January 11, 2008

Being fair to all

By Danielle Seckler

   On Monday, Jan. 14, the Big Bear Lake City Council will hold a public hearing regarding the zone change for the condominium project behind the Elks Lodge in Big Bear Lake. The project, which has slowly made itself through the planning commission, was proposed by Unique Mountain Development (UMD) and came before the City Council in November 2007.

   What is before the City Council is the change from an R-1 zone to an R-3 zone for multifamily development, the smallest portion of the total development acreage. More than 10-years ago it was zoned as R-3 and it was change to single family development, an R-1 zone and what UMD wants to do is return it to the original zone. One would think that is the simplest change that could be approved. Alias, nothing is simple when it comes to the City.

   Spearheaded by Councilman Michael Karp, who has stated that water and future growth must be discussed before approval of the zone change and the project can go forward. Though we agree that both issues are appropriate to discuss, we do not believe that any project should be held captive to any politician’s agenda. Dennis Hall, owner of UMD, is stuck in the middle and has been unable to move forward on this project. From much of our research and having watched Hall continually at the Planning Commission, we believe that he is most probably environmentally sensitive developer in the community. Hall has built in recycling of grey water to be used for the landscaping, the largest water use for homes and he wants to use fire retardant materials prescribed by the City. All of which are good things for those people who will live there in the future.

   Hopefully, the City Council sees the political maneuvering of Karp and his supporter, Liz Harris. Harris is up for re-election this November and supported Karp in November 2007. At that meeting, Rick Herrick was absent, so then Mayor Bill Jahn voted with Darrell Mulvihill. Otherwise the entire project would have had to go back to the planning commission.

   Though there are people who believe that growth is the evil doer, it does not seem fair to hold up any developer. Hall has done everything he can do to make the project viable and palatable to environmentalists and conservationists, including paying over $76,000 to the DWP so that residents can get toilets replaced with low-flow toilets for free and buying back large lawns. Not all development is a bad thing and we do not believe that a total moratorium is good for the valley. We need more developers who do the right thing and not cut corners. Having no growth will make homes have higher values, however it will make it impossible for working class people from having home ownership.

   There has to be planned and sustainable growth. Our roads, drainage, fire protection, and water for the future is at stake. But fair is fair. Let’s not have this City Council derail one developer in the only way they could stop a development, when they couldn’t do it at the planning stages. We agree that the general attitude at the City has been ‘built it and they will come’, however this is not the development that should be challenged. We should be holding all developers to the higher standard that Hall and his company want to build.

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