Pacific Beach Town Council (PBTC) President Rose Galliher announced Sept. 15 at the council’s general membership meeting that — per a vote of its members — the PBTC will not lend formal support in the form of a letter to the 1,850-square-foot deck expansion project at the Pacific Beach Shore Club. Of the 222 mail-in ballots collected, there were 133 votes opposed and 89 votes in support of the project. The total membership as of June 21 was 597. The vote is the result of a motion made at the June 16 PBTC meeting by Scott Chipman, a general member of the PBTC who is also a board member of the Pacific Beach Planning Group (PBPG). Chipman has maintained at prior PBTC meetings that he is acting as a general member of the PBTC and not a member of the PBPG. The PBPG approved the deck expansion prior to the PB Shore Club seeking the approval of the PBTC. The rift developed in April when Galliher wrote a letter of support for the project to the San Diego Police Department on behalf of the PBTC board. Some from the general membership, however, challenged the board’s decision to send the letter without the input of the general membership, setting up an onslaught of debate and chaos at subsequent Town Council general membership meetings. The language of the motion, however, did not address rescinding the prior support of the project, Galliher noted. The motion, which was published in the PBTC August Seahorse newsletter and mailed to all general members, reads: “Shall the Town Council provide a letter of support for a premise expansion of the PB Shore Club to allow alcohol consumption to 2 a.m. on a proposed 1,895-square-foot deck and which would increase the maximum occupancy from 186 to 312 persons.” Galliher said she gave Chipman the opportunity to change his motion over the phone in June. At the July meeting, after the two sides presented their respective cases, Galliher addressed the language of the motion to attendees, further clarifying the motion. “What you are really voting on is that we resend the letter, not that we don’t send the letter — so there is a difference,” Galliher said at the July meeting. With the majority opposed, the vote determined that a letter of support would not be sent. However, the letter of support from the Town Council board was already sent in April, and the motion did not preclude the support previously contained in that letter. “At our next board meeting, we will discuss what to do as a result of the ballots as a no vote,” said Jennifer Dreyfus, PBTC board secretary. The next board meeting will take place Oct. 6. Following the Sept. 22 monthly meeting of the PBPG, planning group Chair John Shannon and board member Chris Olson recalled the Pacific Beach Shore Club presenting its expansion plans to the group. “The Shore Club did come here, they asked for an extension on their deck,” Shannon said. “It had nothing to do with alcohol,” Olson said. “It was just approval of the deck extension.” Olson added that he was under the impression that when the alcohol license topic came up, that the PBPG was going to revisit the issue again. “I remember that everyone that was in the audience was all for it,” Olson said. “So, there wasn’t really an opposition to the deck.” Olson said he remembered neighboring business owners saying that it was a great idea, which surprised him. Shannon did say that he recalled concern about increasing the size of the restaurant. “We looked at everything aside from the alcohol issue,” Olson said. “They met everything for parking and zoning and space and all that kind of stuff.” Many restaurant and bar establishments in close proximity to the Shore Club currently offer outdoor seating to patrons.