{"id":244507,"date":"2011-08-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-19T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/soho-and-city-destined-for-court-over-balboa\/"},"modified":"2011-08-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-08-19T07:00:00","slug":"soho-and-city-destined-for-court-over-balboa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/soho-and-city-destined-for-court-over-balboa\/","title":{"rendered":"SOHO and City destined for court over Balboa?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por David Schwab |<\/strong> Reportero SDUN<\/p>\n

If the City Attorney is unsuccessful in negotiating a settlement convincing preservationist Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) to drop its lawsuit challenging a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the city and the Plaza de Panama Committee, which is advocating spending $40 million to transform Balboa Park\u2019s Plaza de Panama into a car-free open space, the two sides are likely destined for a September court hearing.<\/p>\n

In its suit, filed after the city\u2019s adoption of the MOU on July 19, SOHO contends the action promoted by Mayor Jerry Sanders and the Plaza de Panama Committee precludes due consideration of other feasible alternatives and that it does so without first complying with appropriate environmental review mandated
\nby the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQUA).<\/p>\n

\u201cThey passed an illegal MOU at City Council pre-commiting them to the project cutting the public out of the process,\u201d said Bruce Coons, SOHO\u2019s executive director. \u201cThey need to complete the EIR (Environmental
\nImpact Report) before they commit to a single project.\u201d In reply to SOHO\u2019s suit, City Attorney Jan Goldsmith submitted a 12-page motion to voluntarily dismiss the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no opinion on the proposed project,\u201d said Goldsmith in a letter to SOHO\u2019s lawyer Susan Brandt-Hawley. \u201cThe only purpose of this request is to avoid the expense of litigating this meritless case and to allow public discourse to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldsmith said the MOU is a \u201cpreliminary expression of cooperation and intent, which does not commit the city to any decision and reserves to the city the right and obligation to fully consider environmental analysis, including all project alternatives and mitigation measures, even the alternative of not proceeding with the proposed project.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hearing on our motion is currently scheduled to be heard Sept. 2,\u201d said Gina Coburn, communications
\ndirector for the City Attorney.<\/p>\n

SOHO\u2019s attorney Brandt-Hawley said both sides are interested in \u201cquickly moving ahead to resolve this case,\u201d although she expect the Sept. 2 date to be postponed.<\/p>\n

In 2010, civic leaders, led by mayor Jerry Sanders and Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs, launched an effort to reclaim the Plaza de Panama and adjacent areas for pedestrian use in time for the 2015 Centennial celebration of the Panama-California Exposition. That is to be accomplished via a plan known as the Balboa Park Plaza de Panama, Circulation and Parking Structure Project.<\/p>\n

Jacobs\u2019 plan involves rerouting traffic off the Cabrillo Bridge and reserving the west Prado for pedestrians
\nvia a bypass off the bridge, a suggestion attracting opposition.<\/p>\n

Garage construction would be financed partly by Jacobs\u2019 committee and with $15 million from a revenue bond repaid from parking revenues in the garage. Charging for garage parking is another controversial proposal, a variant of which would be to charge a small fee for parking, say $1, elsewhere in the park.<\/p>\n

Under Jacobs\u2019 proposal, cars entering the park from the west would be diverted, once they\u2019ve crossed the Laurel Street Bridge, to an elevated roadway behind the Alcazar Garden, leading to the Alcazar parking lot. There, visitors could drop off passengers, use valet parking or continue on to a two-story parking structure to be built behind the Organ Pavilion. Shuttle service is also proposed.<\/p>\n

But opponents of Jacobs\u2019 plan, including SOHO, contend the project as proposed \u201cwould have devastating impacts on the iconic architecture and cultural landscapes of national historic landmark Balboa Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are feasible alternatives to address the park\u2019s parking and traffic issues that are consistent with the adopted Balboa Park Master Plan and the Central Mesa Precise Plan,\u201d one opponent said.<\/p>\n

What Jacobs and the city should do, said SOHO\u2019s Coons is to \u201chave a truly independent environmental review of viable alternatives and pick the one that has the least impact on the park and the most benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coons added major redevelopment of the park as envisioned in the Circulation and Parking Structure Project, \u201creally needs to be done in the open not in old-fashioned backroom dealings by the City Council, the Plaza de Panama Committee and by strong-arm tactics by the mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2010, Mayor Sanders, noting Plaza de Panama was built for the 1915 Exposition as a grand ceremonial plaza for the public said, over time, that the plaza has been transformed into a grand ceremonial parking lot for cars.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will reclaim that plaza for ourselves and posterity before the park\u2019s centennial celebration in 2015,\u201d he vowed.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dave Schwab | SDUN Reporter If the City Attorney is unsuccessful in negotiating a settlement convincing preservationist Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) to drop its lawsuit challenging a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the city and the Plaza de Panama Committee, which is advocating spending $40 million to transform Balboa Park\u2019s Plaza de Panama […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":840,"featured_media":244506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"SOHO and City destined for court over Balboa?","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11593,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-no-images","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/840"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}