IMPORTANT: Three Story Mixed Use in the Heart of CardiffThe City Council's high-density development plans actually affect Leucadia, New Encinitas, and Old Encinitas even more than Cardiff. But as we saw with the Rail Trail fiasco, Cardiff folks are well-organized and effective. It remains to be seen whether the Council will change the map to reduce the impact on Cardiff, which could have a big effect on the November vote.
The Encinitas Planning Commission approved City Staff's version of the plan for the Housing Element Update - not the plan generated by themselves, or council or the plan generated from public input. The City Staff is recommending their plan to the City Council, and the Planning Commission is recommending this same plan to the City Council as well. This plan puts large scale mixed use (3 stories) in the heart of Cardiff. Please see the article below.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/may/26/encinitas-housing-density-proposal/
Three stories in the middle of the Cardiff commercial district will not be acceptable to all those who labored during the past years on the Cardiff Specific Plan.
The Housing Element Update has taken years to complete and thru these many years, it seems that the community input gathered from workshop after workshop was dropped somewhere along the line. It is unfortunate that City Staff nor Planning Commission members do not recall/respect, the long Cardiff Specific Plan process (lots of money and many years) in which the citizens committee unanimously rejected large scale mixed use and three stories in Cardiff. Both the Planning Commission and City Council rejected mixed use in the Cardiff Specific plan area altogether.
It also seems they don't really care about affordable housing. Three story mixed use development in the heart of Cardiff will lead to very nice luxury condominiums with ocean views, not affordable housing. The city council needs to know how you feel about this. Finally, the particular sites have never been vetted by the people of Cardiff. You may prefer 2 story mixed use on smaller lots, or 2 story mixed use on Santa Fe, as other versions of the plans had, versus intense development in the already crowded commercial district. Traffic is often backed up from San Elijo to I-5 on Birmingham, and this will only make it worse.
The next step is City Council. They have the to power to edit this plan, pick another plan, or create another plan. Please let your views be heard. You can e-mail council at council@encinitasca.gov - a copy will go to each council member. This topic will be discussed at the City Council meeting on 15-Jun-2016 at 6:00 PM. Please attend and speak if you can, but by all means, e-mail the city council.
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Cardiff Town Council rallies against high-density development plan
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I was just alerted to your posting this. Thank you so much for posting this. Cardiff has not been impacted as of now due to our Specific Plan. So, these changes would be far more impactful, devastating really, to our community character. It would have been nice if each community could have had a say as to where and how they would take the density increase. Our members attended workshop after workshop, where the pins were never/rarely placed in heart of Cardiff, only to have this happen.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for posting,
Rahul Deshpande
Cardiff Town Council
2:05- Do you know who you spoke to in planning? That would be interesting, as I cannot remember being asked anything and I live in Cardiff.
DeleteIt doesn't matter which of the Planning Dept. is part of the sham. Any City employee fill-in-the-blank and all of the Council members will tell you that resident input influenced on what was chosen.
DeleteIt's the lying party line, the beauty of it being it's impossible to fact check.
Some Cardiff residents may have opined on "Peak Democracy," the city's online poll site, but they were impossible to tell from fictitious personas and cartoon characters.
DeleteNot sure how often they meet but here's the contact info:
Deletehttp://www.cardifftowncouncil.org
The former Planning Commissioner is JoAnn Shannon. Her husband is a developer. She was the representative from Cardiff on the PC. She voted her husband's interests.
DeleteI have a very simple question. Why doesn't the City try to work with Prop A, rather than fighting it everytime we turn around? It seems as if we citizens were not informed the City would upzone everything. There is no parking in Cardiff as it is. Whatever they think they are going to build needs to have parking. This is screwy.
ReplyDelete10:04,
DeleteWhat are the requirements of Prop A that you feel the city is ignoring?
Is it your understanding that Prop A prohibits increases in density/height, or that it calls for a vote on them?
The City doesn't "work" with Prop A, it fights it. Notice the cardiff lodge that violated Prop A - until the Planning dept got called out. Notice the Hymettus Estates height violation - that will need to be addressed before the permitting is finalized.
DeleteI know the answer to your question, 5:37, but my point is the city tries at every turn to violate Prop A in the hope that something sneaks through.
Our city workers, they never tire of helping out the developers. Wonder what they get from that beside their bloated paychecks? Must be something extra in it for them to do such a dishonest day's work.
7:09 is correct. Take, for example, the Planning Depts. 65 page HEU report to the Planning COmmission. Buried on the last page of the report was the reintroduction of the 4/5 council majority rule that was taken away with Prop. A. Citizens did find it, and Planning Commission removed it. This is one of many examples of what the staff in planning tries to do. They get their direction from Manjeet, who gets it from the City Manager who gets it from Council.
DeleteIt is more than time for every neighborhood in our city to stand united together against the urbanization being promoted by the Planning Dept. and by each and every one of our council members and, by lack of any indication, from our city manager too.
ReplyDeleteFighting these scurrilous plans, one by one, as each comes to your own neighborhood, is something Planning and our council is counting on. Divide and conquer.
We can have a passable plan but it is not going to be coming from our current sell out planning dept. or sadly from any of our council members or from those who have announced their running for city council. There is not a one of them that is not pushing this down our throats. cough cough, wretch, wretch.
If, like several other towns in CA, we had a plan that mandated developers provide true low income units in the 25% and more range for every density increasing development, the public would be on board to an acceptable degree. As we witnessed recently, even prospective council candidates are already in the pockets of special interests and won't support making developers do the right thing.
Our only hope is to have a council made up of unbound citizens that we can rely upon to not sell out after their rise to the dais. Currently, there is not one candidate worthy of our votes. Hope springs eternal that before much longer we will have some NEW faces to give the voters a real choice. I dream of such a day.
And while you're dreaming, vote NO on the monstrosity that is the HEU. Not "at home," but the Housing Element Update. No bucolic phrasing can change the fact that the plan is a scam and must not pass.
DeleteThe Council has done everything possible to stop ANY affordable housing from being built in the last 3 years; just the opposite of your hypothesis. What more do you want from them; oh, yeah, you want them to violate everyone's private property rights except your's, because your mom and dad left you a house that was built in the 50s? Surf's Up!
ReplyDelete12:55 You have to be kidding me. "What more do you want from them". How about, listening to and representing the people who pay their salary? That would be a good start.
Delete12:55PM been to any city council meetings lately? Didn't think so.
DeleteAll of this up-zoning is to allow the continuation of salaries and pensions. Nothing more, nothing less.
ReplyDeletePS- the former head of Calpers has been sentenced to 4.5 years in federal prison for bribery. Nice organization they got going there.....
Nice going COE, now instead of the light flashing all night at Balour and Enc blvd, you removed the entire head of the lamp so the intersection is completely dark.....You'll note that Gaspar doesn't say anything in her ads about lighting the city....
ReplyDeleteGASpar is too busy lying about being an educator and a teacher. She has some nerve!
DeleteNow the flashing street lamp is at Westlake and Encinitas Bl.
DeleteI put a bandage on my finger- according to GASpar logic , I'm a surgeon!
DeleteGo Cardiff! Leucadia and old Encinitas are going to be huge No's to this housing debacle. It will never pass no matter how many
ReplyDeleteDeveloper $ get behind it.
Kudos to the Cardiff Town Council for stepping up. After seeing how effective the No on the Railtrail folks were, I felt there has to be some of that passion with other Cardiff neighborhoods willing to defend their community against the HEU urbanization scheme.
ReplyDeleteThis type of density increase can pop up everywhere and anywhere throughout out city, if the citizens allow it through a lack of attention to what the city is attempting to sell us. Don't buy it.
Thanks to the Cardiff Town Council for not being in the same league as your own Cardiff Mainstreet organization. Has any Mainstreet group ever publicly commented on the HEU? I would love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation, if it ever happened.
This being the political year that it is, where do these Mainstreet people stand on the HEU. A lot of public support for their plans would and should be lost if they couldn't come up with an answer that supports the preservation of their own community's character. Too easy, yup.
The Mainstreet Associations are subsidiaries of the City of Encinitas. They are biased toward more growth and development, and do NOT represent the majority of business owners, but the majority decisions of the Boards of Directors. The Bike and Ped Committee, established through Leucadia 101 is also biased toward taking away lanes from our main arterial, Historic State Highway 101.
Delete101 remains a highway, although now no longer maintained by the State. All government entities, including regional and local, are biased toward more development to support their bloated Planning Departments and their special interest benefactors/subsidiaries/undeclared lobbyists.
1:27
ReplyDeleteUntrue
6:13,
DeleteWell, the Mainstreet Associations are funded by the city.
And as Mark Muir made abundantly clear, they had better toe the city line.
Dump Muir - one of the worst council members ever to be seated.
DeleteActually, the MainStreet Associations are somewhat subsidized by the city.
ReplyDeleteMostly they self fund. It is not true that they "toe the city line".
Self funded by the street fairs, for which the city closes the streets and provides sheriff services?
DeleteL101 mainstreet association has dissolved into a hippie feel good group of mamby pamby "let's put on a show" of shitty art ie,the SDG&E transformer boxes- an elephant standing in it's own piss and worse yet music nonsense ( battle of the bands- Jr high bullshit) that is all designed to distract the casual observer from the blighted state of 101.
DeleteL101 can't water the flowers in the medians nor have any influence at city hall to get the job done.
L101 can't plant so much as ONE flower in the center medians.
L101 has done nothing for the north end of town, it's as awful as when L101 was started 14 years ago.
While Del Mar puts the finishing touches on their sidewalk on the east side of 101 at dog beach, Encinitas...hasn't started any improvements through Leucadia.
Meanwhile the city9taxpayers has/have subsidized L101 to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars and L101 goes on " Retreats" to discuss the same things year after year.
L101 is a joke.
L101 is a failure.
L101 shame on you.
Decision tree:
ReplyDelete1.) Are you for or against following state housing law?
If no, then it doesn't matter what's in the plan. You're going to oppose any legal plan. Your criticism of specific elements of the plan should not be taken seriously, because your problem isn't with THIS plan, but rather ANY plan.
If yes, then . . .
2.) have you proposed an alternative plan?
If no, then why are you letting what you consider to be an inferior plan proceed without helping the city craft a better one? That seems illogical.
If yes, then. . .
3.) Are you sure your plan satisfies state law, because you have either (a) checked with current/former HCD people or (b) based it on an approved housing element from another city?
If no, your plan probably isn't legal.
If yes. . .
4.) Great news! When can we see it?
Must be a city planner with dumbass decision tree. I'm dumber for reading it, ish I had that 30 seconds back. Same lack of logic so often displayed by idoit leeches at city hall. Go screw someone else over or get ready to be put under oath corupt POS. Better makemsure you cover your tracks with that beach house you used in HI or the golf trip in Palm Springs otherwise you can see where Cuningham lived for a decade.
Delete10:32, I'll put you down as a "no" on question 1 then?
Delete8:19AM What is this, some riddle straight out of a Greek myth, because that is what this plan is: a myth. A myth that is a gift to the developers and not something for the Common Good for the citizens and the community. Sometimes State Laws aren't all they're cracked up to be, like the days of Segregation. The boosters for the Building Industry have been wooing politicians for years to monetize Encinitas,(and California), and it has been going on for years, but does that make it right and for the benefit of all? No it does not, it's a benefit for a few, mainly developers, while the rest of us grapple with traffic, and what about water? Your "decision tree" has a noose hanging from it and all of us will be hanging from it if we go with this HEU insanity.
ReplyDeleteYes. Right. California housing law is exactly like Jim Crow. Good analogy.
DeleteNot offensive at all, and doesn't erode your credibility one bit.
And you must be the Rosa Parks or Dr. King of this struggle? I bet you have a dream.
OK you get the last word. Happy?
ReplyDeleteIs it really possible for a developer to purchase a piece of land in any coastal community and build low income hosing on it? My answer is NO. Therefore, this law makes no sense. There is only so much coastal land and it is expensive. So, what are we supposed to do? I also suggest that the almighty forces in Sacto think a bit more about water and where it is going to come from? I am getting pretty sick and tired of people in Sacto or D.C. not understanding that there is only a finite amount of water in a semi-desert. We can only build so much and at some point we will run out. Can desalination help? i have no idea, but I do know that it is the height of stupidity to continue to build in an area that doesn't get much rain. That would also include Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and California. Brown has know decided fracking is OK in California, which also used water. When will the insanity stop? We could help stop it but voting NO on the HEU and taking our chances in court. That is why I am voting NO on this ridiculous plan. I'm tired of being threatened with lawsuits everytime we turn around. Let them sue us, and let us take it as far as we can, even to the Supreme Court if necessary. We are a creative bunch of people. Let's get together with other people in other cities that feel the same way. A mass protest is in order on this one.
ReplyDeleteDear 10:37 AM, you obviously are not aware that the state is requiring R-30, so the property can qualify for state funding loans put aside specifically for projects like these. The Affordable part of this plan is a side-issue, AB 32 and SB 375 are about housing for workers close by transportation centers; unfortunately both the state and SanDag consider El Camino Real a major transportation thoroughfare! There are hundreds of thousands of ways to defeat an upzoning project like this, but supposedly, this is the final shot at it before we all end up in court and that judge approves whomever has their plans completed as of November 8th, 2016. The local property-owners you call out of town developers can hardly wait to get the unapproved housing-element into court next December of January. Yee-Haw, ride'm cowboy!!! Governor Moonbeam endorsed BY RIGHT building that precludes local council's from interfering. You just know its gonna pass, just like AB 2051! Then we can name all these affordable units after Lisa and Catherine!
ReplyDeleteYippe-Ki-Yay!!!
11:18 is so mixed up he - or she - makes no sense. The state doesn't give out loans - do you mean grants?
DeleteReally stop trying to be clever and get your facts straight.
I think she means state bonds, but if being factual was a criteria for posting on this blog it would look like a polar bear in a snowstorm.
ReplyDeleteHell ya...FINALLY the Limo Liberals are getting a taste of their own medicine...come on now...don't discriminate against minority single section 8 moms and their teenage boys living in a tax payer subsidized high-rise next door to your million dollar manse. Cardiff should get the majority of the high-rises and that is what's been part of their 'bulk and scale for the past 20 years. Three stories is the average there. Built those units and they will come and they will enjoy it all. EVERYONE has a right for live near the beach and shop at Seaside Market, right!
ReplyDeleteThe California Housing Law was created by communists/socialist and needs to be repealed by a vote of the people. Say NO to the social engineering of our neighborhoods.
ReplyDeleteHow can they consider up-zoning Cardiff with the current problems caused by over-development here not addressed?
ReplyDeleteVote no on the housing plan this November!
Why are citizens of Encinitas not completely outraged that the likes of Mark Muir extort a $180,000.00 a year pension from this city? It is people like this that are THE reason development is being pushed and encouraged, the "affordable housing" is a ruse to push development to support his pension and other extravagant pensions. We should be outraged he is sitting there while we are being ripped off!
ReplyDeleteToo late on Muir's money. What are you doing, 2:55, to ensure the HEU FAILS in November? That'll be the best revenge.
DeleteMuir gets in retirement what the current active salary is for the Governor of California! This town cries out for pension reform - these parasites are bleeding the coffers dry!
DeleteMuir's 2016 re-election ad should read "Re-elect the tick - he's not done sucking the public dry".
ReplyDeleteMuir get 3% more in retirement every year he remains in office as a City Council member. He now makes more in retirment then he did employed as a fire chief.
ReplyDeleteThis is ridiculous and it should be illegal.