Sept. 15, 2011, OBHS Presented Richard Carrico: Then They Turn Into Stones Again: San Diego’s Neglected Naturalist Author: Judy Van Der Veer of Ramona
Born in 1912, Judy Van Der Veer spent her early teenage years in a house just below Banker’s Hill in San Diego, rode horses from Mission Valley to Ocean Beach, snuck into a hangar to see one of Lindberg’s new planes, dropped out of high school after her junior year, and lived most of her adult life as a rancher-writer in Ramona, CA. She won her first poetry contest when she was sixteen with the poem Little Woodland God, which has been continuously reprinted in poetry collections and anthologies. She published her first book when she was twenty-four and went on to write more than 5 adult books including My Valley in the Sky and 6 very popular children’s books including Hold the Rein Free.
Before her death in 1982, Van Der Veer wrote more than 500 articles that appeared in publications including Westways, the christian Science Monitor, the San Diego Union, Poetry Magazine, and San diego Magazine. In her time, Judy Van Der Veer was noted for her advocacy of animal rights, fought to preserve habitats, was sympathetic to marginalized Indian and Mexican people, and was known as an ecologist before the term came into common usage. Often compared to John Steinbeck and Willa Cather, Van Der Veer’s minimalist, naturalistic works are largely forgotten in the twenty-first century.
Ocean Beach Historical Society 
LETTER TO EDITOR OF THE OCEAN BEACH BEACON APRIL 6, 2012
My name is Alan Beneventi and my family has resided at 4667-69 for 55 years.
My intention is to alert you, inform you, and hopefully for you to decide to run a story on a profound, perplexing, and an aggressive ploy to destroy the community surrounding that area and pushing for the residents of Ocean Beach in accepting a multiple building code variances for his project (No. 260180) proposed by Mr. Mark Winkler, otherwise known as (Santa Monica Avenue LLC) at his investment property, located on the corner of Santa Monica Avenue and Ebers. Everyone in Ocean Beach knows this building as The Children’s Energy Center or The Franklin Pre School at its inception.
The current law only requires that the “Applicant” (he hired Janay
Krueger-famous San Diegan Developer for over 40 years) send out “Notice of Application” letters to the residents in a 300 foot radius-Well, the Recreation Center does not count and neither does the OB Elementary school, so only a few neighbors next to the proposed location know about this request for variance to build the project.
Basically-The Coastal Development Permit requests demolition of the nursery
school and requests “Zero” lot line side yards and variance of 55ft frontage
needed on the corner lot- 4 lots are on one huge parcel of approximately 14,000 sq. ft.
Current density of current building is 18.4% and the proposed 4 new single
family units is to the “maximum allowable” which has a questionable
definition-at 75%, the project will be 74% and that equates to 402% larger than what exists there today!
The most recent “Notice Letter” is also Attached, but the verbiage is below:
“As a property owner, tenant, or person who has requested notice, please be
advised that the Hearing Officer will hold a public hearing to approve, conditionally approve, or deny an application for Coastal Development
Permit(s) to demolish an existing structure (previously used as a daycare
center) and construct four (4) single family residences (each 2,196 square feet) with four (4) detached, 2-car garages (400 square feet each) on a
13,968-square-foot site (comprised of four legal lots), including variances to the RM-1-1 zone to allow the new garages to observe a zero foot side yard setback where 3’-0” is required, and for the new structure on Lot
No. 48 to observe a 5’-0” street yard setback where 10’-0” is required. The site is located at 4689 Santa Monica Avenue in the RM-1-1 Zone, within the Coastal Overlay (non-appealable), Coastal Height Limit, FAA Part 77, Airport Influence Area, Airport Approach, Ocean Beach Cottage Emerging Historical District, within the Ocean Beach Precise Plan area.
The decision of the Hearing Officer is final unless appealed to the Planning
Commission. In order to appeal
the decision you must be present at the public hearing and file a speaker slip concerning the application or
have expressed interest by writing to the Hearing Officer before the close of
the public hearing. The appeal
must be made within 10 working days of the Hearing Officer’s decision. Please do not e-mail appeals as they
will not be accepted. See Information Bulletin 505 “Appeal Procedure”, available at http://www.sandiego.gov/development-services or in person at the Development Services Department, located at
1222 First Avenue, 3rd Floor, San Diego, CA 92101
The decision made by the Planning Commission is the final decision by the City.”
The project details are contained in attached “Hearing Officer Report” elevation
diagrams, etc…..
The Hearing Officer conditionally approved this project on March 28th.
Many of us will be proceeding with our right to appeal.
I know the people of Ocean Beach need to be informed. The OB planning group is naive, complacent, and really don’t about full filling a community service to the citizens of Ocean Beach and San Diego as a whole. I am not against change nor development, but I am against a project that demands that laws by varied and waved to accommodate a money making enterprise, C.G. Alan Development.
By the way, this property has NOT been SOLD as of 4/7/12.
The “SALE is PENDING” in escrow and waiting for these variances to be granted by the SD Planning Comission.
Please get involved.
Sincerely,
Alan Beneventi