An open letter from Dionne Carlson re: yesterday’s City Council meeting…

Dear neighbors of BeHi,
The hearing to support our appeal of OLP’s expansion plan was continued to March 3rd.
What Happened? 1) Todd Gloria really stepped up to the plate and went to bat for our neighborhood and for historic preservation in general. Todd proposed a motion to uphold our appeal (denying OLP’s project) but allowing them a CUP amendment to keep their 750 students, (but not unlimited events, etc. which they were requesting) and keep the off-site parking requirement in place. His purpose (from my understanding) in this was to get OLP and us (BeHi) to work together on a new plan that would allow OLP modernization while saving the historic homes. Todd showed that he clearly understood all the concerns of our neighborhood and of OLP. 2) Todd received strong support from fellow council members Donna Frye, Tony Young & Sherri Lightner. As well as support from council members Kevin Faulconer & Carl DeMaio. (Marti Emerald was absent) 3) City staff and the City Attorney’s Office raised questions about the legality of such a motion, as the old CUP is still subject to judicial enforcement. Councilwoman Donna Frye worked quite hard with Todd to overcome these legal objections and to find a way to allow his motion to proceed…to no avail. 4) City Council President Ben Hueso would not support Todd’s motion (even though it had a second) and instead proposed a substitute motion for acontinuance until March 3rd which gained unanimous support.
What do we do now? We will be contacting Councilman Todd Gloria’s office and ask for his help in brokering talks with Our Lady of Peace towards a workable solution that both saves our community’s character with these historic homes…and meets OLP’s modernization and educational needs. We plan to show our councilman that his faith in us is not misplaced, and we are genuinely willing to work with OLP towards a better solution to our issues.