PRSRT STD ECRWSS U.S. POSTAGE PAID SAN DIEGO, CA PERMIT NO. 835
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RANCHO SFNEWS
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VOL. 5, NO. 25
DEC. 4, 2009
THISWEEK Historical society e l ab on u l a V ons p 35 celebrates u o c age P 25 years
Park work scaled back
By David Wiemers
MERRY MURALS A local artist brings the Christmas spirit to 11 city streets
INSIDE
ONE SECTION, 36 PAGES
Business Directory . . . . 28 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Consumer Reports . . . . . 17 Coupons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Eye on the Coast . . . . . . . 4 Healthy Living . . . . . . . . 16 Hit the Road . . . . . . . . . 16 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Lick the Plate . . . . . . . . . 14 Machel’s Ranch . . . . . . . 15 Odd Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Outside Perspective . . . . 4 Pet of the Week . . . . . . . 27 Second Opinion . . . . . . . 21 Small Talk . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Taste of Wine . . . . . . . . . 14 Who’s News? . . . . . . . . . 12
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RANCHO SANTA FE — The Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society will host a 25th anniversary event on Feb. 7. The celebration will take place at La Flecha House, the first home in Rancho Santa Fe and now home to the Historical Society. “It will be like a high-tea with refreshments and sandwiches,” said David Brooks, a Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society member who is serving on the Anniversary Event Committee. “It will be an open house from 2 to 4 p.m., so members of the community can come and go as they like, but there will be a program scheduled at 3:15 p.m.” During the program, Historical Society President John Vreeburg will honor surviving members who helped found the Historical Society 25 years ago. “It’s a chance to say thank you to those who helped get us where we are today,” Vreeburg said. The event will also mark the premiere of the new book by the Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society, published by Arcadia Publishing, titled “Rancho Santa Fe: The Town the Railroad Built.” The book, complete with 180 pages of historical pictures, was written by Vonn Marie May and compiled by many members of the Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society. The book will be available in bookstores across San Diego in January and will also be available through the
By David Wiemers
RANCHO SANTA FE — Catherine Barry held an open house on Nov. 18 for one of Barry Estates’ listings in Fairbanks Ranch. Nicknamed “Camelot,” the estate truly conjures images of the French Countryside, with a castle fit for a king. The 13,342-squarefoot house is situated on more than four acres of land, complete with a giant koi pond, pool and spa, tennis court and a two-bedroom guesthouse. The custom built home was originally built by Ballard and Linda Smith. Ballard Smith, son-in-law to Ray Kroc, builder of the McDonald’s empire, was once the general manager of the San Diego Padres baseball team, then owned by Kroc. The property was sold in the mid-1990s and
RANCHO SANTA FE — On Nov. 19, the Association board of directors voted to improve the village parks, but on a smaller scale than anything proposed previously. The vote came after much discussion, debate, and a walk through the parks to visualize and understand enhancements. Despite a cost/benefit analysis prepared by the administration staff, the directors dismissed the staff’s recommendations and scaled back improvements dramatically. At the Nov. 5 Association meeting, directors had asked staff to prepare a cost/benefit analysis of the parks based on previous discussions. At the meeting on Nov. 19, Covenant Administrator Ivan Holler presented the analysis to the board along with staff’s recommendation for village park improvements, which were a combination of design elements from four different park alternatives proposed — priced anywhere from $400,000 to $1.5 million. Staff’s recommendations split the difference and came at a price tag of approximately $700,000. The board of directors, staff members and others attending the board meeting then walked the village parks to look at and evaluate proposed enhancements. One of the biggest challenges was the five-way intersection in the middle of the village, in front of The Inn. Making this area safer with crosswalks was a major concern. Once back in the board room, the debate began. Directors challenged staff’s recommendation of costly interlocking bricks in the five-way intersection. “$300,000 is overkill on paving,” Director Jack Queen said. Others agreed. “We wanted a lovely intersection, but this is too costly,” Director Kim Higgins said. Director Tom Lang made a motion for improvements that were scaled back considerably from staff’s recommendations, but when he realized that even his proposal was too costly in the eyes of his fellow board members, he
TURN TO CAMELOT ON 26
TURN TO PARK ON 25
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING Horizon Preschooler Ally Collis does her best to shout out her reasons to be thankful at the school’s early Thanksgiving holiday celebration, an ongoing Thanksgiving tradition at Horizon Preschool and Kindergarten in Rancho Santa Fe. More than 200 students and their families packed the Horizon Christian Fellowship North County Sanctuary for the annual Thanksgiving Program. See more photos on Page 6. Photo by Melissa Pederson
TURN TO PARK ON 25
‘Camelot’ for sale, but few kingly buyers By David Wiemers
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FIT FOR A KING This kingly estate in Fairbanks Ranch is aptly nicknamed “Camelot,” but buyers are as rare as royalty. Photo by David Wiemers