Miembre de Junta — Alpine Community Planning Area

A vital part of any community is the health of its local businesses.  It is a role of the Alpine Community Planning Group to encourage and support infrastructure needed for Alpine's businesses to thrive.  Local bussinesses in turn are major supporters of philanthropic needs in town; including to fund-raising for our schools.

Planning Group activity has already included much needed improvements to our roads and byways; and especially along Alpine Boulevard.  To date, over $10 million in improvements to storm water drainage, curbs, sidewalks, pathways, and private property driveway "cuts" on to Alpine Boulevard have been completed.  The ACPG's Circulation Subcommittee has prepared a living document for the County's Department of Public Works prioritizing our roadway needs, including better ways to protect our school children when walking to and from schools.

The ACPG also works with the County in conducting a series of town hall meetings inviting community input into development and architectural design standards for new projects along the Boulevard, and that would also apply to redevelopment projects as well.  The ACPG has a member that sits of the Alpine Design Review Board and contributes to executing these new standards across the village center. 

Part of these new standards is an innovative "Mixed Use" concept; allowing the combination of commercial and residential development of a property within the village center. The ACPG is concerned with brevity of regulation; but regulation that ensures conformity to the Alpine village character, and that supports business needs. 

The Group works hard to guide commercial developers to consider the community's overall needs; all to help the new and old businesses thrive.  That includes the matters of vehicle parking, ingress and egress from businesses, and the ACPG works hand in hand with the County Sheriffs and the Alpine Fire Protection District in matters of uniformed services in town planning and business development.

Young families are not coming to Alpine because we have no high school.  Established Alpine families are leaving Alpine for the same reason. 

Under its new Superintendent, Alpine Union together with the support of local philanthropies in partnership with our great community service organizations, is offering award-winning Coding-Robotics-Engineering from kindergarten through middle school (where national titles have been earned).  Summer camps are offering everything from Art to Dance/Choreography to Nutrition/Cooking to Robotics.  The Wheel of Experts Program is introducing S.T.E.A.M. Pathways (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Math) across the district, and all to the latest New Generation Science Standards.   There is every reason for families to move to Alpine, with its Destination School District of the East County; but for the lack of a high school. 

A high school will have profund beneficial effects on Alpine.  It fulfils the town's character.  And everything about a high school impacts the role of the Alpine Community Planning Group, whose participation in planning land use across the Alpine township is crucial.  That is, careful planning for traffic circulation, roads-pathways-sidewalks, parkland, housing, electric power, water, sanitation, and environmental impacts - all aspects of the community under the purview of the Planning Group.

Think about just the environmental sustainability.  Having a high school in Alpine will tremendosuly benefit the environment; less travel "down the hill" now requiring mulitple trips each day for our high school students; saving $1000 a month in family gasoline bills; substantially reducing green house gas emissions from vehicular traffic perhaps by 75%, increasing time for family and community interaction by removing two hours a day from the family's transport commitments. 

Having an Alpine high school is an environmental necessity.  And it is vital to fulfilling a vision of a sustainable community.  It will boost our local businesses.  It will also reduce road accidents and deaths.  

The Alpine Community Planning group's participation is vital.

The Alpine Community Planning Group serves a vital role in reviewing property development proposals.  Under County, State and Federal guidelines, developers are required to 'mitigate' the impacts of their development proposals.  That means, they are required to offset all detrimental impacts as part of the approval process for their development proposal.  That occurs two ways; One - developers contribute cold hard cash into two special accounts - one for community parkland and one for school district infrastructure and facilities.  Two - the other mitigation method is for developers to contribute to the community for its use superb environmental open-space properties.  This is one process that has been used to acquire parts of Wright's Field in Alpine.  It may be the most important source of conserving environmentally superior open-space.

One of the primary roles of the Alpine Community Planning Group is to review every development project - homes, commercial, industrial - to ensure the community is going to be protected.  The ACPG also serves the County on advice as to how to invest the money held in the developers' fees non-school district account in park land and public school sports playing fields.  The governing rules for this is ensuring compliance to the California Environment Quality Act. 

The ACPG's Private Actions Subcommittee conducts these reviews and seeks out community interaction and comment on every single development project planned for Alpine.   

Alpine Union School District is a district in trouble.  It has spent $1 million on legal fees in suits against other school districts, and has lost every one.  It cannot fix its district offices for lack of money.  The district transportation department repeatedly failed inspections by the California Highway Patrol and was on the verge of being shut down when it contracted with another district to take over.  The students in the district rode on unsafe buses for two years.  Parents are taking their children out of the district for other schools, public and charter.  Administrators were illegally changing grades.  The district must borrow money to pay its commitments.  The list goes on and on.  Alpine Union needs change at the top and I am the person who can lead the district to excellence.  Our children should receive every penny of our tax dollars, to make our class size smaller, to make our classrooms safe and to provide the highest academic instruction, for all of our students.  Our children should feel welcomed, be with their friends and look forward to attending school every day.  A vote for me with ensure this is the case in Alpine Union.