North County Report: Carlsbad Village Plan Panned

Carlsbad is in the early stages of developing a vision plan for the Village, and a neighborhood just south of the village, known as the Barrio.

The city unveiled changes to the Village and Barrio Plan at a Planning Commission meeting held last week, where residents expressed common concerns: too much traffic, not enough parking, density is too high and buildings are too tall.

But some residents are also drawing parallels with Measure A in their comments to the City Council.

“I feel déjà vu with an out-of-town firm telling us what’s right for us,” one resident said, according to the Seaside Courier.

Encinitas Residents Respond

Encinitas has been sued three times for trying to circumvent a state law that allows developers to exceed local development restrictions, if they agree to construct affordable housing units as part of a project. In March, VOSD’s Maya Srikrishnan delved into the city’s record regarding the state’s density-bonus law.

This week, a group of Encinitas residents has responded, saying the city hasn’t tried to flout the law, but has interpreted it in a way that is common among California cities. They also say the density-bonus law results in few affordable units, while allowing for many additional market-rate units at the expense of the city’s infrastructure:

The truth is that in high-priced land areas like Encinitas, a significant number of affordable units will never be built without public subsidies, which were cut off by the state a few years ago and are no longer available. The only subsidies density-bonus projects provide are profits for the developer from additional market-rate units.

Supervisor Dave Roberts Won’t Be Charged

County Supervisor Dave Roberts has been in hot water since last year, when three former employees accused him of using misusing county funds, having staffers conduct political work while on the clock for the county and having a relationship with a subordinate.

The district attorney’s office concluded a yearlong investigation on April 6, and told the Union-Tribune that it won’t pursue criminal charges against Roberts.

“The threshold for criminal charges is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Supervisor Dave Roberts violated county and civil workplace policies, which are civil matters where the burden of proof is a preponderance of the evidence, a lower threshold,” the office said in a statement to the Union-Tribune.

In September, the county paid $310,000 to three former employees to settle their civil claims against Roberts.

Roberts is running for re-election against Republican Encinitas Mayor Kristin Gaspar, and Escondido Mayor Sam Abed, who has the support of the county party.

Oceanside Moves Toward a Road Diet

Last week, I wrote that Oceanside was testing a road-diet on a portion of Coast Highway, and was set to decide whether to continue with the study, or begin preparing environmental documents to implement the design on all of Coast Highway.

On April 13, the City Council opted to go ahead with an environmental impact report, which will look at environmental, economic and traffic effects of the road diet.

Project managers expect to complete the EIR by the end of the year, and have it in front of the City Council in early 2017. That will make for tough timing, when an update to the California Environmental Quality Act is scheduled to go into place, changing the models and methodology used to measure traffic.

Oceanside’s pilot road diet earned the city this week’s “Hero of the Week” with perhaps the most qualifications and warnings in VOSD podcast history. (About 22 minutes in.)

Also in the News

• Vista-based North County Lifeline is leading a county-wide coalition that will receive $1 million to combat human trafficking. (Union-Tribune)

• Carlsbad leaders say they’ve outgrown the current city hall. (Union-Tribune)

• A San Diego-based group plans to circulate a petition to allow medical marijuana in Oceanside. (Seaside Courier)

• Rep. Darrell Issa is calling on the Department of Energy to continue holding forums in Southern California on the future of nuclear waste storage. Issa is currently co-sponsoring a bill that would open temporary storage facilities in Texas. (Coast News)

• Oceanside Councilman Jack Feller pulled his support for digital billboards in the city, after he hired a group to poll residents’ opinions. (Union-Tribune)

• Carlsbad will start buying more water from the Poseidon desalination plant. (Seaside Courier)