Beachwood

By Deborah Ruddock

KEY INFORMATION:

 The City Council voted UNANIMOUSLY in 2000 to uphold the Planning Commission's unanimous denial of the Beachwood project. The 5-0 vote included Councilwoman Naomi Patridge and former Councilman Jerry Donovan.

 The 2007 federal court ruling ("Walker decision") found it was the CUMULATIVE decisions of city councils beginning in the 1980s that resulted in damages to the Beachwood property owner.

• The area including Beachwood has always been wet. That's why old timers before I was even born called it Hogs' Wallow. That's also why the 1983 city council formed a flood control district for the area -- before I even lived here.

• I didn't live here in 1984 either, when the City installed a faulty drainage system on the private Beachwood and neighboring Terrace/Silver/Highland properties to dry out the area.

• I didn't live here in 1984 when the City exacerbated the drainage problem by grading the property without proper permits, resulting in ponding of water.

• I did live here in 1990 but had not been elected when the city council approved a subdivision map for the Beachwood project without an environmental impact report, without evidence of sewer capacity, and in spite of the presence of standing water on the property. The drainage improvements installed by the City were not included in submitted maps or otherwise identified as existing on the property.

• I had not yet been seated as a councilmember when the city council in 1991 voted to launch a sewer permit moratorium until the sewer plant could be expanded in '97.

• I was on the council in 2000 when the Planning Commission's unanimous denial of the Beachwood Project application came to the council on appeal. The project applicant would not accept a City proposal to redraw the project, reduce the number of dwelling units by about half, and cluster development in order to avoid wet areas, and asked for an "up or down vote". I and the four other councilmembers -- Patridge, Donovan, Coleman, and Taylor -- voted to uphold the Commission's denial based on staff recommendations and scientific findings.

• As a result of a subsequent San Mateo Superior Court ruling in favor of the property owner, I later joined the council's unanimous decision to approve the project with conditions.

• I stepped down from the council in 2003 and did not participate in numerous other council actions culminating in the 2005 state appeals court ruling favoring the City and the 2007 Walker decision favoring the property owner. I was not serving on the council when it chose to not appeal this decision.