, but we are also a planning group of the city, and so we would continue to exist but we will lose the right to review projects that come through La Jolla,” Golba said, explaining the result if the group chose to ignore a suggestion by Jim Waring, the city’s deputy chief of land use and economic development, to shelve the updated bylaws until the document could be reviewed May 1.
The LJCPA voted in January 2007 to immediately implement its revised bylaws, which is in direct violation of council policy 600-24 and the reason Waring recommended decertification in a letter to the LJCPA dated March 28. Council policy states that each of the city’s recognized planning groups must have its bylaws approved by both the City Attorney’s Office and the city’s Planning Department.
City Attorney Michael Aguirre confirmed at La Jolla’s January meeting and at a press conference last week that his office approved the intent of the group’s bylaws with the exception of deviations to council policy.
The city’s Planning Department, however, has declined to review La Jolla’s bylaws until after May 1, according to Cecilia Williams of the city’s Planning Department.
“Planning groups were asked to hold off on updating their bylaws until the Brown Act gets incorporated,” Williams said at Thursday’s meeting. “It is a resource and staffing issue. The city has 42 planning groups, and for us to review updated bylaws between then and May 1 and then go back again to update them with the Brown Act would be too difficult.”
The Brown Act, a provision that ensures planning groups give proper notice for public meetings, will be administered to City Council and its community planning groups as of May 1, at which time the groups have six months to update bylaws and return them to the city for review, according to Williams.
The city’s decision angered many of the 116 residents in attendance at the April 5 meeting, who were concerned about District 1 City Councilman and City Council President Scott Peters’ decision to docket the LJCPA for council decertification under Waring’s recommendation.
“We are caught in the middle where our City Council member is not taking a position and won’t follow, on many occasions, the will of the people,” resident John Beaver said. “We are caught in the vortex of this political problem, and unless one of our two City Council members decides to get on board with what this community wants, then we’ll never get the opportunity to direct our message to the mayor’s office and we’ll never get these servants to work for us.”
The bylaws have been at the center of a controversy with La Jolla residents since October of 2006, when a clause within the planning group’s governing document requiring residents to attend three meetings per calendar year as a condition of membership was disputed.
The requirement would keep many residents from voting in group elections or special meetings, which would limit the voice of the community, many said. In the revised document, membership requirements were changed to one meeting per calendar year.
In Waring’s March 28 letter, he also questioned the validity of the LJCPA’s March elections because the vote was conducted under unapproved bylaws.
To remedy the election dispute, Golba’s proposed motion on Thursday contained two amendments to the old bylaws, which included reducing the membership requirements to reflect those in the revised document.
Golba viewed the amendments, which were pre-approved by the city, as a valid compromise, since they would have brought the old bylaws in line with the new ones and preserved the March elections, he said.
Several trustees, however, disagreed with the motion and amendments, stating that securing the revised bylaws with only the deviations to council policy frozen was the same as reverting to the old document with the amendments.
Trustee Rob Whittemore questioned Waring’s motives for recommending decertification, recounting an e-mail he had received from the official stating that he had not read La Jolla’s revised bylaws.
“What Mr. Waring insists upon is unified policies or else there will be chaos,” Whittemore said. “What does the Planning Department do regarding our monthly meetings? They sit and listen to our meetings and report to their respective department, but that doesn’t have anything to do with the way we govern ourself.”
Trustee Ray Weiss seconded Whittemore’s statements, posing the question of whether the group would ultimately be allowed to deviate from the city’s bylaws shell.
According to Williams, only City Council can approve individual deviations to community groups’ bylaws.
A motion by Whittemore to put La Jolla’s bylaws on the Community Planning Chairs’ (CPC) April 24 agenda was approved unanimously. The CPC comprises 42 chairs representing each community planning group and can make recommendations to City Council. Golba has also requested that City Council hear the LJCPA’s decertification at a later date but had not yet received a response.
If the LJCPA loses its certification with the city, officials can then elect a new set of trustees to become the official governing body for La Jolla, according to Williams.
The LJCPA meets at 6 p.m. the first Thursday of every month at the La Jolla Recreation Center, 615 Prospect St. For more information, visit www.lajollacpa.org or e-mail [email protected].