by The Editors on November 9, 2007
It weighs in at 88 pages, but the Costal Commission staff report on the proposed Poseidon Resource desalination plant should be read by everyone who is interested in future of Agua Hedionda Lagoon or ocean life near Warm Waters. The report is very straight forward on why the project is a bad idea:
The proposed project represents a non-allowable use of Agua Hedionda Lagoon, one of 19 coastal estuaries in which permitted uses are limited to very minor incidental public facilities, restorative measures, and nature study. Further, the project would require ongoing dredging of the lagoon, which would adversely affect water quality and habitat. . . .The project would cause significant adverse impacts to marine life and water quality in Agua Hedionda and in nearshore ocean waters. The entrainment caused by the project’s use of an open-water intake within Agua Hedionda would result in a loss of productivity in the lagoon equal to that produced in no less than 37 acres of wetland and open water habitat. The project’s discharge into coastal waters of its waste stream at levels of salinity higher than the natural variability of these waters would cause adverse effects to marine organisms in an area ranging from about eight to over 40 acres of benthic habitat.
The Costal Commission’s November meeting at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel at 1433 Camino Del Rio South begins on November 14, 2007 with the desalination plant discussion scheduled for November 15 (it’s number seven on the agenda).
While the staff report clearly suggests a “No” vote, most political pressure seems to bearing down in the opposite direction. In fact, Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institutes auqaman Donald Kent believes the plant will actually be good for the lagoon, according to an editorial in the North County Times.
by The Editors on November 8, 2007
We have to admit that there is something frightening about allowing the Carlsbad City Council to make any decisions related to “design” or “architecture.” That said, in a vote of 3-0 the Carlsbad City Council Tuesday night approved a revised master plan and and design guidelines changes to Carlsbad’s Village, according to an article in the San Deigo Union Tribune. Councilmen Matt Hall and Mark Packard did not vote because they own property in the Village.
“The council voted, instead, to allow building heights of 45 feet if at least 50 percent of a roof is sloped. . . The council also voted to allow commercial buildings in much of the redevelopment area to be built up to the sidewalks, as long as their upper floors are tiered back. But the council is requiring the first floor of residential buildings to be set back from sidewalks an average of 10 feet. . . . The council also . . . approved a compromise to allow up to 35 [residential] units per acre [previously it had been 23].
The only thing the council rejected (thankfully) was a proposal let developers put in 15 percent fewer parking spaces “if their projects gave incentives to use public transportation” whatever that means.
[Link: San Diego Union Tribune]
by The Editors on November 6, 2007
Planning Commissioner Julie Baker and “active local volunteer” and Rotary Club of Carlsbad Secretary Ed Scarpelli (pictured right) have been named Carlsbad Citizens of the Year by the City of Carlsbad, according to the North County Times.
Baker, 52, is the former executive director of the Carlsbad Education Foundation, where she helped establish the Kids Are Worth a Million fund-raising campaign for local schools. . . She also is active in the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation, the Carlsbad Friends of the Arts, the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce and the Carlsbad Federation of Republican Women.
Scarpelli, 70, arrived in Carlsbad in 1979 from Wilbraham, Mass., to help establish a builders’ lending division at a mortgage company. He originally trained as a teacher and taught industrial arts for 13 years in New York state before taking a sales job that would send him to Europe for several years.
The awards ceremony, which was scheduled for October 23 has been rescheduled for November 13 at 4 PM at City Hall located at 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on November 4, 2007
According to an interview in the San Diego Union Tribune, the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce has the “second largest chamber membership in San Diego County and the 10th-largest in California.” We did not know that. In fact, we didn’t even know that Ted Owen was the president and chief executive officer or that he had a staff of 15 employees. But we’re learning all kinds of things today thanks to Mr. Owen:
This is a very civil city that has $80 million in the bank. We had an $8 million surplus at the end of 2006, and the city pretty much likes to listen to its residents and provide them things. . . They wanted a golf course; we built one. They wanted an aquatic park; we’re building one. They wanted (a water desalination plant); we’re building one. Those things cost money, and a city with wealth and that’s well-run can do that.
Hey Ted, we’d like a proper skateboard park near the Village. Are you building that?
[Link: San Diego Union Tribune]
by The Editors on October 18, 2007
If the Carlsbad City Council gives the Ponto Vision Plan (a development that could include “a 215-room Hilton resort; a 269-room hotel; a 161-unit condominium and live-work complex; and a 180-room hotel and 126 time shares”) the thumbs up it’s going to greatly increase traffic on La Costa Avenue. That means the road will have to be upgraded. But exactly who is going to pay for that has become a point of contention between the cities of Carlsbad and Encinitas.
Carlsbad estimated that the improvements would cost $5.34 million and determined that Ponto developers should pay 27 percent, with Encinitas paying the rest, Encinitas officials said. . . . Encinitas Planning Director Pat Murphy said Ponto’s developers should pay 70 percent of the improvements. His staff based its calculations on the developers’ share of the additional traffic that would be using La Costa Avenue, yielding a much higher share for the developers.
We have an easy solution: don’t build out Ponto.
[Link: San Diego Union Tribune]
by The Editors on October 18, 2007
The Mitsuuchis family is hoping to sell 18 acres of land on the northeast side of Batiquitos Lagoon to the California Coastal Conservancy as open space according to a story in the San Diego Union Tribune.
Deborah Ruddock, the California Coastal Conservancy’s project manager for North County lagoons, said the property has been appraised at $2.4 million. The conservancy’s board will consider committing $1.7 million toward buying the property at its meeting Nov. 8, Ruddock said. . . She said the California Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are trying to come up with the balance.
Open space on the lagoon is a good thing, right?
[Link: San Diego Union Tribune]
by The Editors on October 16, 2007
While local government and other groups are well behind the proposed Carlsbad Desalination Plant the Surfrider Foundation is still asking people to do all they can to stop it.
This project would be the largest and most damaging ocean desalination facility in the western hemisphere and should not move forward if we want to improve the health of our coastal areas and ocean water quality. Though there is never a good reason to destroy public coastal property, this project is especially threatening because it will cause the destruction of marine life and ecosystems of one of Southern California’s last remaining coastal lagoons, and exacerbate global warming.
They’ve posted a form letter on their website that will allow people to send email to Coastal Commission Chair Patrick Kruer and Lt. Gov. John Garamendi asking that they vote no on the project. If you’re against this project, please click the link to take action.
[Link: Surfrider Foundation]
by The Editors on October 16, 2007
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (yeah, remember him?) was in Solana Beach yesterday kicking off plans for his $42 billion campaign to “rebuild the state’s aging infrastructure.” His first project? Adding diamond lanes to Interstate 5 all the way to Cannon Rd in Carlsbad.
Schwarzenegger said the $66 million project to extend car-pool lanes on Interstate 5 from Via de la Valle in the Del Mar area to Manchester Avenue in Encinitas. . . Getting under way this week, the two-mile-long car-pool project is expected to be completed by March 2010. The project is the first leg of a $1 billion effort that ultimately will extend diamond lanes north to Cannon Road in Carlsbad by the middle of next decade, transportation officials said.
Wow. When you think of all the cool public transportation ideas that could use $1 billion, it seems like a crime to spend it making an already gigantic freeway one lane wider. Talk about a lack of vision.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on October 15, 2007
The Washington Post has a blog called The Trail that is “a daily diary of Campaign 2008.”
In today’s update they were listing all the money that Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani has been spending on what they are calling “posh hotels.” Guess who was near the top of the list? Our own La Costa Resort and Spa:
Whether it was $2,010 at the Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia, $4,034 at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., or $5,370 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, the former mayor found himself top-notch lodging.
Top-notch indeed. Wonder how much they charged him for valet parking?
[Link: The Trail]
by The Editors on October 12, 2007
According to a Barbara Henry story in the North County Times the Carlsbad City Council voted unanimously last month to give themselves a 10 percent raise in November of 2008.
Under state law, council members are allowed to raise their salaries 5 percent a year, and their last raises went into effect in 2006, said Julie Clark, the city’s human resource director, as she discussed why the 10 percent figure was picked. “Whatever small increase there is, is to me very worthwhile,” Mayor Bud Lewis said Wednesday. “Just preparing for a council meeting … takes the whole weekend.”
What this means is if they’d given themselves any larger of a raise it would have been illegal. Aside from all the perks of being a big power swinger in local politics City Council members really don’t make all that much. After their raise next year they’ll make $17k a year.
We’ve always wondered what would happen if a City Council was outrageously well compensated; paid so well that they would have the independence to make decisions that really were in the best, long-term interest of the community. But that would never work, would it?
[Link: North County Times]
It weighs in at 88 pages, but the Costal Commission staff report on the proposed Poseidon Resource desalination plant should be read by everyone who is interested in future of Agua Hedionda Lagoon or ocean life near Warm Waters. The report is very straight forward on why the project is a bad idea:
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