City Staff Reviews Comments on
General Plan and DEIR


The public and regulatory agency comment period on
Pacifica’s General Plan and DEIR ended February 8, 2022,
after much confusion about the launch and accessibility.

Many citizens said they felt rushed to read and comprehend the huge documents in the short turn-around time. Citizens expressed frustration with accessing the on-line documents because of their huge size and lack of standard navigation tools to allow direct links to specific sections and pages. Numerous complaints were submitted to the Planning Director and City Council members asking for a more user friendly document. Thankfully, Pete Shoemaker formatted the document to allow for easier scrolling and section/page matching. Subsequently, the City posted the updated versions with easier navigation.


In addition to the launch problems, the City received quite a few letters and emails from both citizens and regulatory agencies outlining concerns with various environmental and safety issues. These include:

  • Landslide data on steep hills is inaccurate or absent

  • Traffic data for Highway One and feeder streets are outdated

  • Affordable housing plan is missing

  • Sea level rise mitigation is inadequate

  • Sharp Park Plan violates several view ordinances

  • Fire risk is inaccurate, claiming high fire danger only in south


In the meantime, City staff will digest and respond to the comments and present the plans to the Planning Commission for approval. Any of these governing bodies can direct the planning staff to improve and/or re-write and recirculate the two documents.


We hope the City leaders recognize the importance of making our city’s blueprint for the future accurate and reflective of its citizens' visions while complying with state and federal guidelines and laws. CPUP members eagerly wait for any feedback and revisions to these two important documents.



Shoemaker Video on Inconsistent Policy List in General Plan

Pacifica resident Pete Shoemaker made a video showing policy inconsistencies, representing a very large number of potential problems.
Click
here for watch the video.





Where’s our Yard Stick?

Pacifica citizens are confused as to how our City Council and Planning staff can propose developments in town when we don’t have a yardstick in which to measure these projects. Our General Plan and Draft EIR were recently released after nearly 40 years yet there are numerous issues with the two documents. So how can we move forward and approve anything without knowing what it’s supposed to conform to?


We need City staff to closely read and accept the help they’ve been given by dozens of professionals who have taken their time to help identify inconsistencies, typos and misinformation in both documents. We all want the best for our town and support responsible development.


CPUP Response to City on
GP and DEIR

Terry Watt, and Jared Ikeda, professional planners with expertise in general plans and environmetal documents, prepared a letter to the City of Pacifica outlining the issues with the documents. Below is part of the introductory comments:

"Rather than recite every flaw in the document, these comments provide examples of the major flaws in the Proposed Project and DEIR. We hereby incorporate by reference the additional detailed comments submitted by local experts that describe other flaws including but not limited to the significant differences in the two DEIR’s filed with the state, DEIR text and Proposed Project discrepancies, omitted and outdated setting information, omitted impact analyses, and discrepancies in the project description, among others. These flaws collectively make review and comment nearly impossible and alone require revision and recirculation of the Proposed Project documents and DEIR."