Two stolen memorial benches at the center of a recent uproar at the foot of Del Mar Avenue should be allowed to stay until the city researches its own role that allowed the benches to be installed without permits in the first place, according to members of the Ocean Beach Planning Board (OBPB). Although the returned benches are said to encroach on a city right-of-way, the board voted 10-1 on Aug. 3 in support of the cliffside memorials. But members decided it was premature to demand permits because the city may have already approved the benches when they were installed previously and simply didn’t keep records at the time. The benches disappeared July 8 when a disgruntled neighbor — reportedly upset by the unruly behavior of local teenagers who congregated at the benches — hired a crane to have the tributes removed. Late last month, police recovered them from a City Heights storage yard and KUSI-TV watchdog Michael Turko arranged for their return. Now, the city’s director of transportation and stormwater says the bench owners should have obtained a site-development permit and coastal-development permit, according to Michael Patton, a representative to District 2 City Councilman Kevin Faulconer. Each permit requires an initial deposit of $8,000, according to the city’s website. Faulconer stands ready to put the weight of his office behind any permit application but asked the board to take a position because he’s been getting phone calls both in support and opposition to the benches, Patton said. Patton said Faulconer personally is pleased the benches are no longer in a storage yard and that they have been returned, but he can’t help until the families submit permit applications. But board members said there was too much support for the contention that the benches had already been allowed without permits under programs run by the city’s Parks and Recreation Department or other city channels. The George Story bench, which memorializes a 30-year city employee, was installed in 2001 as a gift to the community, said son John Story. “We donated it to the city of San Diego 10 years ago. I helped go through the process with my mom. The bench was placed there by the city,” Story said. He said the bench’s legitimacy had never been challenged until it was removed last month. “Now, 10 years later, after it was stolen by a private citizen, my family’s being asked to go through a permitting process?” he said. Board member Bill Bushe said, “We have testimony that his father’s bench went through this program. Where’s the counter evidence?” Not everone agreed, however. “If it doesn’t have a permit, regardless of whether it was there before, I think the law’s got to stand,” said Ronson Shamoun, who cast the only dissenting vote. “Everything should be there legally.” Tony Cappellucci, who owns the bench placed in remembrance of his son, Anthony “Butch” Cappellucci, said permission for the two benches should be grandfathered without permits. He said he’s encountered many confused looks at the city’s Department of Development Services when he has inquired about permits. He said an employee who gave him an application told him he’d never seen a site-development permit for a bench before. Cappellucci said the employee told him, ‘I don’t know how you’re going to fill it out. This isn’t structural.’” Ken Doncouse, a resident who said he is opposed to the benches, said he was asked to examine the area and found evidence of homeless activity and unsanitary conditions at the cliffs beyond Del Mar Avenue. He said he had worked for two property owners, one of whom was the man who hired the crane operator to remove the benches. “These are multimillion dollar properties,” said Doncouse. “If I was a homeowner there, I would be highly upset.”
In other OBPB news: • If you want to keep a few hens in your backyard, why should anyone else give a cluck? That’s what the board decided in an 11-0 vote to reduce restrictions on backyard hens. Current law allows up to 25 chickens — of either gender — on a property. But the coop must be 50 feet from any residential structure. One proposal being shopped around to various community planning boards would reduce the buffer to 20 feet from the nearest neighbor’s house and proposes no buffer to the owner’s house for a group of five hens or fewer — with no roosters. The board declined to recommend that specific proposal, but approved more liberal laws for backyard chickens and urban agriculture. • Faulconer is holding a community coffee on Aug. 25 from 9 to 11 a.m. at Shades Oceanfront Bistro, 5083 Santa Monica Ave.