Blakespear's fire hazard has been a problem for years; city ignored under previous administration

Coast News:

Dozens of dead palm trees on a state lawmaker’s private land, viewed by neighbors as a dangerous fire hazard, have sparked urgent calls to clear the mounting piles of tinder-dry fronds in light of the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles.

Rossini Canyon, a property in Cardiff-by-the-Sea owned by state Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas), has drawn several complaints in recent years about potential fire hazards posed by more than 40 dead palm trees and mounds of dried fronds on the site. According to neighbors, dozens of Canary Island and Queen palm trees on the parcel were killed during a palm weevil infestation starting in 2021.

[...]

In November 2023, Cummings reported the potential fire risk to the city through MyEncinitas, a civic engagement app that allows residents to share their concerns quickly. The city responded on Dec. 29, 2023, stating the area was not located in a “very high fire hazard severity zone” and, therefore, the dead palms did not necessitate action, according to emails obtained by The Coast News.

[...]

Chapter 11.12 of the Encinitas Municipal Code states that it’s “unlawful for any owner, lessee or occupant of any real property within the City to place or maintain dirt, rubbish, materials, grass, weeds or vegetation on or about such property or on or about adjacent sidewalks, parking areas, alleys or streets in a manner that is either dangerous or injurious to neighboring property or the health or welfare of residents in the vicinity; or interferes with the use of public rights-of-way.”

1/15/24 City Council meeting open thread

Please use the comments to record your observations.

Blakespear organizes work party to clean up canyon fire hazard

From the Inbox:

California depopulation continues

Press-Democrat:

California saw the country’s lowest number of people arriving compared to leaving the state via one-way U-Haul rental trucks in 2024, U-Haul announced in a report out Thursday.

It is the fifth consecutive year that the Golden State came in last in the Phoenix-based company’s ranking.

Ehlers outlines priorities

"Narrowly":

When Bruce Ehlers narrowly defeated incumbent Tony Kranz in the Encinitas mayoral race last fall, it was seen as a rejection of how the city was run.

[...]

One of the biggest issues he wants to tackle is infrastructure, especially storm drains to prevent flooding in places like Leucadia. That area is prone to flooding, which has been an issue since before Encinitas was incorporated as a city in 1986.

Ehlers said the previous council has been prioritizing unneeded projects such as streetscaping and buying Surfer’s Point.

“What had happened is we'd spent $100 million over the last 10 years on nonessential vanity beautification projects where we should have been spending it on basic infrastructure, pavement flooding and storm drain refurbishment,” he said.

And more errors from KPBS:

This past November, voters rejected a half-cent sales tax increase that would have paid for road repairs and other infrastructure.

It was a one percent sales tax increase, not a "half-cent".

New council poised to undo Blakespear's Santa Fe Drive fiasco

Union-Tribune:

A controversial construction project that’s completely overhauling busy Santa Fe Drive will be halted for at least six months while city officials try to figure out if it’s actually improving roadway conditions, the Encinitas City Council decided Wednesday.

17 homes per acre!

Union-Tribune:

Neighbors, who have said they were expecting something more like 1 home per developable acre, rather than 17, banded together to form the opponents’ group United Citizens for the Responsible Development of Bella Vista.

We've already hit something like 10 homes per acre, if you look at Calypso Place off Daphne in Leucadia or Primrose Lane off Olivenhain Road east of Home Depot.

Alas, the U-T article is just poor editing. The La Costa Boulevard development is 17 homes over ten acres.