A 33-acre Encinitas strawberry farm landed on mayor Catherine Blakespear's wish list this week when the real estate agent representing the family owners offered it to the City of Encinitas.Years after the council's $10 million Pacific View purchase, the buildings remain dilapidated and unoccupied and have yet to live up to the council's vision.
"It's just north of the San Elijo Conservancy," Blakespear said. "We don't have the money to buy it but I'd like to be able to."
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The tumultuous multi-year effort for the city to acquire and repurpose the Pacific View property from the Encinitas School District left the city's leaders feeling a little timid about venturing into land acquisition again, Blakespear said. The city bought the 2.8-acre property for $10 million in 2015, issuing bonds to pay for the purchase.
City Council rendering of Pacific View site
The site is close to the Community College and convenient to I5. Because it is mostly low land there wouldn't be much opposition to changing the zoning from R-3 to R-30 or even going to 3 stories. That would satisfy a large chunk of the Housing Element .We already have enough parks and open space.
ReplyDelete|We already have enough parks and open space.
DeleteNice call Mr. Magoo
Hey Leucadia Mainstreet association, this acquisition of open space has city priority over your streetscape. The crap loves in Leucadia are doing cartwheels down 101. Ha ha, you lose.
ReplyDeleteYour streetscape will cost $25-30 Million, Pacific View $10M, the lifeguard tower $7M, the new park in Leucadia approved last year $3M, this land acquisition of the strawberry fields there goes another $8-10M. Total... $28-30M. There's your streetscape but not one tree will be planted, not one flower planted. Not one yard of concrete sidewalk laid on the north end of 101.
Face it, you lost the funding!! You have failed, painting a SDG&E box is bullshit. That doesn't make a streetscape, it's feel good nonsense.
City council members, defund L101.
Yes, this would be a MUCH BETTER expenditure of public funds. Agree 8:44.
DeleteIt needs to be remembered and passed down to the next generation that at the council meeting where council formally approved the purchase of Pacific View, Kranz, in response to public speakers questioning why the city is paying more than 2X the appraised price, said "in 50 years, no one will care what we paid for this, they will just be glad that we saved it from development". The more likely scenario is that in 50 years Pacific View will remain (as it is now) a monument to fiscal stupidity.
ReplyDeleteRemember we can sell PV in 10 years. That was Barth's contribution and it just may be needed. After all of this time if the Art Colony people can't get their act together, maybe it's time to make it into something else?
ReplyDelete22,000+ California govt employees bring home more than $100,00 annually in pension monies...
ReplyDeletePlanner Strong and Engineer Deane discussed this site as mitigation for the I-5 Widening. Council told staff to only support the I-5 Project with this site acquired or preserved as open space. What happened to Caltrans buying it for the same open space purpose? Why do we need to buy it?
ReplyDeleteMr. Magoo or Mr. Meyer?
ReplyDeleteThat particular property is especially environmentally sensitive, being so close to the lagoon, and as such, was deemed not an acceptable site for intense development.
ReplyDeleteThe rep for the owners offered it up to our council a year or two ago. The natural balance of the lagoon be damned.
This is why it is still there. There are many vultures that would love to stack and pack that sensitive site. Lets hope council doesn't sell out and allow any such density there.
Imagine driving from the south and, instead of seeing the strawberry farming, and fallow fields for part of the year, you could see a concentration of 3 and 4 story and more, housing units and the dreaded and historically proven to fail, mixed use. !!!!!!!!!!!
Some of the responsibility has to rest with SANDAG. Their value to us here in Encinitas is left wanting. Where to begin?
I have an idea of where we should tell them to stick it. The RHNA numbers allocated to us are based on false future population estimates or guesstimates are a token offering for developers benefit, and not this precious community.
Sincerely record the thousand accessory units we already have and don't penalize these automatically 'affordable' units. Tell SANDAG where they can still their lying RHNA numbers. Then truth is out there, if there is any doubt that turn allotment and other municipalities would relish the opportune to call bs on SANDAG.
I agree, SANDAG has proven to be a fraud. We should not be beholden to what very well could be considered a criminal oraganization. First step, sue SANDAG, subpoena emails related to this. They are in deep shit now, time to pile it on.
DeleteI want it to stay strawberry fields.
ReplyDeleteBut if the owners are intent on selling, then it's going to be developed by the new owner. It's an unconstitutional taking of property to block it. If so, I don't really care if it's houses or apartments that help with the housing element.
If the city isn't going to buy it, maybe the San Elijo Conservancy would step up like they did on the Solana Beach side (Harbaugh Trails).
It'll be developed at whatever it's zoned for; if the property owners wants higher density, they'll have to take it to a vote of the people.
ReplyDeleteThe site, East of I5, North of Manchester is actually zoned RR2 but has been used as strawberry fields. With expansion of I5 and other nearby sites this zoning is no longer appropriate. It could become industrial/warehouse or take some other use. The city of Encinitas should not buy it for open space but it could be repurposed as apartments - R20 to R30.
ReplyDeleteTurn that space into rabbit hutches similar to Carmel Valley Rd just east of Hwy 1 in Del Mar and redo the on/off ramp. Great use of the property and takes the pressure off of the coastal communities! QED!
ReplyDelete- The Sculpin
9:14am. How typically expected from our very own bottom feeder. Pack and stack 'em, as long as it isn't in your backyard. Yet.
ReplyDeleteHere' the thing 10:13 - much to your chagrin it will NEVER be in my backyard. In fact, it won't even be close. No matter what you say or do, today or tomorrow, it just won't happen.
DeleteNow I do have other concerns that you may or may not be sympathetic to. For example connecting Lone Jack to Camino Junipero, or Fortuna Ranch to Canyon De Oro. While I enjoy living on one of the longest cul-de-sacs in the city it is getting busier, and could get completely absurd if it's opened up.
Regardless, what's your beef with developing that property? Why can't it be it's own neighborhood? Park Place has worked out, as has High Country Villas and the Rosebay neighborhoods. Seems to me this place is perfect for such a neighborhood. Hmmmm....you're not being elitist, are you?
- The Sculpin
Of the two large parcels at the northeast corner of Manchester and I-5, the western one is owned by Tom Alvin according to the city's website. But a short time back, it was in the news that SANDAG bought that parcel for its I-5 widening, park and ride, and other uses.
DeleteThe Yasuda family owns the eastern parcel and if the SANDAG buy of Alvin's is right, the Yasudas must have offered their parcel to the city.
Both parcels are zoned RR2, which means a max of two residential units per acre. Presumably, per Prop A, to upzone either parcel for higher density, approval through a public vote would be required.
Sculpin, you are one bad fire away from the Canyon de Oro road connection.
DeleteThe moment life or property is lost because help from Elfin Forest station a mile away couldn't get there, the asphalt goes in.
4:12 - Actually, that road is maintained fairly well by the residents on that stretch. A fire truck can easily go through that section. There were several that went through there during the last fire. That said, there's a whole new development being built by Lennar on the hillside to the south of the water tower. It's that sort of thing that eventually may bring asphalt to that road.
Delete- The Sculpin
- The Sculpin
The Yadira family should fence off the land and leave it fallow if they decide to not farm.
ReplyDeleteAlways an easy suggestion when it's not your land.
Delete11:02, lead the way. Tear down your house and leave your lot empty. If you cared about this community more than your dirty profits you'd do it.
DeleteMaybe the Yadira family would do that if they owned the land.
DeleteThe strawberry fields would be a great place for R30 density, Could probably get at least half of the RNHA number right there, reducing the impact of upzoning on the rest of the city.
ReplyDeleteGood Idea. The site is not part of the lagoon, it's separated by Manchester. And it's not a good site for a few big expensive houses, as it is too close to I5. It is within walking distance of the College, a plus for apartments if the school offers more BA/BS degrees.
ReplyDeleteMira Costa does AAs and certificates only.
DeleteThe trend is for the 2-year colleges to offer a few 4-year degrees and for the state colleges to offer even some PhD degrees. Internet courses are accelerating this. However, this is not the forum for discussing the future of education.
DeleteWell, maybe it is because many of the people who comment here are trolls who missed out on education.
DeleteThanks for the instructions, 942, but we'll feel free to disregard.
DeleteControl freak much?
Let them sell blunts with the strawberries at the stand.
ReplyDeleteThe Pacific View property acquisition is not a "fiasco".
ReplyDeleteIt was a great purchase for the future of our city.
Great thing to buy the property, but the city paid way too much.
DeleteWhen the alternative was John DeWalds residential housing project, the too high price was made a little more palatable. Barths opting out provision in a few years, hopefully will not come back to haunt this whole deal.
ReplyDeleteI wonder who insisted that this provision be included. She did not come up with that on her own.
Council could and should do this community a favor, and remove that provision, if there is a genuine desire to truly save this site for the future.
I think buying the property was a total fiasco. The City did not need and does not need new parkland. We have sooo much already plus the huge blessing of the natural pacific ocean and related beach. The ocean and the beach are the real assets that made Encinitas great. Remember that.
ReplyDeleteSell the PV property and put the money towards the N. C Hwy 101 streetscape project. it has a much higher return on investment.
ReplyDeleteLook at the reality. Leucadia 101 will never produce a big return on investment. The commercial strip is too narrow and all on one side of the road. Even if the whole east side became parking, there's not enough space on the west side for big commerce.
DeleteExcellent points, 10:56. Too often the board of directors of L101MA tries to compare the uptake in business taxes coming in Downtown, along the 101, to Leucadia. Downtown has businesses on both sides. A great deal of the new revenues have been through added alcohol serving establishments, there. Plus, no lanes were deleted for motorists, Downtown, through counterproductive installation of traffic obstructing one lane roundabouts at intersections with no through-way cross-streets.
DeleteRight now, along the east side of 101, through Leucadia, NCTD has traditionally allowed free parking in the dirt. If this were to become paved parking, the business property owners should have to be assessed for an increase in their property values. Solana Beach property owners along that city's railway/101 corridor improvements have been obligated to pay special property tax assessments, because they individually benefit at taxpayer expense.
Look at the Realty too. That is what the pushers have had in their eyes, all along.
ReplyDeleteTake a legitimate poll of businesses and residents west of the 101 and the truth will be revealed.
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ReplyDeleteIt would be cool to develop the land as a rustic winery. You've got that sunny southern exposure and breezes that grapevines like.
ReplyDelete