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THE COAST NEWS
FEB. 17, 2012
Residents in one neighborhood rebuff draft general plan By Wehtahnah Tucker
ENCINITAS — After receiving an email in October of last year, Duff Pickering, a resident of New Encinitas, said his eyes were opened. He read the summary of the city’s general plan with great surprise. Enough so, that he was moved to action. “I’ve lived here for 13 years, it’s all new to me,” Pickering said. “I’m not an activist-I didn’t know where city hall was before this.” He’s now addressed the council three times on the general plan issue. Pickering has coordinated with other residents to disseminate information about the general plan. The loosely defined group has developed a website and a mission to “provide information about the New Encinitas General Plan 2035 for the residents of New Encinitas in the hope that it provides awareness, and gives our community a stronger voice within Greater Encinitas.” The policy document intended to guide the city’s decision-making over the next 25 years is comprised of multiple elements that inform planners, developers, policymakers and the community. Beginning in January
2010, a general plan advisory committee, along with city staff and a consultant, began the first phase of updating the general plan. The city’s blueprint has been updated to address new policy issues such as sustainable and healthy communities, green building codes and emissions standards. The plan also speaks to traffic circulation, walkable communities, economic and environmental sustainability and recycling. The existing general plan was adopted in 1989. The group has met a “handful of times” according to Pickering and keeps in regular communication via email and phone. “We’re representing a broader concern,” he said. “The more we talked, the more we realized how few residents really understood what the impact will be on New Encinitas.” The group has tripled in size in the last few months according to Pickering. “The petition (on the website) has been signed by over 600 people,” he said. “That’s not our family and our neighbors, we’ve touched a nerve. That’s strengthened our voice.” Among the group’s main concerns is the way in which the public input was solicited.
“The input was very small,” Pickering said. “The city planning department did a poor job of advertising (workshops).” However, between January and June 2010 five community-specific workshops and a citywide workshop were facilitated. Additional public workshops and open-houses have been heavily advertised and wellattended. Diane Langager, a principal city planner said the public’s concerns were at the forefront of developing the document. “It is a citywide document” she said, referring to crafting a blueprint that encompasses five distinct communities. “We’ve really honored the process,” Langager said. She noted that the planning department relied heavily on public input from various community workshops to develop the draft. “We’ve expanded and enhanced our outreach to the public even further,” she said. “There will be ample opportunity for input.” In an effort to garner even more public participation, the City Council agreed with a subcommittee recommendation on Dec. 14 to create a panel to comb through
the draft general plan. The Element Review Advisory Committee is slated to go over each part of the extensive blueprint for the city’s future growth during a series of meetings. The 23-member group is comprised of volunteers that held its first meeting on Feb. 13. Depending on the rate of progress, meeting dates could run through July according to a planning department document. The committee will analyze each element of the policy document over the course of several months including land use, housing, traffic circulation, parks, recreation and public facilities, resource management, public safety and health and noise. The general plan land use element is particularly disturbing, explained Pickering. “So much of it (future residential development) is being so focused in such a small area of the city. That simply doesn’t seem fair,” he said. “The area is already one of the more congested places in the city. We’re really concerned about changing the character of the community.” Langager said that traffic counts based on increased density were an unknown
because the analysis and an environmental impact report have not been fully completed. “We just don’t know the answer to that yet,” she said. “That’s a lot of people to insert into the El Camino Real corridor,” Pickering said, referring to the population projections used by the planning department and consultant. “New Encinitas is a highly functional area. Everything I need is close by,” he said. “There are ways to improve it, but not by increasing the number of people.” He questioned whether other areas of town would be able to absorb some of the population expansion. “We’re looking for some fairness.” He said the city planning staff responds to the group’s criticism by saying certain elements are required. “They’ve shifted from ‘what do you want’ to ‘we have to (do this).’” The state does have mandates for capping greenhouse gases, creating affordable housing and other regulations that are addressed within the general plan. “We must meet state laws,” Langager said. Patricia Stielder, a New Encinitas resident said she’s heard “rumblings” about the general plan but hasn’t
County takes on additional responsibility with post-offenders By Christina Macone-Greene
CARLSBAD — Carlsbad city council members listened to a special presentation given by Mack Jenkins from the County Probation Department and Carlsbad Police Chief Gary Morrison on Feb. 14. The talk highlighted Assembly Bill 109 (AB 109), also known as the Public Safety Realignment, which impacts changes to the criminal justice system from a state to county level. Since October, AB 109 holds local jurisdictions, such as the City of Carlsbad, responsible for the permanent shift of offenders. “We are now five months into this shift of responsibilities,” said Jenkins, San Diego County chief probation officer. Jenkins, who has been a probation officer for 33 years, calls AB 109 the most significant change in California’s
criminal justice system. Jenkins was quick to point out that AB 109 in no way transfers prison inmates to local jurisdictions. When AB109 was signed, there were 93,000 active parolees in California. Jenkins said by the time realignment is fully implemented there will be 40,000 which will cause a statewide shift of 53,000 parolees to local jurisdiction. The three populations affected by AB 109 are postrelease offenders, formerly called parolees, local custody for non-violent, non-serious, and non-high risk sex offenders, and court revocations for post-release offenders and parolees. The non-violent, nonserious, and non high-risk sex offenders, also known as “N3s,” will now be housed and managed at the county’s jails. “This is part of the effort to reduce the prison population,” he said. San Diego County is expected to receive 2,000 post-release offenders and 2,000 N3s offenders. The realignment goals for San Diego County include using jail capacity efficiently, and at some point prior to an offender release, to have the individual undergo a “reentry into community program” to reduce the chance of recidivism. When recidivism rates are reduced, Jenkins said, so are the crime rates. “As part of our realignment plan, Chief Morrison has made an offer to allow me to house one or two of my probation officers in his police station and we are
going to take him up on that offer,” Jenkins said. “So my probation officers will work closely with the chief’s police officers.” Jenkins wants people to know that their probation supervision strategies may include announced or unannounced visits to homes, random drug testing, and in some cases, periodic searches. Probation services will also include substance abuse treatment, transitional housing, work readiness and cognitive behavioral treatment. Currently, there are four post-release offenders living in Carlsbad. In Escondido there are 55; Oceanside has 41 and Vista has 69. Jenkins said that before the release of any postrelease offender is issued, their future resident address, supervision terms and probation officer contact information will be exchanged with Carlsbad Police. This will give Jenkins’ department a higher level of accountability. Since AB 109 has gone into effect Morrison has not seen an increase in crime. Morrison said that networking and working with probation officers will be a positive one. “I think we are actually going to be, for the long-term, better off because, hopefully with this goal, it will lower the recidivism rate,” he added. “The probation department has also given us four names of individuals in our cities (post-release offenders) and we got those to our patrol officers so we are well aware of where those folks are at.”
KIWANIS WELCOME President Leslie Jackson welcomes Del Mar Kiwanis’ newest member Christopher Arand. Arand is a financial services expert, new to North County whose business is located in Carlsbad. Photo by Chuck Phillips
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attended any meetings. “I think a lot of us are late to the table on this one and are realizing that it’s one of the most important issues our city is going to face.” She said she plans to attend future workshops to learn more and increase her participation. “I can’t really complain unless I was a part of it.” To access the general plan visit encinitas2035.info