SEPT. 26, 2014
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T he C oast News
Tri-City ‘takes possession’ of vacant building By Aaron Burgin
OCEANSIDE — The Tri-City Healthcare District has exercised its eminent-domain authority to seize a 57,000-square-foot medical office building from the Carlsbad insurance underwriter with which it had partnered to develop it. The hospital announced in a news release that it had “taken possession” of the three-story building on the southern edge of campus and plans to use it for office space for local doctors. “We will move forward immediately with our plans to provide to our excellent physician partners the quality office space they need for their practices to be able to continue enhancing their services to our community,” Tri-City Healthcare District Board Chair Larry Schallock said. The Tri-City Healthcare District exercises its eminent-domain authority to seize a The 57,000-square-foot build- 57,000-square-foot medical office building that has sat vacant for almost a year on its ing has sat vacant for almost a year, Oceanside campus. File photo
Council’s tenor changes on density bonus loopholes Unanimous vote postpones enacting proposed changes By Aaron Burgin
ENCINITAS — Two months after the City Council took what they called “bold” action to close several loopholes that have led to the rise of super-dense developments in town, the Council’s tenor on one of the key provisions changed. The City Council unanimously voted to postpone enacting a proposed change that would prohibit developers from using rain and stormwater-catching basins, land earmarked for utilities, and wetlands when calculating the developable acreage in a project area. Instead, the change will be discussed as part of a density-bonus ordinance that the city’s planning staff is curently crafting. Developers have included detention basins and stormwater treatment facilities to calculate the
density of their projects based on a larger area than what is actually being built on, thus creating more dense developments. While council members said they still support the idea of eliminating some of the areas, they could not support the current proposal, as it would have, among other things, curtailed a developer’s ability to beautify some of those stormwater facilities, which has been a recent feature of new developments. “This is an attractive approach, and I would not want to discourage that,” Councilwoman Teresa Barth said, pointing to a photo that showed a beautified retention basin, and then posed a question to staff. “Is this option...discouraging that?” “Let me be more direct, yes,” Planning Director Jeff Murphy said. “It would frustrate or limit this type of design.” The council’s decision comes a week after the Planning Commission TURN TO BONUS ON A15
New school superintendent asks for funding support By Ellen Wright
ESCON DI DO — Lu is Ibarra was named the new Escondido Unified School District Superintendent for the 2014-15 school year. He started in July. Ibarra was a teacher for eight years and worked various roles for five additional years at the Oceanside Unified School District. He attended the City Council meeting on Sept. 24 to ask for an endorsement on Proposition E. “The average age of our schools is 41 years old,” Ibarra told the Council. He aims to modernize and repair the schools throughout the district. He also hopes to improve security and increase safety at the schools.
“When many of our schools were built, they were designed with an open campus policy to make them more inviting to the public,” said Ibarra. “As we all know, the world changed post-Sandy Hook.” Finally, he told the Council that technology and infrastructure in the schools need to be updated. “If we are to truly prepare our students for the 21st century, the world of college and career, technology needs to be a viable part of the instruction program,” said Ibarra. Ibarra has a threeyear contract as superintendent, making $210,000 a year.
the result of an estranged partnership between the healthcare district and Medical Acquisition Co. (MAC), a vestige of the tenure of former Tri-City CEO Larry Anderson that has resulted in at least two lawsuits between the parties. MAC’s attorney Duane Horning confirmed Tuesday afternoon that the hospital had taken control of the property, effective immediately. Under the state’s eminent domain law, a public agency has a right to force the sale of private property for public good for fair market value. If the parties cannot agree on a purchase price, a jury trial will determine the property’s value. Horning said MAC and the healthcare district have not negotiated a sale price, but are still negotiating. The parties will have a final opportunity to come to an
out-of-court settlement within 120 days of the trial date, Horning said. Officials with the hospital and MAC had been negotiating a purchase price since July, when the district filed the eminent domain lawsuit. The parties were at that time far off on what they believed was a fair price, with Tri-City offering $4.7 million and MAC countering with a $20 million asking price. At the same time, the hospital sued MAC (in response to the company’s lawsuit against the district filed in April) seeking to void the development arrangement between the parties based on accusations that Anderson and board member RoseMarie Reno had illegal conflicts of interest when they pressed for the district to enter into the arrangement. Both Anderson and Reno have flatly denied the accusations. Those lawsuits are still active.
Traffic violations by motorists, cyclists are main concerns By Bianca Kaplanek
DEL MAR— Motorists and bicyclists who ignore traffic laws were the main concerns of the dozen or so residents who attended Coffee with the Sheriff, a one-hour question-and-answer session held Sept. 23 at Powerhouse Community Center. Capt. Theresa Adams-Hydar and a panel of other officers said the biggest challenge with enforcement is a shortage of manpower due to a lack of funding. “I’d love to be able to put an echelon of deputies out there for bike enforcement,” Sgt. Joe Tomaiko said, adding he would also like to strategically park patrol cars so cyclists would see them and know they have to stop at traffic signals and stop signs. “We’re trying to address the problems the best we can with what we have to work with,” he said. One resident suggested writing more citations so word would get out to the biking community that riders will be ticketed in Del Mar — something Tomaiko said he would be “happy to do.” “We will be more than happy to remind them it’s their responsibility to stop,” he said. Addressing complaints about motorists who speed through town and roll through stop signs and traffic signals, Adams-Hydar said the traffic deputy could be assigned to different areas at different times. But that may result in no one policing the streets when bars close and intoxicated drivers may be getting behind the wheel of a car, she said. “This is what I’m dealing with,” Adams-Hydar said. “I’m trying to think out of the box to help.” Del Mar has contracted with the Sheriff’s Department for law enforcement services since its inception in 1959 and currently pays about $1.7 million annually. For that the city gets one patrol deputy 24/7, a traffic officer weekdays, a full-time detective and
Capt. Theresa Adams-Hydar responds to questions during a Sept.23 Coffee with the Sheriff at Powerhouse Community Center. Photo by Bianca Kaplanek
regional services such as SWAT, aerial support, search and rescue, the crime lab and bomb and arson. The traffic deputy covers less than half of the daytime traffic hours during the week. Adding another fulltime traffic deputy would cost about $250,000 a year. Adams-Hydar suggested hiring a temporary deputy without “all the overhead,” such as benefits for six months to see what impact, if any, an additional officer would have on violations. City officials said that would cost about $150,000 during the trial period.
“I think this is an option you should really look at,” Adams-Hydar said. Resident Jim Benedict, a member of the Finance Committee tasked with researching law enforcement options, said it’s an alternative worth exploring but only if the cost remained at $150,000 after the trial period. If the additional officer had a positive impact, the city likely wouldn’t be able to afford to fund a full-time position, he said. Theresa Borges, administrative assistant with the Encinitas Sheriff’s Station, said the cost would increase after the trial period.
Mark Delin, assistant city manager, said the proposal is “intriguing, but we would need to look at what the sheriff can actually provide.” “This is something that we’ll discuss with the sheriff as a part of our overall city safety program, and if it looks feasible in terms of cost and scheduling, we would take this to council as an option,” Delin added. “We will also look at redeploying the current traffic deputy to different locations and hours to address some of the new locations mentioned as enforcement issues.” Benedict said his group is also looking into expanding the park ranger service or hiring a community service officer, options that are “significantly, significantly less expensive” than Adams-Hydar’s suggestion, he TURN TO CONCERNS ON A15