Coast News:
Westmont Living’s plans for a massive senior living facility on South El Camino Real received a unanimous endorsement from the Planning Commission, but residents are expected to appeal it to the City Council.
The Planning Commission, after more than two hours of discussion, voted 5-0 in favor of the 85,000-square-foot, 101-bed facility on roughly 3.2 acres of vacant land in South Encinitas near the intersection of Manchester Drive.
The odds of the City Council overriding this decision - zero.
ReplyDeleteWhy should they?
ReplyDeleteSays the developer.
DeleteSays the common sense citizen. If they are meeting our zoning regs, its all good. The dumb ass property owners that bought on the assumption that nothing else would be developed on raw land is just foolish.
DeleteA fool and his money are soon parted.
Reading the article I don't see what specific zoning is being violated.
ReplyDelete“We would not have bought the houses that we all bought knowing there was going to be … a giant commercial building directly next to us,” said Richard Markell whose home neighbors the property. “What we saw here tonight was a sales job, a time share of a sales job.”
I don't understand. That area is specifically zoned for this kind of thing. How is this place different from Belmont?
No specific zoning is being violated. This kind of care facility is allowed under all residential zonings. It's a big loophole in our Municipal Code. Similar proposals are coming forward on the eastern part of the Strawberry Fields and in the Skyloft area of Leucadia.
DeleteIt's not different from Belmont. Outside developers have found a way to make big money in Encinitas. None of the "housing" counts against our RHNA numbers as affordable.
9:28 AM
DeleteThese large commercial assisted living facilities aren't allowed in all residential zones. Go read the history on the Belmont development. Things went on in the backroom.
2:02 PM
DeleteThe use requires a major use permit. The commissioners could have denied the permit.
“If you want to follow the law, you must be a developer.”
ReplyDelete—Dumb People.
You're missing the word "don't," as in "...if you don't want to follow the law...."
DeleteDumb person.
Check the zoning matrix in the Municipal Code. Here's what it says:
ReplyDelete"Residential care facilities, general for 7 or more are permitted through issuance of a conditional use permit (major) only if the property is located on a prime arterial circulation element road as shown on the General Plan."
This includes all residential zones from RR-1 to R-25.
How often do the Planning Commissioners deny a major use permit? They need a reason, and it's usually environmental or traffic. They prefer to push everything through.
11:18 AM
ReplyDeleteWhere is the only prime arterial circulation element road in Encinitas - El Camino Real. Very limited area. No it doesn't include all residential zones. The code was changed to allow with a MUP on El Camino Real the residential care facilities. A few months later Belmont applied for the development permit.
Belmont was built on RR-1. The Westmont is proposed for R-3.
The commissioners had plenty of reasons to deny the major use permit.
11:29- So why didn't the commissioners deny this, especially if it doesn't go into our RHNA numbers? Are they all on the "take"? I don't have the answer, just asking the question. And, yes,I think anyone who purchases a property near a vacant piece of property in this city should know it is going to be built upon. It reminds me of the people who complain about the train noise after they move in. The trains have been here a long time. So don't buy a home near the trains and then start complaining about the noise. It was inevitable that there would be more trains. The easiest answer is to have less children. You would be doing the world a favor.
ReplyDelete3:08 PM
DeleteBlaming the victims, huh.
It is actually 2 different parcels. The smaller parcel has a possible 2 houses that could be built on it.
3:08- What do you mean by blaming the victim? Who exactly is the victim except citizens.
DeleteIf they don't want anything built next to them they should have bought the land and kept it fallow. But they didn't. Now they want others to fix their laziness. Whaaa whaaa.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at this weeks City COuncil agenda they want to give the City Manager a huge raise. I think they also want to give Sabine, the part time city attorney a raise too. When is enough, enough? I don't believe for a second that the city has as much cash as they would like us to believe.
ReplyDeleteThere were reports that Sabine has made over $10 million off the city directly and indirectly during his over-extended term as City Attorney. His record-for defending the city is not all that sterling either, and many cases are farmed out, as he has no expertise. He needs to be let go - he lost his efficiency a long time ago.
Delete“Reports” you say? That sounds highly credible.
DeleteDo you mean $10M to his personal bank account? If so, that would be newsworthy. But if you mean all dollars the city has spent on legal services, then it sounds pretty reasonable to me. How does that compare to an average of coastal cities with similar demographics.
His win-loss record doesn’t mean much unless you have access to privileged attorney-client communications to know whether he advised the city to fight or not. Do you have access?
Sabine made 10 million on us in 7 years and yes I have the documentation. He is a part time employee. He also gets $500.00 a month for car allowance, plus all of his continuing education paid for by us. His other city is La Mesa. It would be less expensive to hire a full time city attorney and a paralegal and secretary, even if you add pensions. I have told this to the city council over 4 times in the last 8 years and not one seems to care. This is Lorri Greene, By the way.
Delete$10M to his personal bank account?
DeletePffffft.
A place like the Belmont, and places like this are sorely needed. This is a fast growing demographic and there are not very many solutions available. The shame for this one is that they had to give up the dementia care - there are even less of those places around. Elderly folks with disposable income see these places as a way to make sure the essentials are taken care of, they they're surrounded by peers and activities, and should the need arise can transition to more assisted services. It's all about providing quality of life through all stages of elderly life. North County in general, and this location in Encinitas specifically is perfect for that.
ReplyDelete- The Sculpin
- The Sculpin
The percentage of those who can avail themselves to this care - 0.0001%
DeleteEncinitas has 56000 people. Let's say 10000 are over 65 years old. 0.0001 comes to less than one person, actually one hundredth of a person. I would argue than many of the 10000 own homes that are worth more than $1M and would be able to sell their homes and move into such a facility.
DeleteIt is for the privileged few. Maybe make each unit count towards the housing demand number; then it might actually be beneficial in sparing other parts of the community from over-development.
DeleteDefinition of extravagant: I can’t afford it.
DeleteClass warfare isn’t a legitimate rationale for rejection by Planning Commission.
10:56 - Belmont runs about $8K per month. The definition of "extravagant" is most can't afford it. Go back to school, fool.
DeleteI’d like to hear more about your plan to issue permits based on subjective class warfare standards.
DeleteWould it apply only to retirement homes, or should we ban other businesses that sell to the wealthy? Maybe we could replace Seaside Market with another Walmart.
Just pointing out the flaw in your definition. I now suggest you retake Deflection 101. You just failed.
DeleteYet they continue to ignore the huge disaster known as N. Coast Hwy101/ Leucadia Boulevard Intersection. Great Planning (Sigh).
ReplyDelete