RB Groups in Standoff Over Welcome Sign

The Rancho Bernardo Planning Board is digging in its heels in the push and pull for a new welcome sign, saying it won't consider any new designs even as the Community Council explores different options.

The Planning Board, at its meeting Thursday, almost unanimously agreed to send a letter to the RB Community Council and its Maintenance and Assessment District (MAD) subcommittee objecting to any further design submissions now that the search has hit the one-year mark and the Board has already approved a design that has the support of some local organizations. [Editor's Note: For a brief timeline history of the design process, see the end of the story.]

The letter was a last-minute addition to the agenda to help clarify the Board's position amid community questions, Board Chair Teri Denlinger said. The draft letter, which the board agreed to slightly alter to soften its tone, says that the Board will not consider any new designs or changes. Both groups need to agree on a design for the project to move forward.

The community has been without a welcome sign since late 2009, when a motorist destroyed the sign on Rancho Bernardo Road. A search for a new design gained traction in July 2010 and has been ongoing since. 

The Board's move Thursday comes after the MAD Committee, at its July 5 meeting, decided to seek professional advice on the design approved by the Planning Board in June. RB Community Council protocol calls for the proposed designs to first go before the MAD Committee, which can then send the design to the Council with or without a recommended action. But the Committee has decided to pursue changes to the design, and has not sent it to the Council.

Ed Muna, who heads the MAD Committee, said the group wants to get professional input on the design, which was created by Larry McIntyre, the head of the Rancho Bernardo Business Association. McIntyre has a background in graphics but is not a professional sign designer.

Paying for this input has been a struggle, with city officials saying the project funds cannot be used for a professional review because that is already part of the final process once the design is submitted to the city.

But Muna said the committee wants a professional to give aesthetic advice on the design, not just determine whether it has the proper measurements to be constructed.

"If it can be built, what we submit is what we get," he said.

Amid the question over financing a consultation, Muna said he has received free advice from some of his professional contacts and others who heard about the project. The feedback has been consistent, he said: the sign tries too hard to please everyone.

"The absolute consensus is that they tried to please too many people by combining too many different characteristics," Muna said.

One designer even referenced the famous quotation, "A camel is a horse designed by committee," he said.

Muna said though it's possible MAD could eventually approve the design as-is, he thinks they will make changes and pick something simpler.

But with the Planning Board standing firm on its approval of the current design, it's not clear what will happen if MAD and the Community Council go in a different direction.

Muna said he's not bothered by the Board's stance, though he hopes its members and Refresh RB—the volunteer committee which initially helped picked the design—can work together to come to an agreement.

A Planning Board member on Thursday asked if MAD could stall the project by refusing to release funding for the project, but no one had an answer. Muna said he's not sure, but he hopes the situation doesn't come to that point and he "would never make that threat."

"They seem to think that they can't change their mind, but the fact is if the Community Council doesn't approve then it's all going to come back to them in some form," Muna said.

"They will have to change their mind eventually if that happens."

A spokesperson for Councilman Carl DeMaio, who created the Refresh RB Committee behind the project, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Welcome Sign History

• August 2009: Motorist destroys welcome sign on Rancho Bernardo Road near Bernardo Center Drive. An insurance settlement is allocated to pay for a replacement.
• July 2010: Councilman Carl DeMaio appoints an 11-member volunteer committee, called Refresh RB, to gather community input and recommend a new design for the welcome sign.
• Fall 2010: Refresh RB conducts an online survey to gauge design taste preferences. A couple hundred people respond, indicating a preference for a traditional look.
• February 2011: Online voting for three different designs—one traditional, two contemporary—is held over four weeks. , with the traditional option receiving the most votes but not a majority vote. Refresh RB interprets the voting to mean that the majority wants a contemporary option. A between the traditional option and a new, contemporary design is scheduled.
• April 2011: An online runoff is held over two weeks between the traditional option for the February vote and a new contemporary design. The , but some voters exploited a loophole that allowed them to vote multiple times, running up the tally to more than 6,000 votes. Refresh RB discards the vote, and that was not part of the vote and blends elements of the traditional option with the contemporary.
• May and June 2011: The recommended design undergoes changes and several new submissions come into play, ending with the Planning Board in June that retains the red tile roof of the traditional option and incorporates the color scheme and other elements of contemporary choices throughout the process.
• July 2011: The MAD Committee pursues changes to the Planning Board-approved design while the Board .

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to note that the approval of the letter was not unanimous. Planning Board member Joe Dirks abstained in part because he believe the item had not been added to the agenda properly.

Find us on Facebook and Twitter @RBPatch.