Front Page  »  

Steve Martin approves development, receives a large donation

October 1, 2016
Paso Robles Councilman Steve Martin

Paso Robles Mayor Steve Martin

The Paso Robles City Council voted unanimously last month to approve zoning changes for a project owned by Stewart and Lynda Resnick and Tom and Gwen Erskine. A month later, Gwen Erskine donated $1,000 dollars to Mayor Steve Martin’s campaign for supervisor.

On Aug. 2, the developers asked the council for approval to subdivide and rezone three parcels on the east side of Paso Robles into 14 separate lots.

Because the property was zoned parks and open space, development on the land was limited to recreational uses such as hotels, resorts and wineries. The council’s approval permits the Resnicks and the Erskines to rezone a portion of the 212 acre property from open space to industrial.

In an area dominated by wineries and hotels, the developers plan to build an industrial park with 440,000 square feet of planned industrial space and 183,000 square feet of light industrial, according to the project application.

Generally, zoning changes from parks and open space to industrial are uncommon, said Darren Nash, Paso Robles associate planner.

Before the Aug. 2 Paso Robles City Council meeting, as part of the project’s conditions for approval, the developers were required to provide a 40 foot easement for a hiking trail.

However, on Aug. 2, the council also voted to approve the developer’s request to reduce the width of a trail easement from 40 feet to 20 feet.

On Sept. 24, Gwen Erskine donated $1,000 to Martin’s campaign for a seat on the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors.

Martin said he had no knowledge about the donation before the Aug. 2 vote.

“The donation did not come up before the issue,” Martin said. “It was a total surprise.”

Gwen Erskine did not respond to requests for comment.


Loading...
Subjects:                 
Related:


33 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Resnicks are bad news who embody Limo Libs. Does Paso want Beverly Hills New Age Democrats running the show? Was out-of-towners strip mining Old Growth Oak, without the proper permits, acceptable to locals with generations of history living on this land? Meet the Resnicks https://disqus.com/home/discussion/channel-trumpandelection2016/local_voices_support_republicans_in_californias_central_coast/


Resnick’s 2016 contribution to Paso Robles

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/07a906c379c93d569ed483d5a2e71dbccbed092b892efa04bdc87402ffd070e4.jpg


Even Progressive Democrats can’t stand the Resnicks http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/04/lynda-stewart-resnick-california-water


Sanders supporters sick of the #riggedsystem from Clinton Global Initiative graft must support John Peschong for Supervisor in District 1. Vote for the man who lives with principles, and values this community.


0

The headline to this article is unspeakably partisan, bogus and is obviously meant to invoke responses from the wingnuts. Martin did not approve this measure. The Council did. Disgusting.


0

Martin is the Mayor and leads the Council, but apparently, only Martin got the payoff.


0

I can only guess how good old boy Steve would vote to protect our water resources from Resnick and the rest of his water cartel.


0

Should stop hanging around with O’Malley and picking up bad habits.


0

I’d guess he had these bad habits before he ever meet O’Malley, wasn’t there already a closed door deal with something to do with garage doors and Steve?


0

That was Mr. Hamon, owner of Hamon overhead doors (garage). That was him approving parcels out by airport that his business had interest in.


0

Thanks for the correction, since the payoff of the former police chief Chitty, it is hard to keep all the shady deals straight.


0

and a thousand bucks is too cheap to sell your soul


0

take two. a grand is nothing compared to what those people are going to make. why didn’t they just wall paper his house?


0

Why would Steve accept this donation? Even if it wasn’t a payoff, the appearance of a conflict of interest is overwhelming. I don’t want him to be my supervisor. John Peschong has my vote.


0

Peschong? They guy who takes $250k donations from an oil company? Good call.


0

How do we know Peschong received that money? Because he fully disclosed, as required. How do we know he’ll recuse from votes that are conflict of interest when he’s elected District 1 supervisor? Because Peschong is on record saying he will. Compare to the man who within months of being elected mayor of Paso decides to run for Supervisor instead, and puts the very city he’s supposed to lead as Mayor on the possible hook of covering the cost of a special election if he wins. I’m voting Peschong because he’s a man of principles.


0

I don’t understand how recusing one’s self is OK. You elect him to do a job, such as vote on various things. Have we arrived at the point where it is OK to say: “I won’t be voting on this due to the fact I received a huge donation from one of the parties involved”. The honest and principled thing to do is to not accept the contributions from entities who are obviously jockeying for political favors in the first place.


0

“I won’t be voting on this due to the fact I received a huge donation from one of the parties involved”. I believe your statement is incorrect. John Peschong is a consultant, was hired and performed work and was paid for his work. Steve Martin attended a Council meeting as Mayor of Paso Robles, and then,SOLD HIS VOTE TO THE RESNICK’S by changing zoning code and setbacks for the Resnicks. Apples and oranges!


0

Resnicks again? I’m afraid you’ll sit there and complain and do nothing.


0

It happens like this… “we have to stop the Resnicks from destroying our county. Oh, wow! That’s a lot of money; thank you Mr. and Mrs. Resnick. Like I was saying, the Resnicks are the best thing that ever happened to this county”.


0

shoot; thought we were talking about the comedian


0

“The donation did not come up before the issue,” Martin said. “It was a total surprise.”


Yea Steve, just like Gomer Pyle always said, “Surprise, surprise, surprise”


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TnkJ8_BmSI


0
1 2