PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ENCINITAS, CA 92025 PERMIT NO. 94
THE COAST NEWS
.com MAKING WAVES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
VOL. 28, N0. 33
Aug. 15, 2014
SAN MARCOS -NEWS
.com THE VISTA NEWS
.com Following a Superior Court ruling on July 22 voiding the city’s approval of a 16-home project known as Desert Rose in Olivenhain, the project’s developer is planning to file an appeal. File photo
Court’s ruling RANCHO SFNEWS on Desert Rose . headed for appeal
com
By Aaron Burgin
Billowing bubbles Alan Kier took his homemade bamboo wands and bubble mixtures to Tamarack Beach in Carlsbad on Sunday, sending the large translucent floating blobs out to wherever the wind would take them. The Carlsbad resident goes to different beaches around North County. He says the bubbles bring him joy. Beach goers nearby seemed to love them, too. Photo by Tony Cagala
Proceedings for proposed power plant move forward By Ellen Wright
CARLSBAD—The California Energy Commission held a public workshop on Aug. 7 to get input on NRG Energy’s proposed peaker style power plant, which may replace the existing Encina Power Station. NRG officials want to put in a lower profile plant that has six gasfired turbines, which will rise 60 feet above ground. The Encina Power Station’s smokestack currently rises 400 feet above ground. The proposed plant will replace the Encina station and will run during peak times of energy use, if approved by the commission. NRG originally planned to build a power plant with no commitment to sell the energy locally or to tear down the current plant. Carlsbad city officials got involved in negotiations to ensure the city would benefit in some way. “Basically, there was no local benefit to having another power plant on our coastline so we, in good con-
scious, could not support that,” Mayor Pro Tem Mark Packard told the commission. City officials began negotiations with NRG and SDG&E, which own a portion of the site. The conversation changed after the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station shut down in 2013. In January 2013, the San Onofre nuclear power plant went offline. Owners of the nuclear plant, Edison, announced in June 2013 that it would be permanently shut down because of structural issues. NRG was originally approved by the California Energy Commission in May 2012 to build the peaker style plants. Even though city officials opposed the project, they had no jurisdiction to deny it because the site is NRG officials want to put in a lower profile already zoned for energy usage. The closure of San Onofre meant plant that has six gas-fired turbines, which will rise 60 feet above ground. The Encina Power a need for power locally so NRG Station’s smokestack currently rises 400 feet above ground. Photo by Ellen Wright
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TURN TO ENCINA ON A16
25th Annual
ENCINITAS — Opponents of a density-bonus development in Olivenhain known as Desert Rose said a Superior Court judge’s ruling and the City Council’s recent closure of several loopholes popular among density development could significantly change what the developer can do on the site. But the attorney for the developer said his client plans to appeal the ruling, and also said the city has assured him that the Council ruling will not affect the project. On July 22, Judge Judith Hayes issued a final ruling in the case that pitted the city and developer Woodridge Farms Estates against an opposition group, known as Save Desert Rose. Hayes’ ruling voided the city’s approval of the project, stating that the city violated state environmental quality laws by not fully vetting the project’s environmental impacts. The ruling mirrored Hayes’ tentative ruling filed in April. The court decision also includes injunctive language that restricts any work on the project until it goes through the environmental process or an accord is reached between the parties.
“The simplest way to say it is that we won on all counts,” said Everett Delano, an Escondido environmental law attorney who represented the Save Desert Rose group. “We said all along that they needed to do an EIR to see what the impacts would really be. All of the issues we raised, Judge Hayes agreed with us on all of them.” Save Desert Rose sued Encinitas and Woodridge in 2013 after the City Council reversed the planning commission’s previous rejection and approved the developer’s16-home development in northeast Olivenhain. Neighbors packed council and planning commission meetings in the months leading up to the council decision, arguing that Desert Rose was too dense for the surrounding community and would clog traffic, harm nearby wetland habitat and irrevocably change the rural equestrian community. The City Council, which voted 3-0 to overturn the Planning Commission’s 3-2 denial, said their hands were tied by state density bonus laws, and denying the project could lead to a lawsuit. Attorneys for the city TURN TO DESERT ROSE ON A16
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