[Editors’ Note: Due to a technical glitch the photos were not available yesterday. It has been fixed. Please try the link again. No one is sorrier that we are.]
Carlsbad Beach Fest featured a typical collection of Carlsbadistan artists, musicians, lifeguards, and a whole bunch of people who are not afraid to pick up trash on the beach. Thanks to everyone who came out to beautify our beaches (even if you were just laying there in the sun).
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On Saturday, May 1, 2010, join the California State Parks for the Third Annual Carlsbad Beach Fest and coastal clean-up day.
The Carlsbad Beach Fest’s main focus is to provide citizens and beach users with the opportunity to participate in a beach cleanup. To take part in the cleanup and earn a raffle ticket, please sign in at the California State Parks Welcome Station down on the sand at Tamarack/Frazee State Beach at Pine Avenue. The beach cleanup will take place from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m on Saturday, May 1st. Trash and recycling bags will be made available. Participants should bring gloves.
But that’s not all. There will be live music, entertainment and at 9 AM beach volleyball legend Karch Kiraly will host a free volleyball clinic. Throw in 15 artists, a food court, and magicians and it makes an amazing day at the beach in Carlsbadistan. For more information click the link below.
[Link: Carlsbad Beach Fest]
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The Surfrider Foundation has definitely not thrown in the town on their opposition to the Poseidon Resources Desalination Plant scheduled to be built in the shores of Carlsbadistan’s Agua Hedionda Lagoon.
The environmental group filed a lawsuit on Earth Day (April 22, 2010) challenging a permit approved by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board. Surfrider says that the “facility would kill countless marine organisms, with an illegal plan to replace these fish and other marine life through a restoration project somewhere else.”
“When the law says you must ‘minimize the intake and mortality’ of marine life, that doesn’t mean you can kill millions of marine organisms and then try to replace them somehow,” said Joe Geever, Surfrider Foundation’s California Policy Coordinator. “The Regional Water Quality Control Board misinterpreted the law, and it’s unfortunate the project has progressed this far without a final decision on the type of intake and facility design that meets California’s law to protect our precious marine environment.”
According to Michael Burge story in the San Diego Union-Tribune this is one of six lawsuits that have been filed regarding Poseidon’s plans for the lagoon. Three are still progress.
For the entire Surf Rider release, follow the jump or click here for Carlsbadistan’s coverage of the entire saga.
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Okay, maybe we do need The Flower Fields® for the 100,000 people who visit the “700 million flowers” that grow on our hillside. . .
[Link: via @Carlsbadcagov]
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In another example of how much easier it is to get permits for something that is already built, the Carlsbadistan Planning Commission last night (April 7, 2010) agreed four to one to grant the proper permits for the construction of the $750,000 seawall built last summer at Terramar, according to a Barbara Henry story in the North County Times.
The commission’s vote was 4-1, with Commissioner Bill Dominguez opposed and Commissioners Marty Montgomery and Michael Schumacher absent. The four commissioners who voted in favor of granting the permits mentioned both public safety and bluff conditions north of the new wall as reasons for their decision. . . “I don’t have any problem at all approving this … it really is a major public safety issue,” Commissioner Hap L’Heureux said, commenting that the public staircase invites people into an area where people are likely to end up right next to bluffs.
As much as we think people should ask before building gigantic walls on the coastline, the Goetz wall is about as nice a wall as can be imagined. If it causes all the sand to disappear (as opponents suggest) then we’ll all know last night’s decision was a bad one.
[Link: North County Times]
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Tonight at 6 PM the City of Carlsbadistan Planning Commission is supposed to vote on whether to “grant permits to a controversial seawall project that coastal environmentalists argue may permanently alter the beach in front of the Terramar community,” according to a Barbara Henry story in the North County Times.
Some will remember this already built wall (pictured above) as the same one that riled up the Surfrider Foundation last June when homeowner Dean A. Goetz got some grief from local surfers. At the timeattorney Todd Cardiff said, “We are going to do everything we can do to make them take that sea wall out. This is one of the most cynical attempts to avoid the public process that I’ve seen in a long time.”
Now Cardiff is accusing the City of Carlsbad of “deliberately withholding some project-related paperwork that should be released to the public,” according to the story.
Jane Mobaldi, Carlsbad assistant city attorney, said that Carlsbad has released “95 percent” of its documents related to the seawall issue. Cardiff has been given the environmental reports, the project application and other city documents, she said. Only about six pieces of paper out of hundreds have been withheld, she said. . . Those include a few e-mails and some notes from conversations between city employees and property owner attorneys, and she considers them privileged legal information, she added.
We have to say in the scheme of sea walls in general, this one could be much, much worse. Tonight we may know the outcome. . . The meeting begins at 6 tonight in the Council Chambers of City Hall 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive and it is open to the public.
[Link: North County Times]
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Gulp, gulp, gulp. . .
Just a little reminder from the Carlsbad Municipal Water District: thanks for being nice and conserving more than the eight percent that was requested. You know, the water has a long journey to get here and we should treat it well.
Carlsbad relies on water from the Colorado River and Northern California for 100 percent of its supply. California has faced severe water shortages due to a prolonged drought and legal restrictions on water pumped from Northern California. Recent local rain doesn’t help much because most of it runs off into the ocean and cannot be captured for future use.
Thanks, Northern California. Come visit anytime.
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In a meeting today the Coast Law Group requested that the California Coastal Commission revoke a Poseidon Resources building permit because the company failed to correctly represent the greenhouse gas emissions from their desalination plant. The Coastal Commission rejected the request, according to a Bradley Fikes story in the North County Times.
Poseidon said it had not misled the commission, and that there was no reason to revoke the permit.
Apparently, the Coastal Commission takes Poseidon at their word. So there.
[Link: North County TImes]
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On February 1-4, 2010 the citizens of Carlsbadistan will have the chance to speak out regarding NRG West’s plans for a 550-mega watt power plant on the shores of Agua Hedionda Lagoon. According to Power of Vision Carlsbad, here are a few of the reasons why a new power plant just might be a bad idea:
• Huge carbon footprint
• 10 times increase in air pollution
• 40 more years harnessed with fossil fuel-burning technology
• Economics hardship for tourism industry
• Major safety concerns cited with I-5 expansion
• Industrialization of coastal lands
• Long Beach or La Jolla? You decide
• Noise impact as loud as jet engines
• Will make Carlsbad industrial epicenter
• No contract with SDG&E
• Two power plants • Decreases property values
The hearings will be held in the Hilton Garden Inn Ballroom Building at 6450 Carlsbad Blvd, Carlsbadistan:
Monday, February 1, 2010; 10:30am, Public comment period begins at 6:00pm
Tuesday, February 2, 2010; 9:00am, Public comment period begins at 6:00 pm
Wednesday, February 3, 2010; 9:00am, Public comment period at 6:00p.m. if necessary
Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 9:00a.m.
Might as well show up and let them know how you feel about it.
[Link: Power of Vision]
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Poseidon Resources Corp, the company that plans to build the desalination plant on the Agua Hedionda lagoon say they were just approved for $530 million in tax exempt bonds from the State of California, according to a story in the North County Times.
The Private Activity Bonds were approved by the California Debt Limitation Allocation Committee. These bonds are used to finance private projects judged to benefit the public. . . Peter MacLaggan, Poseidon’s senior vice president, said in a statement that the bonds’ tax-exempt status means they can sell for a lower interest rate than taxable bonds, lowering the cost of the desalinated water to the buyers.
Isn’t it nice when the Government helps private business?
[Link: North County Times]
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