by The Editors on November 7, 2008
It was standing room only at the City of Carlsbad sponsored open house and presentation regarding NRG’s proposed power plant, according to a Michael Burge story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Joe Garuba, the city’s municipal projects manager, told the audience that NRG’s new plant would not depend on ocean water to cool its generators, as the old one does. . . .“Because this plant is air-cooled, you can move it away from the coast,” Garuba said.
Of course, then it would be in someone else’s backyard. Our question (which we didn’t ask because NRG was not allowed to attend the meeting) is why does this power plant need to be in Carlsbad at all?
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on November 5, 2008
On Thursday November 6, 2008 the City of Carlsbad is hosting an open house and presentation regarding the proposed power plant that NRG wants to put in on the shores of the Aqua Hedionda lagoon.
Since decisions made about this important coastal property will affect Carlsbad for the next 50-plus years, the City of Carlsbad want to ensure its citizen have ample opportunities to provide input to the California Energy Commission.
That’s why we’re encouraging everyone to attend the meeting at 5:30 PM Thursday, November 6, in the Faraday Center, 1635 Faraday Ave. We’ve found that these forums can often be enjoyed (worst case) as the theatre of the absurd. So join, us. Please.
[Link: Carlsbad Connected]
by The Editors on October 24, 2008
Westfield, the Australian retail property owner that operates the Westfield Plaza Camino Real Mall in Carlsbad has submitted an appeal to the City of Oceanside City Council attempting to reverse their approval of Thomas Enterprises‘ proposed 950,000 square foot mall “on a 92-acre site near Highway 76 between Foussat Road and Mission Avenue,” according to a story in the San Diego Business Journal.
The appeal states that Westfield has substantial concerns about the legal sufficiency of the final environmental impact report certified by the city’s planning commission. . . . It contends that the document does not provide adequate information and understates the impacts of traffic, air quality, noise, water quality and biological resources.
Right. A mall developer is concerned about the “environmental impact” of a competitor’s property. How thoughtful of them. Seems that with an increasingly empty mall in Carlsbad that Westfield would focus a little more attention on building value on their own property rather than trying to stop competition in Oceanside.
[Link: San Diego Business Journal]
by The Editors on October 8, 2008
Here’s one of our local Carlsbadistan development companies that we’ve never heard of before: Terramar Retail Centers LLC of Carlsbadistan has just paid $115 million for El Paseo de Saratoga, a 341,000-sf open-air retail development in San Jose, California according to a story on GlobeSt.com.
Terramar currently owns and operates 3.7 million sf in 20 neighborhood, community, specialty and power centers in Oregon Washington and California, including the Target-, Lowe’s- and Kohl’s-anchored Plaza at Golden Valley now under development in Santa Clarita, CA. Bowers says the company is actively expanding its portfolio through acquisitions, new development and redevelopments of retail centers on the West Coast, including Mexico.
And Terramar is reportedly “well capitalized” and can buy all this retail space “without financing.” The big money in Carlsbad isn’t all golf and biotech, huh?
[Link: GlobeSt.com]
by The Editors on September 17, 2008
Forbes.com is calling Carlsbadistan one of the country’s largest foreclosure hotspots right in above La Jolla, and Miami Beach.
In Carlsbad, for example, there are 302 homes in foreclosure. The wealthy beach town–the median home sale price is $710,000–has suffered from overvaluation and risky financing, says Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at RealtyTrac. . . . The only thing that separates homeowners in Carlsbad from those in [other hot spots] is that in Carlsbad folks are losing their second homes.
Oh, we get it. Forbes is saying that it’s no big deal because in Carlsbad we can all afford to lose our “second homes.” Nice.
[Link: Forbes.com]
by The Editors on September 17, 2008
In a 4-to-1 vote the City Council upheld a planning commission decision sending Carlsbad Boat Club owners Jim Courtney and Michael Pfankuch back to the drawing board on their plans to develop a 25-unit time-share unit on a 1-acre lot on the north shore of Agua Hedionda Lagoon, according to a Barbara Henry story in the North County Times.
Council members, including Hall, said Tuesday that it was time for the two men to “go back and listen to the neighbors” and revise their plans.
Wonder how differently that vote would have gone if Courtney or Pfankuch were on the City Council?
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on August 29, 2008
We’re not the biggest fans of the yellow City of Carlsbad “Notice of Project Application” signs. We don’t hate them as much as the carlsGOOD? artists, but let’s just say we often like things left they way they are. That’s why we were a little bummed to see a new sign up on the east side of Garfield St. just north of Juniper Ave.
The proposed SDP/CD” is for “the demolition of a single-family residence and to develop the site with 3 apartment units with underground garage and associated landscaping. Project Applicant: Blue Motif Architecture.
It wasn’t until we checked out Blue Motif Architecture that we began to breathe a little easier. The company has designed and developed some quality, modern, ecologically sensitive, and architecturally significant buildings in San Diego recently. The Sombrilla Condominiums in Oceanside (if only they were in a better neighborhood) and several San Diego Organic To Go locations are just a few of them. The 3-unit condo complex shown above is slated for future construction in Oceanside, but it shows the kind of buildings they specialize in.
Blue Motif’s motto is: “We believe that every project presents a new opportunity to create space to be remembered.” And that makes us feel much better about what they’re planning to build in Carlsbadistan. We just hope they’re not dissuaded by all the modern beach projects that sit unsold and empty.
by The Editors on August 23, 2008
Nexus Properties just paid $20.5 million for the 12.7 acre lot at 5600 Avenida Encinas, which has been home to the San Diego International Floral Trade Center since 1990, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
For 18 years, the 154,000-square-foot former computer manufacturing building has been a fragrant flea market where florists from El Centro to San Bernardino come to buy bundles of fresh roses, tulips and other plants for their shops. . . . About 30 local growers and vendors operate out of the center, which was the brainchild of the late Paul Ecke Jr. of the poinsettia-growing Paul Ecke Ranch in Encinitas.
With 26.3 percent of the Carlsbad office space currently empty, seems like an odd time to be developing more office space. Then again, it’s a block to the beach.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on August 16, 2008
Thanks to the “discovery of two endagered birds” during an environmental review on the planned site of Carlsbad’s new High School, the opening date is going to be pushed off until 2011.
Two nests of least Bell’s vireo, which primarily inhabits riparian woodlands, scrub, and thickets for breeding, were found on city property between the high school site and College Boulevard, district Superintendent John Roach said. . . . The birds were discovered as part of an environmental review of the 57-acre site at College Boulevard and Cannon Road. The Carlsbad Unified School District is building the new campus to reduce overcrowding at Carlsbad High.
That means a little more time in the porta-classes, kids.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on August 16, 2008
A Superior Court judge has sided with the City of Encinitas in the battle over who is going to pay for all the upgrades that La Costa Avenue will need for the increase traffic that the proposed Ponto hotel and resort development will cause, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Judge Robert P. Dahlquist said the Ponto plan’s environmental impact report, required under the California Environmental Quality Act as a step before anything can be built, is inadequate and should be set aside. . . . . . . . “At this time, the city is very pleased with the ruling,” Encinitas City Attorney Glenn Sabine said yesterday.
Carlsbad’s City Attorney Ron Ball is hoping to convince the judge otherwise. Apparently, the City of Carlsbad would like to get out of as much of the $5.3 million improvement costs as possible.
The judge agreed with Encinitas that Carlsbad’s methodology for calculating how much developers would pay without addressing who would make up the difference “is inadequate as a matter of law and is not supported by substantial evidence,” the ruling says.
We’d have to say we agree with Judge Dahlquist. The Carlsbad City Council really doesn’t seem too skilled at math.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
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