Refresh RB to Take Compromise Design to Community Council, Planning Board

The Refresh RB Committee is set to present a unanimously-endorsed "compromise" design for the new welcome sign to Rancho Bernardo's two main leadership groups later this month after deciding a second round of voting was not legitimate.

At least one group will not be voting on the sign this month, its president said.

A contemporary design received nearly 60 percent of the second round votes in a runoff against a traditional option.

The committee also disregarded the results of the initial round of voting in February, in which a traditional design received the most votes. The issue then was that the traditional design only received 30 more votes than the second-place finisher, one of two contemporary designs. Committee members deemed those results "inconclusive." For the second round of voting, which ended last Thursday, members believed the results were unreliable after voting spiked following a Patch report that repeat voting was possible, despite committee claims that it was not.

The number of votes in the first four-week survey with three options was just over 800; in the two-week second survey with only two choices, the final vote tally topped 6,400. The San Diego North Chamber of Commerce administered the survey and, after Patch's article, said the survey could not be changed to fix the voting flaw because it was already in progress.

The compromise design blends the popular tile roof element of the traditional design with the contemporary sign that received the most votes in the runoff. The contemporary option in the runoff blended elements of the two losing contemporary designs from February's four-week survey.

It's not yet clear how the community will react to the selection of the compromise design, an option that the community at-large had not seen beforehand and has not had a chance to vote on.

Larry McIntyre, the head of the Rancho Bernardo Business Association who has been speaking on behalf of the committee, said Refresh RB felt the compromise was the best option to "make everybody happy."

"We knew that our decision was correct," McIntyre said, citing the clear, albeit tainted, victory of the contemporary design in the runoff.

The fact that a contemporary design received the most votes in the runoff, and the two contemporary choices in the first vote collectively received more votes than the third, traditional option, proves that the community wants a contemporary design, McIntyre said.

By including the tile roof of the traditional option in the compromise design, there's something for everyone to like in this choice, he said.

The compromise design was unanimously supported by the Refresh RB Committee, which includes a representative from the office of Councilman Carl DeMaio, who organized the committee.

DeMaio has said the point of the committee was to gather community input in an open fashion so that the final design reflects what RB residents and business owners want. But disregarding the first vote and, now, supporting a compromise design that the community did not vote on, seem to go against those initial objectives.

DeMaio's spokesman had not responded to repeated phone calls and emails from Patch since Friday for comment until a news release was issued late Tuesday from the councilman's office on behalf of the committee.

"Creating a monument sign is similar to a public art project, as it is difficult to achieve total agreement and support. The goal is to reach a consensus that will enhance the community and be most acceptable," the statement said.

"This compromise design maintains the stucco and tile look popular in Rancho Bernardo while also incorporating a more contemporary flair that will enable the business community to update their signage in the future."

No one from DeMaio's office could be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

The compromise design emerged after Patch's story about the ability to vote multiple times caused "chaos" in the online vote, McIntyre said. The numbers immediately spiked and it became clear the results wouldn't have much meaning, he said.

Frank Auwarter, the Maintenance Assessment District representative on the committee, asked McIntyre about creating a compromise design. Auwarter and McIntyre, who created the design, then met with Robin Kaufman, the Community Council president, and Ron Bamberger, the head of the Bernardo Town Center Property Owners Association, about the new design.

Bamberger is also a Refresh RB member.

Kaufman sent the design to the council and the MAD Committee for their thoughts. Of 18 council members, 10 were in favor of the design and eight were not. Of the five residents on the MAD Committee, three were in favor, one was not and another declined to respond.

Kaufman, in an email to the council, said she would tell the committee that the Community Council was in favor of a compromise but not the chosen design. McIntyre said all of the committee members also saw the design and were in favor of it, even before voting ended, but no official decision was made until after the survey closed.

The next step is for the RB Community Council and the RB Planning Board to vote on the compromise design.The Community Council next meets April 28, but Kaufman said a vote will not take place at that meeting. By council procedure, the matter would first go to the MAD Committee which would make a recommendation for council action. The MAD Committee, however, has already met for this month and, barring any changes that require immediate action, the welcome sign issue is not urgent enough to prompt a second, special meeting of MAD before the 28th, Kaufman said.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the Planning Board would vote on the sign at its April 21 meeting.

McIntyre said he has "no idea" what will happen if either group disapproves of the design.

The final design must go to the city of San Diego's Maintenance Assessment District for approval before implementation, which is slated possibly for the end of this year.

A motorist destroyed the sign last year and the new sign will be paid for with funds from the insurance settlement. The sign would be placed on Rancho Bernardo Road between Interstate 15 and Bernardo Center Drive.

*Source: Larry McIntyre, Refresh RB

** Some people submitted the voting form without selecting either choice, McIntyre said.

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