A flower grower who has been asking the city for permission to commercially grow marijuana in part of his greenhouses now is proposing to build the region's first "agri-hood" with higher-density housing on half of his land and agriculture on the other part.
[...]
Council members were divided over the proposal. The city's mayor called it a "very appealing" alternative to the commercial marijuana growing proposal, while Councilwoman Tasha Boerner Horvath said if Echter commits to setting aside a significant portion of the homes for low-income people, then it would be very attractive. Councilman Joe Mosca said it was at least "worth looking at."
But Councilman Mark Muir, who lives in the Encinitas Ranch region where the city's agriculturally zoned land is, said putting homes on the land that the city has previously set aside for agricultural preservation would face strong community opposition.
[...]
Councilman Tony Kranz said he might support the use of some agricultural land for housing, but not this property, given its location near the Encinitas Ranch Golf Course. Instead of homes, it ought to contain a hotel, he said.
Sunday, November 12, 2017
Jilted pot farmer wants to change ag land to housing; Kranz prefers a hotel
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This is rich coming from Muir, who astonishingly just this past week asked the Leichtag farmer if their operation would ever seek housing on their ag. in perpetuity property would do the same. WTF! Muir.
ReplyDeleteThe intention was to slowly rezone this land and eventually develop it. Ecke didn't want to spend the time to do it, as he has more money than he'll ever be to spend anyway.
DeleteFollow the $$$$$.
ReplyDeleteMosca "Sounds great to me!" $$$$$Cha-Ching$$$$$$
DeleteHorvath - "if it is affordable" - la la land prevails. The mayor "Just line my pockets" and Kranz "Build a hotel - I'll need another job soon". Muir "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"
Muir is out to lunch most of the time. He wants to leave everything up to the citizens. What the hell did we elect him for? Do your job, Muir, or find something better to do with your time and quit wasting ours.
ReplyDeleteWhat's your preference, 4:03 - leave everything up to "staff," advised by developers?
Delete5:08 No, I want the elected officials to do what they were elected to do. They get paid well for it. What is your preference? Have expensive elections so the people can vote on every little item? If so, that is pretty lame.
DeleteConsidering Council consistently "defers to staff as experts," the only recourse left to residents who want to see right done by their town is to force elections on the big items.
DeleteWhat is lame is that council has abdicated any oversight they've been entrusted with to city staff. And staff has proven themselves to be anything but disinterested.
Council had shown they can't be trusted to represent those who voted them in. Don't blame the messenger.
Put the condos/apts on the golf course. Who needs an expensive golf course that serves a small fraction of the community that supports it.
ReplyDeleteOr put them in the trophy community park. For the same reasons.
ReplyDelete5:21, 7:11,
ReplyDeleteTerrible ideas with zero community support. We need more parks, grass, and open space, not less.
People who don’t golf would rather have views of a golf course than more houses.
The title of this thread 'Jilted' is way off, and an intentional poor use of language.
ReplyDeleteBob is not the jilted one. We, the community are.
Bob is moving on with his idea about a few limited Agrihomes on his greenhouse property, which should be easy to allow to happen.
Will these same ignorant madness practitioners have an objection to the latest idea to preserve our agricultural heritage? Hopefully, they will come out in support of Bob as strongly as they did against him growing herb on 5% of his property.
Calling Bob jilted could have been described in more appropriate terms . Bob has shown he has not been left at the altar, and is moving on with a fresh idea.
Lets hope he gets the support in a timely fashion that he needs to get his new project off the ground and running.
I never thought I would say this... but, based on all of his votes. Muir seems like the only councilmember that truly cares about our community character (open space, less intrusive development, etc.)!
Delete3:16 It may appear that way, but his votes don't change a thing unless the majority of the council vote with him. It looks good for his record, but has not benefitted the community in the long run.
DeleteI'll take his vote. The only thing standing in the way of any benefit are the other four.
DeleteMost properties in Encinitas have an underlying R-zone but parts of the Encinitas Ranch are specifically AG only. Gives them lower property tax. Prop A seems to require a vote to increase density. Bob shafted himself.
ReplyDeleteNot exactly. The request was to have his property included in the Housing Element Update with the promise of affordable housing which would help the city meet its RHNA requirement.
DeleteThe HEU requires a vote under Prop. A. Measure T failed. Will the next measure fail with or without the ag property?
The HE Task Force has been working with the concept of R-30 2 story (max) homes and reduced setbacks. That's apartment buildings with small studio and 1-2 bedroom units and parking. A 30th of a gross acre is 1452 sq ft but there still has to be parking and roads. With 2-story detached buildings there's no room at all for gardens and pretty cottages.
DeleteRead the article. The proposal is to divide the property. Part would remain ag, and 10 acres would be rezoned for housing.
DeleteThe farm uses are separate.
2 stories at 30 units per acre. pffft.
Delete9:41 AM "Limited Agrihomes?" Is that a euphemism for hamster cages? 200 homes on 10 acres is .05 acre/home or 2178 sq.ft./home. Limited space or a jam-packed mess is the better description.
ReplyDelete200/10 is 20 units per acre. 30 is the magic number for metropolitan jurisdictions.
Deletehttp://www.hcd.ca.gov/community-development/housing-element/housing-element-memos/docs/Default_2010census_update.pdf
What is "affordable housing"? One unit out of 200 that is priced lower? Affordable for who - a statistically predetermined income level? It is a ruse to maximize profits by minimizing space per unit.
ReplyDeleteI suppose $10 million is affordable in the Rancho Santa Fe area. It's all slight of hand calculations.
Affordable Housing is based on the median income of a town. In Encinitas, the median income is above $70K, so low-income is still high.
DeleteYou can thank the developers for coming up with that little self-serving scheme.
So much for Bob Echter caring about employees and agriculture. Opportunist with another attempted cash grab. Keep this ag.
ReplyDeleteAnyone ever seen the water bill for the trophy park and golf course?
ReplyDeleteThey use recycled water.
DeleteWould you rather pump that water into the ocean?
There's not enough recycled water for all that vegetation.
DeleteBecause you say so. Without any facts.
DeleteThe San Elijo reclamation plant produces 400,000,000 gallons of irrigation water every year.
That’s enough to put all 44 acres of the Encinitas Community Park under 29.5 feet of water.
There is no shortage of recycled water from the San Elijo Sewage Treatment Plant. The problem is the distribution system. Recycled water needs a totally separated piping system (purple pipes). The system only reaches a few areas in the city.
DeleteNormal treatment of sewage doesn't remove the dissolved sodium and chloride ions (salt) from the water. Continued use of this kind of treated water causes plant burn because of salt accumulation in the soil if the salts aren't periodically flushed out of the soil with purer water or sufficient rainfall.
An expensive reverse osmosis system was added at San Elijo (similar to the new Carlsbad RO plant) to deliver a better quality of water to the golf course and the Hall property park.
However, the cost of all of this is subsidized by rate payers. It's a nifty to way to hide the true operating costs of both properties. At the same time treated sewage is still being dumped into the ocean because of limited distribution of recycled water.
I guess Bob’s so-called caring about his employees is trumped by looking for a way to enhance property value. This was the fallback or primary plan all along. You decide which.
ReplyDeleteHe's proposed 200 houses on 10 acres - probably a "bait and switch" tactic to try and decrease the opposition to this proposal. He 'reduce' it to '100' (put in your own guess) houses and act as tho he has made major concessions; when in fact, this would be the target number all along. No zoning change - don't let this City Council make that decision.
DeleteBob should just use SB35 and have a ministerial process for new housing. Forget the ag set aside. City can't force property owners to maintain ag operations. It would just set as unimproved area adjacent to high density lwo income housing.
DeleteWhat do you think you know about senate bill 35?
DeleteI just finished reading the Coast news coverage on Boerner Horvath and her districting maps. Disingenuous and deceitful is the nicest thing I can say. But what more can I expect from someone that went to the public school system and has been told since preschool that everything she does is wonderful. Boy o boy those self esteem coordinators.... can't get enough of that feel good nonsense.
ReplyDeleteMapgate.. mapgate.. mapgate.
And she is already trying to jump to higher office - incredible gall.
DeleteShe'll be defeated for higher office, so we will be rid of her but her legacy of destructive districts will linger for a long time.
DeleteI'll be voting no regardless.
Keep repeating MAPGATE!!
Maybe from now on we should only refer to her has Citizen 16.
DeletePerhaps her mentor could school her in ethics...
DeleteThe problem is, she already has....
DeleteOUCH. That's gotta hurt, but you need ethics to feel the pain...
DeleteA big THANK YOU to the COE, with the addition of the porta potty to Leucadia Roadside park there are now 4 bums living there each day. Way to go city. Always the best... always.
ReplyDeletePS- the hand washing station has become a hair washing station. Nice. Really nice.
Do they have an Herbal Essence dispenser for that silky sheen? And Chicklets for spare teeth?
DeleteHow can agricultural land become residential land? I thought that there were rules that dictated such development.
ReplyDeleteAll of Encinitas was once agricultural land.
DeleteLook around you.
There's a difference between agricultural land and agriculturally-zoned land. Any land can be used for growing, even if it's solid rock. Raised beds and imported soil will do the trick.
DeleteHowever, if it's zoned for agriculture, there's a little hitch called Prop. A that requires a public vote to approve the zoning change.
Right, but that’s true for any zone change resulting in intensification of use.
DeleteThere is no additional special protection for the agricultural zone.
If the D&E property gets included in the HEU, and the HEU passes, then it’s changed.