BizAir to start servicing McClellan-Palomar Airport

By Ellen Wright

CARLSBAD

— A new airline is taking over service from McClellan–Palomar Airport to Los Angeles International Airport, which was formerly served by United Express.

BizAir Shuttle is set to have their first flight out of Carlsbad with service to LAX June 18 at 6 a.m.

They won’t be offering as many flights a day as United did, but are looking to ramp up service as the demand increases.

Airport Manager Olivier Brackett said the demand for commercial service is high.

“We receive phone calls every day asking about commercial service to different cities,” Brackett said.

In the beginning, BizAir will have two roundtrip flights to LAX a day.

United Express had seven round-trips a day but stopped service on April 6 after discontinu-

By Promise Yee

OCEANSIDE — Water wasters will not be tolerated after June 1.

As California heads into its fifth year of drought, Oceanside City Council adopted a set of strict water conservation measures May 20.

Interim Water Utilities Director Jason Dafforn said the city appreciates conservation efforts already made by residents and businesses.

Then he shared new rules that will reduce wa- ing the use of the Embraer 120 Brasilia turboprop planes.

In January, the Federal Aviation Administration released new rules involving pilot’s duty times, which increased the cost of operating the Brasilia turboprops and caused United to switch to an all- jet fleet.

BizAir Founder Daniel Cretsinger had hoped to have BizAir up and running by the time United left, but faced issues getting approval at LAX.

LAX is undergoing a $4.1 billion remodel. It’s the largest public works program in the history of

By Bianca Kaplanek

DEL MAR — In an ef- the city.

Cretsinger said the remodel has not only made it difficult to get the airline service approved, it’s also unpleasant for passengers.

“It’s a real unfriendly user environment right now for passengers,” Cretsinger said.

The remodel is sched- uled to be finished in 2019. ter use by another 20 percent.

BizAir is adding service to Las Vegas in July and to Phoenix in August.

Cretsinger said they likely won’t be adding more cities to their route within the first year although they’re taking suggestions for the future.

He said they’re considering service to San Jose and Sacramento.

They have one 30-passenger Embraer Regional Jet and one Dornier jet.

In L.A., they’ll share a terminal with Virgin America, Allegiant, Frontier and Spirit Airlines. Brackett said BizAir may not be the only commercial provider for long.

Airport officials are in talks with multiple interested parties who are looking to provide service at the airport.

Another airline service recently opened at the Carlsbad airport, Surf Air.

Surf Air is a membership-based “all-you-canfly” service, which offers unlimited private flights for $1,750 a month.

Members must also pay a $1,000 initiation fee. The airport is also home to multiple charter businesses and flight schools.

New regulations cut landscape irrigation to two days a week, require leaks to be fixed immediately and do not allow watering for two days after a rain.

Updates to prior measures also prohibit water runoff from homes and businesses, and do not allow hard surfaces to be hosed off.

The use of potable water to irrigate turf on public street medians is prohibited.

The city will also keep a sharper eye on construction sites to ensure water restrictions are being followed.

Dafforn said the city would hire extra staff to ensure rules are followed.

Prior conservation measures already asked residents and businesses to water before 10 a.m. and after 6 p.m., and use a hose with a positive shut-off noz- fort to make Del Mar more business friendly, council members approved at the May 18 meeting changes to the rules that govern signs in the commercial district.

The request came last year from the Business Support Advisory Committee, which reviewed how cities such as Encinitas and Solana Beach regulate signage, as well as what has and hasn’t worked historically in Del Mar.

The amendments provide a new method for calculating sign size, allow and regulate blade and A-frame signs and clarify language in the existing code to make the process less confusing.

The current calculation method is based on the overall square footage of the business. Properties with 1,000 square feet or less are allowed a 10-square-foot sign. Businesses between 1,001 and 3,000 square feet can have a 15-square-foot sign.

Those with more than 3,000 square feet get 20 square feet of signage.

The added method is based on linear feet of street frontage and is capped depending on the zone in which the business is located.

A 1-to-1 ratio would be used so for every linear foot of frontage a business would be allowed 1 square foot of signage.

A sign could be no bigger than 40 square feet everywhere except in the north and visitor commercial zones, where the maximum will be 60 square feet because traffic is moving faster in those two areas and there aren’t as many pedestrians.

For example, Jimmy O’s is smaller than 3,000 square feet and is currently allowed 15 square feet of signage. Under the amended code the restaurant would be allowed a 32-square-foot sign.

“As the Business Support Advisory Committee noted, this makes it much more in proportion to its presence along the street,” Planning Director Kathy Garcia said.

Business owners can choose which method to use as some properties don’t have street frontage.

The changes will also allow an additional 6 square feet of signage for blade signs, which hang perpendicular from a building higher than the pedestrian area.

Blade signs are currently allowed but they count as part of total allowable sign area. Small businesses likely wouldn’t use them because building signs are a priority, Garcia said.

Blade signs would not count toward the overall sign area and would be limited to one per establishment.

A-frame or chalkboard signs are currently not permitted, but advisory committee members said they can improve business if regulated property.

Under the new rules they can be no bigger than 36 inches wide and 42 inches tall and can be displayed only when the business is open. They must be placed on private property and not in the public right of way. They also can’t block access to parking.

The signs will be limited to changeable messages such as menus, sales and special events and cannot include lights, flags, balloons, handouts, animation or other attachments. They must also be anchored for stability.

KC Vafiadis, a business owner and Business Support Advisory Committee member, said the group was formed to give Del Mar businesses a voice at City Hall.

She said many owners don’t speak during meetings because if the topic is controversial they’re afraid of alienating customers.

“So it’s very difficult for the business people to stand up and speak,” she said, noting that signage came up during a committee conversation because owners noticed a lot of temporary signs that look cluttered and tacky.

“We realized that it needed to look better than it did,” Vafiadis said, adding that enforcement had been lacking since the recession.

But we realized that before you tell a business owner to eliminate a tacky sign you need to find a way to support their business, she added.

Vafiadis said the cost of signs is expensive so unless a new one will have a significant impact, many smaller businesses likely will not make changes.

But, she said, the business community is hoping the new rules will encourage people to replace signs that are not well main-