At just about 2 a.m. June 21, the council voted in favor of removing two of three HCD-recommended sites, as well as two additional, contested sites. Mayor Catherine Blakespear and Council member Tasha Boerner Horvath opposed the motion.
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In addition to the elimination of the El Camino Real South parcel and Dewitt property, Kranz also recommended removing the former Frog's Gym site at 780 Garden View Court and a site on Rancho Santa Fe East in Olivenhain, with Deputy Mayor Joe Mosca and Council member Mark Muir agreeing. Both added sites received strong vocal opposition from residents at the meeting.
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Council removes four more sites in contentious, late-night meeting
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Will HCD evaluate prior to the second reading? If HCD says not good enough, which I'm guessing they will, council will have a choice of adding RSF East or L-7. Is this a ploy just to get L-7 back in? With a 5-0 vote?
ReplyDeleteBoth Joe and Tony said they didn't want HCD to have complete control of our HE. They also pointed out that the law does not require that HCD certify our housing plan. And, they spoke of challenging some of the sites that are not being recognized as vacant that could be challenged so we can still meet our 50% vacant site requirement. Finally some courageous pushback! I had hoped Blakespear could provide that with her legal background but evidently not.
DeleteBlakespear's legal background has tripped her up since Day 1. She continues to govern from a place of fear of the law.
DeleteThe law does say that HCD has to review the plan before its adoption. It did already. But it also said that it would have to review it again if any changes were made. Expect a big bounce back.
DeleteAlso, the CEQA analysis has been invalidated. Not to mention that it was flawed from the start.
This thing is doomed more ways that one. I expect the Mayor and CM to be gone mid November.
Mark Muir did a great job of protecting Cardiff from up-zoning. He listened to the speakers and asked good questions. He also kept Lake off the list from consideration.
ReplyDeleteBlakespear and Boerner Horvath once again exhibited terrible leadership. This whole process has become a complete sh*tshow. Vote against both of them in November!
ReplyDeleteVote For Elizabeth Warren!
DeleteWANTED! New Mayor
ReplyDeleteQUALIFICATIONS: 3 basic principles - Listen, Nice & Protect (our City)
WHEN: November Election
If you run, we'll follow and support you! No money needed...
Agree, 6:37. Blakespear happily asleep at the wheel with her "professional staff" running the show.
DeleteI'd run but being nice to incompetent staff is not part of my vocabulary. I'd run them out of town. Including the city attorney...all over paid and over pensioned dumb shits.
Delete1:23 PM
Delete"I'd run but being nice to incompetent staff is not part of my vocabulary."
Of course you would. How lame.
The day encinitas gets rid of the chity attorney is the day things will improve. Ever Council has been played and only a few saw this after the fact. New blood needed in the legal realm.
DeleteCopied what looked like a relevant post made earlier today on another thread:
ReplyDeleteAnything once considered viable now comes with the taint of backroom deals.
First the Meyer mess, then the Harrison screw up. Haven't heard about that one? Also revealed last night, it goes like this:
1) Keith Harrison, local developer who owns the land under the old Frog's Gym (now EOS) decided at the last minute to throw his property into the ring. He asked that it be included on the map and Harrison, being a favorite of Blakespear (and Shaffer before her) has no problem getting his property added.
2) Residents, as usual doing staff's job, discovered that EOS has an 11-year lease on the property and there's no way anything can be built on it for at least 11 years.
3) Whoops! Harrison property now not viable. When asked, staff admitted they'd had no clue. No, they said they took Harrison's word for it that the property was good to go.
No HEU basic due diligence coming out of Brenda's department, that would be too much to expect.
4) Mosca says the Harrison parcel obviously has to come off the map and...you guessed it, Blakespear says no, it stays. Horvath agrees.
The lack of professionalism and basic skills among staff and Council is astonishing. Who knows what special favors and whoopsies lurk under every parcel on the map?
Vote NO.
Horvath argued that taking the Frog's/EOS/Harrison property off the list would negatively affect the vacant land requirement. Nope. The heavily used, almost full most of the day, 7 days a week, EOS parking lot does not qualify as "vacant land". Not only does she not listen, she doesn't do her research.
DeleteHarrison owns the land but not the building?
DeleteNot sure about the building. What did come out was that Harrison lied by omission and staff didn't do the most fundamental of homework.
DeleteBlakespear and staff have had a blind eye where he's concerned, Doubt that will change but public awareness sure as hell has been raised.
Successive City Councils and staffs have been treating Harrison as a godsend and kissing his butt for many years.
DeleteIt's actually kind of weird, I don't get the infatuation. Remember his bizarre anti Prop A 30' trellis "argument?" An outright lie.
DeleteHe owns a lot of commercial and residential properties, so he's a big source of property tax revenue and, indirectly, sales tax revenue.
DeleteAnd his aw shucks surfer boy demeanor doesn't hurt, either. Watch the gals on the dais light up whenever he steps up to the podium.
DeleteSo let me get this straight, the Garden View site was accepted by HCD and would have helped the City meet its required housing numbers but wouldn't have resulted in development - at least anytime soon. Isn't that ideal? If the inclusion of that site could have allowed the City to remove another site that is likely to be developed (especially close to me), I'm pissed.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry. It won't pass. You'll have another shot, with a new CM and Council.
DeleteI just hope the next time around we have a council that listens to us and directs staff to do a good job.
We should all be pissed. I don't have any sites near me, and I'm pissed. As residents of Encinitas, we should all be pissed at a dishonest process and plan. The city counts on pitting us against one another to get some "yes" votes and none of us should fall into that trap.
DeleteA site encumbered to preclude development for the next 11 years should never have been considered in the first place for the current cycle. Staff's lack of due diligence and the developer's most-favored status at city hall is what led to a non-viable site being put on the map.
Way to make us look like amateurs with HCD!
Keith Harrison gets his property upzoned and stands to reap a huge profit when the lease expires. The correct decision was to remove the property from the list. HCD didn't know the property was encumbered with a long-term lease, otherwise it wouldn't have been certified. Gross incompetence on the part of staff and Boerner-Horvath and Blakespear.
DeleteSince we are talking parcels, this from another HEU thread: the land swap with include David Meyer approaching Clark St. neighbors and asking them to sign agreements to sell only to him.
ReplyDeleteHe apparently gave the neighbors a sales job that ranged from guaranteeing road improvements to telling folks to sell to him before the city upzones for low-income housing and their property values drop. Some of those who signed under Meyer's false representations barely speak English and assumed he was not taking them for a ride. Bad assumption when the name "Meyer" is involved.
One of the Clark St. speakers showed screen shots of the DCM agreements and asked pointedly why, among all the HEU documents, DCM's paperwork had been heavily redacted. No response, of course.
Nope, zero response from the unfazed council. How many of them knew about this? Stand to benefit from his shell game?
Something tells me the voting public won't take it as lightly as the council seems to.
The Clark St. neighbor need to document this to HCD since this site is still included to meet the city's RHNA numbers. If HCD determines that this site doesn't qualify based on the neighbors investigation, I'm sure they would find the city out of compliance. Best if the neighbors could get the property owners to submit signed documents refuting Meyer's claim.
DeleteAll it takes is someone shooting an email to HCD staff. You could even send the link to this thread.
DeleteDone and done.
DeleteThanks Susan. I'm getting more and more angry.
ReplyDeleteThe fix is in....
ReplyDeleteThe fix is in....
Now are you ready for flaming torches and pitch forks??
RUN THEM OUT!!
RUN THEM OUT!!
The Measure T lost because it didn't include inclusionary housing at 20%.
ReplyDeleteThis measure will lose because it doesn't include inclusionary housing at 20%, because none of the sites make sense, HCD will now reject it because it changed since they reviewed it, the environmental study wasn't corrected, and council is in collusion with some property owners.
Sound about right?
That's about it!
DeleteHow long before Brenda is given the boot and Karen put on probation?
On the Measure T fiasco both Manjeet and Mike Strong were gone before the vote. That's our tradition and we expect them to follow it.
DeleteThey quit just before the vote. Writing was in the wall and the rats fled a sinking ship.
DeleteWhy did Tony fight to keep the HCD rejected Armstrong sites on the upzone list? Is White still the owner? There are serious environmental constraints on the property, and it can't be developed.
ReplyDeleteI am sort of new to all of this so please help me understand. What is the bottom line? Who is David Meyer and how does he get such preferential treatment? I don't get what's going on.
ReplyDeleteGoogle Meywr, ask Tony.
ReplyDeleteMeyer.
DeleteNever mind. Someone told me to check out the information on this site and I get a non-answer. I just wanted to be informed. I will look elsewhere.
ReplyDelete5:51 — Do your own homework. Do you really expect anybody to explain more than 30 years of history to you? Use Google and search this site.
DeleteDavid C Meyer, local developer, married an Ecke heiress, sues the city over development standards.
ReplyDeleteSome old stories at these links:
http://encinitasundercover.blogspot.com/search?q=dcm
http://encinitasundercover.blogspot.com/search?q=meyer
Eckes and Meyer have been active in local politics since the city first incorporated. They have funded council candidates, who have operated under their directives. This influence still persists, even with the City Attorney.
DeleteThen there was the clown caper.
DeleteMeyer is such a compassionate character. He bullies his way with coercion, intimidation, threats or smear campaigns.
DeleteAnd the city pays him off handsomely to go away every time. No wonder he keeps returning to the money well.
DeleteThe most recent DCM (David Meyer) lawsuit is often cited by blakespear as a reason to pass an HEU.
ReplyDeleteWhat she conveniently neglects to mention is the fact that his suit was dismissed by the judge as having no standing or merit.
Suing the city you live in because they won't accommodate your personal ambitions to squeeze it for all the money you can, while destroying its character. what a disgusting character this clown is - he epitomizes the greed and selfishness that is tearing America apart.
DeleteYet he is rewarded every time by a rollover council. That's why he returns repeatedly to the trough.
DeleteKeith Harrison is the new David Meyers. Both tell Blakespear what to do!!!
ReplyDeleteIf there is any justice, karmic or otherwise, after Meyers slimiest of moves to even attempt to 'fix', rather, diminish the effects of his greedy pursuit of the almighty dollar, down upon the residents of Clark St., he will be sued to high heaven and become even more of a pariah than he ever has been.
ReplyDeleteHe definitely deserves to be figuratively, if not literally, taken down.
Persona non grata is well earned.
Maybe Keith can learn a lesson or two.
Hubris will only take one so far in the end.
Meyer doesn't like to develop affordable housing. He weaseled out of his commitment on the Nantucket project at Sheridan and Andrew and his project on Saxony between Union and Puebla. All affordable units were transferred to the Iris Apartments.
DeleteHe has another project on La Costa just west of I-5. He's angling to ghettoize the Clark Street property with segregated affordable housing if he can complete the property swap with the city. He would love to get his hands on L-7 for luxury housing. That's where the profit would be.
Meyer donates generously to council campaigns. He gets supportive votes from the council this way. If he doesn't, he sues the city and gets a settlement. The city never defends a Meyer lawsuit. Kranz can always be counted on for a favorable vote for Meyer and the Eckes.
Appallingly accurate summary of Meyer and his relationship with the city and with Kranz.
DeleteMeyer is a cancer on the community.
Delete1:04 — Look on the city's website under municipal elections at the 460 forms for campaign contributions. Meyer gave zero to Blakespear, Boerner Horvath and Kranz in 2016.
DeleteBlakespear received political contributions from:
DeleteKeith Harrison, Damien Mavis, and Robert Echter. All three may profit from the housing element upzoning. She also received political contributions from the SEIU = the union for a majority of the city employees. Seems like a conflict.
Tasha received political contributions from Keith Harrison and the SEIU.
Kranz received political contributions from Keith Harrison, Echter, and the SEIU.
9:35 called BS on this sentence by 1:04:
Delete"Meyer donates generously to council campaigns."
David Meyer is increasing building height by added dirt to build up the house pads.
ReplyDeleteDensity Bonus project subdividing 3 existing lots into 48 lots; grading that exceeds 4 feet of fill; and a phased lot line adjustment
PROJECT NAME: Weston Subdivision
CASE NUMBER: 15-222 TMDB/DR/CDP
APPLICANT: DCM Properties, Inc.
LOCATION: 510-514 La Costa Avenue, Encinitas, California
DESCRIPTION: The project proposes the subdivision of a 13.94-acre site into 48 single-family residential lots, two drainage lots, and one private street lot. The project includes preliminary grading and landscape plans, and other associated improvements to accommodate the future development of 46 single-family homes, which are not proposed at this time. The lot areas would range from 4,738 square feet to 56,845 square feet, with an average lot size of 11,284 square feet. The project would demolish remnant structures from an inactive greenhouse operation but retain two existing single-family homes on the site. La Costa Avenue would provide access to the project site.
SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS ANTICIPATED AS A RESULT OF THE PROJECT: The Draft EIR concludes that the project would not result in significant environmental impacts with the incorporation of mitigation measures for biological resources, cultural resources, paleontological resources, hazardous materials, and traffic circulation.
REVIEW AND COMMENT PERIOD: A 45-day public review and comment period has been established from June 18, 2018 to August 2, 2018. All written comments on the Draft EIR should be clearly itemized and focus on the sufficiency of the document in identifying and analyzing the possible impacts on the environment and ways in which the significant effects of the project might be avoided or mitigated. Written comments must be submitted by 6:00 p.m. on August 2, 2018 to: Scott Vurbeff, Development Services Department, City of Encinitas, 505 S. Vulcan Avenue, Encinitas, CA 92024.
La Costa is already a nightmare for driving!
ReplyDeleteDavid Meyer really cares about the nightmares he leaves in his wake. What a guy!
ReplyDeleteThis news just in: E3 is charging its members, non-profits owning properties on both East and West sides of Quail Gardens Drive (between Encinitas and Leucadia Boulevards); they are charging $5000 dollars per property to pay Lisa Shaeffer as an 'FOM' Friend of the Mayor: buying her off to work behind the curtains once again to both determine a way to put 3 or 4 roundabouts along Quail Gardens Drive as well as work as a Flack for the Bob Echter/Brian Grover love-child, the Agri-Hood: (No, not Agri-as in aggravation, Agri as in agriculture) how many thousands of dollars will be passed into Tasha's campaign war chest from the boards of these non-profits? Tasha, the COE school board/city liaison racking up the campaign bucks from being in a position to vote as a council member to help pass the housing element placed on the November ballot; these dark moves forcing her to work with Purple Rain Lisa, who publicly busted-a-gut when Tasha when she announced her run for Assembly just 90 days after taking her council-seat: how different will Jody Hammer be? Perhaps if she is elected to council she will see her way to put the voting universe back together?
ReplyDeleteMust be something in the water over on QGD. That anyone's left talking to Lisa, much less giving her money, stretches the limit of what's believable.
DeleteI think the story sounds on.... watch- QGD will come forward requesting/ demanding roundabouts and the City will somehow justify the demand and give them their 4 roundabouts. Watch.
ReplyDeletedeveloper will ask for the roundabouts.
DeleteHas anything happened regarding the Clark St. property being fronted by Meyer? Have the neighbors spoken with the property owners to clarify what they agreed to? I know they said at the council meeting that they spoke with several who appeared to either contradict or not understand what Meyer claimed. Has this been reported to HCD and have the neighbors been able to get those property owners to attest, preferably in writing, of their misrepresentation to HCD?
ReplyDeleteAsk good ol' boy Kranz. He's pals with the Ecke clan. No doubt he's in the know.
Delete