Encinitas Council balks at two-day Fall Festival proposal

By Aaron Burgin ENCINITAS

— The Encinitas City Council voted against a proposal to expand the Encinitas 101 Main Street Association’s Fall Festival from a one-day event to a two-day event, citing the impact it would have on businesses and motorists.

The Main Street Association requested the additional day for its signature fall event as a means to pay for Christmas decorations for downtown.

“I have not polled the business owners, but I would guess they would be willing to give up that one day to have Christmas decorations during the holidays,” said Thora Guthrie, the executive director of the Main Street Association.

But the council unanimously expressed hesitancy about shutting down Coast Highway 101 for an additional day on top of the six days it is already closed for special events.

“I think seven days of closures seems like a lot,” Mayor Kristin Gaspar said.

“While we would all like another day of festivities, we need to be mindful of what those closures do to our residents and those service businesses.”

Gaspar said while she understands that some businesses — such as restaurants, bars and retailers, benefit from the foot traffic street festivals bring — other businesses like accountants, auto mechanics and salons, are hurt because their customers don’t have access to the street or parking.

“You’re not seeing your accountant if you don’t have access to the street,” she said.

The council also voted to delay a proposal by the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce to move Oktoberfest from its current location on Mountain Vista Drive in New Encinitas to the Encinitas Community Park.

The council said they needed more details about the plan, which includes a proposal to expand the festival to two days to accommodate setup and breakdown. City staff expressed concern about the event’s size and the associated traffic and parking impacts on the surrounding neighborhood.

New temporary barriers coming ‘soon’ to Vulcan

By Aaron Burgin ENCINITAS

— The white and orange barriers that have lined a bluff along San Elijo Avenue and have riled residents over the perceived visual blight will be coming down soon, officials with the North County Transit District said this week.

A transit district spokeswoman said the district and the city are exploring options for a new temporary barrier that will satisfy the transit district’s desire to keep the public safe and the residents’ desire to have a less unsightly barrier in place.

“Our goal is to expedite the process and meet both NCTD’s immediate safety concerns and address the community’s interest,” transit district spokeswoman Katie Whichard said.

Whichard said there was no set date for the current barriers to be replaced, but indicated that it would be soon.

Transit district crews placed the barriers along the bluff, which is owned by the district, in early spring, after concerns arose that drivers were parking too close to the bluff’s edge and could potentially drive over it, crashing onto the train tracks below.

Residents immediately panned the barriers, questioning the need for them and saying that they degraded the views and the appearance of the area.

One of the harshest critics was Encinitas Deputy Mayor Catherine Blakespear, who wrote a letter to the Transit District in March asking for the bar- riers to be immediately removed. The Transit District rebuffed the request, again citing safety concerns.

Blakespear, who said Wednesday that she heard that a change was potentially on the horizon, said she hopes the transit district makes the change soon.

“I am really thrilled they are going to replace those things,” Blakespear said. “Right now, it just makes the bluff look like industrial blight, and more like a railroad corridor, which is not what we want in our town.” as the administering body.

The change in temporary barrier is just one of the issues that the city and transit district will be addressing as part of a recent cooperative agreement between the two entities. Encinitas officials adopted the agreement in April, while the transit district board of directors ratified the agreement this week.

The money will be used to incorporate strategies in the city’s Local Coastal Program.

Several areas in Del Mar are vulnerable to the effects of sea-level rise, including the San Dieguito Lagoon, beach area homes, city infrastructure such

Committee forming to address design review process

By Bianca Kaplanek DEL MAR —

In an effort to improve the design review process council members approved at the May 18 meeting the creation of an ad hoc advisory committee.

Members will be tasked with identifying concerns related to the community impacts of new and remodeled homes. Once the problems are determined they must recommend solutions that could include changing current regulations and procedures.

Councilman Terry Sinnott said he hopes this will be a problem-solving effort and not simply a review of the issues.

“I would really hope that this has some analytical process to it where a group of folks define the objectives, define the goals, look at the community plan and what the goals of that are and then, based on all their experience … identify the problems we are currently having and then systematically go through those problems and identify what’s causing the problems,” Sinnott said.

“My concern is … that we immediately race to solutions before we have fully understood the problem,” he added.

The idea for the committee was generated by discussions of council priorities during previous meetings.

Many residents said they are concerned because homes being built or remodeled to the maximum allowable development standards are changing the neighborhood character.

At the May 4 meeting Sinnott and Councilwoman Sherryl Parks presented a proposal to create a task force to evaluate the design review ordinance and planning procedures to ensure residential buildings