Remarks by Robert Dickson
67 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 3 of 3
- Play at 1:15:05
“Thank you. I appreciate that. I just wanted to clarify that before the public has a chance to weigh in.”
PLANNING COMMISSION · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 2:37:55
“So I heard some interesting conversations at the town hall or the last thing about the interrelationship between the density bonus laws and the total number of units that we put in our specific plan. So if we were to say 2300 is the absolute cap, where would that put us from a density bonus perspective in the potential number of units that could be built there? Because we keep hearing about this sort of Damocles of the density cap and how we can't really predict anything and we just have to throw darts at the wall and see what sticks. But if we set a unit count number limit, THAT DETERMINES…”
PLANNING COMMISSION · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 2:42:24
“No, no. I want to get to the bottom of this question.”
PLANNING COMMISSION · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 2:43:18
“I APPRECIATE THAT. And understanding the city council said we don't want to have a parking minimum for residential. So I understand some of the folks have argued, and I know that this is true because we've seen it in front of our own commission, that it's true in some cases that a developer will put in the number of parking spaces they think will make their project viable. However, we're talking about a 40% affordable housing or 900 and whatever units. No parking is required. So if we need to make to balance out, we're just not going to provide any parking for the affordable units. That's a…”
PLANNING COMMISSION · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 2:45:45
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
PLANNING COMMISSION · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 2:46:20
“I appreciate. I just wanted to get that question answered if you did Stephanie.”
PLANNING COMMISSION · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 2:58:01
“COMMISSIONER DIXON When was it appropriate to make a substitute motion after the comments on this motion? MR. Whenever you want.”
PLANNING COMMISSION · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 2:58:08
“I'd like to make a substitute motion, but I don't want to cut down comment on this particular motion, so I just want to make sure I do it in the right procedural manner.”
PLANNING COMMISSION · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 2:58:20
“My substitute motion is that we postpone adoption of the specific plan at this time. that we reengage with the state and the Department of General Services to determine what the best percentage of affordable housing actually is, and that we reengage in the public participation and engagement process. It's very, very clear based on the numbers and the presentation. That's a comment. So we engage in the public participation process. We reassess the applicability of 40% affordable at this site based on the inconsistency with the number of total units stretching up to not include actually 40% due…”
PLANNING COMMISSION · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 3:14:39
“AND I UNDERSTAND, AND JUST TO BRIEFLY GIVE YOU A FEW, AND NOT TO GET INTO ALL THE THINGS I'VE SAID PREVIOUSLY, BUT I THINK THAT THIS ENTIRE TIME, AND THERE HAS BEEN SOME PASSION AND SOME EMOTION INVOLVED BECAUSE OF FRUSTRATION AND THINGS LIKE THAT, BUT AS SOMEONE WHO has been involved in these sort of planning issues for quite some time. I have grave concerns that this will be overturned. It's not our final thing. It's with the council. I think that it's our responsibility to alert the council that there are some gaping, in my opinion, and not in one of a whole commission, there are some…”
PLANNING COMMISSION · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 4:07:26
“Just along those same lines. Go ahead, Commissioner Dixon. So this is not an actionable thing. There's no regulatory action or any of that stuff, but we have 106 actions, right? So what's the interrelationship there? Because if there's a city-initiated action that's independent of any particular development project that also does have an impact on whatever, so what would... How does that action part work? Because there's general plan goals, there's general plan policies, but talk to me about how those actions work.”
PLANNING COMMISSION · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 4:08:24
“This is going to unilaterally decide that, well, you know what? We need to get rid of more on road transportation. So let's just take a lane away. And that's part of our CAAP and we don't need to do anything else. This and there's the CAAP by the way, it's not a qualified CAAP. It's not an actual CAAP.”
PLANNING COMMISSION · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 4:08:43
“The ones that got sued in San Diego. Exactly. So I have a great deal of hesitancy. with something that has all of these aspirational policies, which is what the court called San Diego's and why it overturned it, that are tied to an action that we're sort of sliding through that's going to end up greatly impacting residents. And we already see them all over the place, like things that have happened that are slowing down traffic and all the other things. And that's an opinion I know I have that maybe some don't share, but it's something I hear quite a bit. So that's where I'm coming from is…”
PLANNING COMMISSION · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 4:09:57
“But the vast majority don't. And so I just want to make sure we're not pigeonholing ourselves and we're not putting ourselves in a position where we're going to be incurring a great deal of cost. The cost savings in this report are great as far as the LED solar lights and all the other stuff, but if we're saving $1.4 million over 20 years by doing LED lights but spending $1 million on a cap, so that's kind of where I'm... I just want to make sure that the action part of this is not going to be saddling us with actions which MAYBE DIDN'T SUSTAIN PUBLIC REVIEW AND PUBLIC INPUT.”
PLANNING COMMISSION · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 4:12:29
“SO WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD ON THAT IS, SO LET'S SAY I DO WANT TO HAVE A NATURAL GAS STOVE, RIGHT? WELL, AM I GOING TO FACE A MORE STRINGENT REVIEW THAN SOMEONE WHO'S INCENTIVIZED TO HAVE AN ELECTRIC STOVE? AS SOMEONE WHO WENT THROUGH EIGHT ROUNDS OF DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, I HAVE VERY LITTLE PATIENCE non-objective hard standards in anything development related?”
PLANNING COMMISSION · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 4:13:40
“Right. We were calling for making green building code mandatory in 2011 and 2012, and it still hasn't happened. So I don't have a tremendous amount of patience for things that are going to impact the home builder, as opposed to things that the city could be doing, like planting more trees. We were doing it mandatory. We were driving around offering people trees back in 2015, 2015. I don't know if that's happened in a long time. I saw Councilmember Reynolds talking about that. like it's a new idea. We were doing that in 2015, 2014, 2013. And we would provide a tree. If you said you wanted a…”
PLANNING COMMISSION · Aug 10, 2026
- Play at 4:15:35
“You're still breaking up, Commissioner Martinez. I don't know if you have a connection. Hello?”
PLANNING COMMISSION · Aug 10, 2026