Pasadena Council meeting preview

This one is coming in pretty late, but better late than never. The two most significant item on tonight's agenda appears to me to be an appeal against a planning commission decision to license a Goodwill drop-off center in a Northwest Pasadena commercial center on Orange Grove Boulevard and a a new solid waste ordinance.

The Goodwill center was green-lighted by the planning commission about 10 days ago, over the protests of a group of business owners in the Northwest part of the center. The thinking, I believe, is that the area is recovering commercially, and that the last thing it needs is to give up prime real estate to a non-profit company that is associated with poverty. Larry Wilson wrote about the issue recently.

The solid waste ordinance, I am told by Public Works Director Martin Pastucha, is an attempt by the city to clarify some vague rules about who can haul waste, to increase the amount of material that is recycled, and to put new enforcement rules into place for people who are not complying with city rules.

These rules would apply to industrial, commercial, and apartment trash dumping that is done not by city contractors, but by licensed disposal companies. A lot of the issue appears to be construction materials that are thrown away- state law requires that 50 percent of materials at sites by recycled, according to Pastucha. The city is upping the requirement to 75 percent for construction sites.

Additionally, there are a couple of contract over-runs mentioned on the agenda. They don't appear to be related, both in both cases the city did not allocate enough money to complete the project, and additional funding is now required, a total of about $550,000 between the two contracts.

Lastly, there is a closed session real estate negotiation that may be another potential site for the oft-mentioned urgent care clinic. I'm still trying to confirm or dis-confirm this.

UPDATE: The real-estate negotiations are NOT for a new urgent care clinic site. The property in question, is, in fact the former Shakey Pizza's site at 2180 E. Foothill Boulevard, where a fight over allowing a strip club in East Pasadena erupted two years ago when a club tried to buy the property. There was a neighborhood protest, and ever accommodating, the city purchased the property to try to find a more g-rated business to take it over. They may now have found it- the city's closed session tonight is about looking at a deal from a potential buyer.

UPDATE II: According to Mayor Bill Bogaard, the Goodwill store appeal will not be heard tonight, after all. Apparently a formal appeal has been filed with the city, and it will not go to the Board of Zoning Appeals. If that board does not overturn the permit, the opposition can then have the City Council look at the appeal, according to Bogaard.