2006 City Council Questionnaire

By Jerry Finnell

Answers to 14 Questions Addressed to Council Candidates

The following fourteen (14) questions should be answered in your own words as directly as possible. Please keep your answers short and to the point so that the entire list of questions and responses can be included. You will have the opportunity to clarify your responses during the one-on-one interview session after which you should modify your answers for printing. Please note that what will be printed will not be an edited version of your responses. Your responses will be printed as you have written them. The questions follow.

1. How do you envision ensuring the financial integrity of our City given the limited size of the Community and the restricted options that we have for raising revenues?

My approach as a Council Member has included close scrutiny of proposed expenditures, and collaboration with Solana Beach for consolidation of Fire Department and Information Technology services. Additionally, I have provided leadership for equitable sharing of employee benefit costs, cost savings from our self-insured Workers Compensation plan, and for similar cost-saving initiatives.

Additional opportunities to be explored include further collaboration and consolidation of services with neighboring cities, special assessment alternatives for selected projects, paid beach parking (with resident permits), and improved revenue sharing arrangements with the Fairgrounds. The Long-term Capital Financing Plan discussed in the answer to a later question is also vital to ensuring our City's financial integrity for years to come.

2. What are your thoughts on the advantages and/or disadvantages of sharing more services with other Cities in the region or annexing ourselves to another City so that costs and services could be leveraged over a greater population?

Collaboration with other North County cities will provide greater cost efficiencies and improved services to Del Mar residents as discussed above. Examples include several basic services required by all communities (fire, Sheriff, engineering, public works, etc.).

Annexing Del Mar to another city relinquishes the local control that we now have in managing our valued community and planning our future. I am firmly OPPOSED to any annexing proposal.

3. What is your position on the City's maintenance of the many public rights of way in the City and how should the City address the multiple encroachments that have occurred over time into these rights of way?

Our Community Plan explicitly states that pathways and trails are an essential part of our community character.

My approach will include the following components: City should continue its program to clear one alleyway per year. Maintenance should be shared with adjacent property owners. "Vacations" should only be considered when it is clearly in the

public interest to transfer public ownership.

4. Traffic has been identified in the City's recent Citizen's survey as the number one problem facing the City. What are your thoughts on how the City should address this issue?

We must be tireless in addressing problems (such as traffic) that our citizens prioritize. I have served as Council Liaison for both the Stratford Court traffic experiment (which was deemed successful by the residents), and the current Crest Road experiment (which is gaining resident support).

Neighborhood participation/involvement/support are essential in all these traffic experiments.

The planned update of our Circulation Element (Community Plan) must include a careful review of Camino Del Mar traffic patterns to keep commuter traffic on CDM and out of our neighborhoods.

5. The State of California mandates that every city provide a certain amount of affordable housing units. How do you think the City of Del Mar should address its requirement for the provision of affordable housing?

Our present approach is to subsidize rental units using funds provided

by condo conversions

Village revitalization efforts should include provision for some affordable housing units for business employees. SANDAG's quota for affordable Del Mar housing units isn't unreasonable.

6. Del Mar has an active volunteer Village Association focusing on revitalizing our downtown. What role do you think the City of Del Mar should be in the revitalization process?

It is important that the City play a very active role in supporting DMVA's Main Street Program initiatives to promote a more robust, resident-serving Village business district: City is providing financial support, including matching grants Planning staff is being made available to work with DMVA

committees/volunteers to identify opportunities for
changes, some of which will require voter approval.

7. Given the environmental, social and cost impacts of automotive traffic on our City what are your thoughts on how the North County Transit District and Amtrak should address train traffic through and/or around our City?

The City Council has made it very clear that railroad traffic should

be re-routed to the I-5 corridor (no tunnels under CDM and
no disruption of the San Dieguito or Penasquitos Lagoons)

working with surrounding coastal cities to support sensible
initiatives that accomplish our shared objectives of getting the
tracks off the bluffs, without doing serious harm to other parts

8. The "Shores" property has been identified by the Citizens of Del Mar as something that the City should seek to purchase. How do you think the City should proceed so that this desire can be met?

City has crafted a lease arrangement to partner with the Winston School in acquiring the property and preserving it for Del Mar residents and education.

Inasmuch as the City does not have sufficient funds with which to
acquire the property, private fundraising efforts through
The Del Mar Foundation and a group of private citizens
are essential if this can be made to happen.

Working cooperatively with the School District is highly desirable.

9. Undergrounding of utility wires is becoming of more interest to residents in the City. What role do you see the City taking in the undergrounding process for both private neighborhoods and public rights of way?

Before I was elected to City Council, I played a leadership role in crafting the City's policies and ordinances that provide mechanisms for neighborhoods to underground their utilities with City support. These have proven to be useful in making significant progress in our top-rated Vision 2020 goal of undergrounding utilities throughout Del Mar:

We have successfully completed the Ocean View/Pines district

Two significant public projects are also now out for competitive

Another private district (200+ homes) is being formed based

Our Utility Committee is presently exploring options for undergrounding of additional public areas. I will support these efforts.

10. Parking, both at the beach and in the downtown area, was identified as an issue for Del Mar's Citizens in the recent City survey. What are your thoughts on how the City can increase parking opportunities in these areas?

Paid beach parking (including resident permits) must be seriously considered in public workshops to ascertain the level of resident support. We need to better control the overflow of visitors to our beaches, and permit them to participate in the funding of beach related costs (lifeguards, clean-up, etc.).

Permit parking under L' Auberge has the potential to alleviate parking congestion in the downtown area by allowing employers and employees to purchase off-street parking at reasonable monthly rates.

Commercial property owners need to be provided proper incentives to
provide extra parking in any redevelopment projects

11. Maintenance of the City's infrastructure (streets, sewers, parks, buildings, pumping stations, etc.) is an ongoing activity that costs a considerable amount of money. What are your thoughts on how the City can meet these ongoing needs in a responsible manner?

I worked with the Staff and Finance Committee to prepare a Long-term Capital Financing Plan that was approved by City Council last June. Del Mar is focusing 20 years into the future; most cities only project out 5 years. The current estimate of City funds needed for this 20-year period is $64 million. Our Plan incorporates criteria for prioritizing projects, and includes operating projections for several years into the future. This will prove to be a valuable tool to educate the residents about which capital projects Del Mar needs to address, when they should be done, and alternatives for financing.

Obtaining grants will continue to be very important The 25thStreet Lifeguard Station was funded almost completely with grants Grant funding coupled with private fundraising efforts will be necessary to complete the proposed 17th Street Lifeguard Station

Revenues from beach visitors, who use our services but leave behind very little money to help pay for lifeguards and beach maintenance, will need to be studied carefully, and changes will need to be implemented.

Village revitalization will also pay a vital role in providing funding for future city services.

12. One of the issues that was identified in the recent City Citizen's survey is the difficulty in navigating the City's planning process. How would you simplify the planning process if you were elected?

Having served on the Council "Planning Issues" Subcommittee, I propose that a detailed review of three or four recent development projects be completed to determine (based on input from the applicants and neighbors) areas that need to be improved to make the development process more user-friendly and economical to our residents. With this background, and further public input, additional enhancements to the processes can be proposed (similar to Planning Issues changes which I helped enact last year).

13. Strict zoning in Del Mar has been viewed as both a benefit (by raising property values) and a cost (by limiting development freedom). What changes, if any, would you make to the City's zoning rules?

I would not propose any major changes to the City's zoning rules for residential areas.

Zoning rules have benefited the residents (higher property values) and preserved the character of our community

There are inevitable tensions between residents wanting to preserve their views and privacy and residents wanting to build larger homes. The process seems to have served us very well, however, as evidenced by our high property values and the attractiveness of our community to residents and to outsiders.

As the Village Revitalization process moves forward, various zoning
rules and ordinances for our commercial district will need to be

14. Given the increasing pressures that the growth in the communities that surround Del Mar have placed on Del Mar's services and population, what is your experience/involvement in regional issues and how would you represent the City's interest in these areas?

I have been very active representing the City's interests in several different areas, including the following:

San Dieguito River Park JPA, Chairman of the Board of Directors (served on the Board for the past four years, and supported the San Dieguito Lagoon Restoration Project which is set to begin)

Shoreline Preservation Working Group (SANDAG)-served on this committee for the past four years (focused on preserving beaches--sand, etc.)

Community Relations Committee (22nd DAA)-have served as Council Liaison for the past two years, working to strengthen working relations with the 22nd DAA to represent the interests of Del Mar for activities occurring at (or planned for) the Fairgrounds.

City of Del Mar Finance Committee-chaired committee prior to election to Council, and have served as Council Liaison to this important committee since election to City Council.