SEPT. 23, 2016
A5
T he C oast News
KAABOO better but still not perfect By Bianca Kaplanek
DEL MAR — Organizers of KAABOO Del Mar spent a lot of time and money during the past year looking for ways to reduce noise, the No. 1 complaint following last year’s inaugural event. Their efforts appear to have paid off. There was one online comment to a story in The Coast News from a woman who said the windows in her house about 7 miles from the Del Mar Fairgrounds, where the threeday music and entertainment event is held, began shaking at 4:20 p.m. Saturday because the music was so loud. Other than that the comments have been mostly positive. “People were actually sad because the sound was so much lower,” said Lee Haydu, a board member of the 22nd District Agricultural Association, which governs the fairgrounds, who can see the stateowned venue from her home. “My neighbor went outside to listen to the concerts and could barely hear anything,” she added. The day after the event ended several people at a Sept. 19 event in Del Mar said noise was definitely not an issue this year. In fact, Mayor Sherryl Parks said she received emails from residents thanking her because noise in their neighborhoods was minimal compared to last year. “The sound was much better than last year,” Councilman Don Mosier said. “We haven’t seen the data yet so whether it was perfect and according to code we’ll have to wait and see. But clearly they did a lot to change the sound levels.” Kristen Crane, the city’s man-
agement services director, said Del Mar received only a handful of calls, including a complement from a resident in the Crest Road/San Dieguito Drive area. “Compared to last year it was a vast improvement,” Crane said. “From our perspective, we were also looking at inappropriate action and crowds at the beach or parking in the neighborhoods but there were no problems.”
There were very few incidents considering the average attendance of 30,000 patrons per day.” Lt. Mark Moreno San Diego Sheriff’s Department
Councilman Al Corti has a somewhat different opinion. “Last year they did a good job handling traffic and safety but they had a sound problem,” he said. “This year they did a good job with sound but had a traffic and safety problem.” Corti said it took him 30 minutes on Saturday to get to his home just blocks from the fairgrounds. In terms of safety, he was referring to an incident that occurred Saturday night, when two outdoor concerts ended at the same time and crowds from both were trying to enter a venue for another performance. “To label (Saturday) night’s law enforcement action as a response to
a riot is overstating the situation,” Lt. Mark Moreno from the San Diego Sheriff’s Department stated in a press release. “Deputies responded to a crowd management situation that needed to be resolved as quickly as possible for the safety of all concerned. “At the end of two concerts … thousands of patrons were exiting two different concert locations,” he wrote. “A number of the exiting patrons decided to attend an indoor concert which resulted in gridlock of that area. “In order to open up the area, the deputies began to direct patrons out of the area in order to provide egress for those patrons desiring to leave the area and reduce the heavy congestion at the doors to the venue. When the doors to the venue were opened, the patrons began to rush the doors. “The deputies immediately responded to that location to prevent patrons from being injured or trampled. Their actions alleviated any potential for injury and provided a safe and secure environment for staff and the patrons,” Moreno added. “A deputy did have to deploy his Taser to ensure a main instigator was calmed as quickly as possible before the scene escalated into a much more dangerous situation.” Overall he described the event as “very successful and peaceful.” “There were very few incidents considering the average attendance of 30,000 patrons per day,” Moreno stated. “The arrests were for public intoxication and resisting arrest.” KAABOO officials have yet to TURN TO KAABOO ON A21
New e-Tool allows online comments for council meetings The new eComment system is the third online tool Encinitas has rolled out in 2016 to increase community involvement in the civic engagement process. The other tools, Nextdoor and PlaceSpeak, were previously launched. Each tool is serving unique functions for city
By Aaron Burgin
ENCINITAS — Encinitas is making it easier for residents to weigh in on city council meetings — from the comforts of their own home. The city recently launched a pilot online civic engagement tool, eComment, which enables the public to comment on city council agenda items even if they can’t make it to the meetings in person. “eComment is another tool the city is deploying to be even more inclusive in the democratic process because it provides community members an easy way to voice their opinions to city council,” said Karen Brust, Encinitas city manager. “Our hope is that the eComment system facilitates new participation in the City Council meetings with citizen input.” The eComment link appears in the agenda item under the staff report for each item on the docket. Residents can click on the link and submit a comment from the day the agenda is posted until noon of the day of the council meeting. Once the public comment period closes, a report of all e-comments will be provided to each Council member. Reports of e-comments will be treated like emails received after agenda posting and become part of the official record.
Our hope is that the eComment system facilitates new participation...” Karen Brust City Manager, Encinitas
communication. Nextdoor allows for neighbors in certain communities to communicate with one another, but the city is using it to spread information to the community on a platform where residents can discuss it securely. PlaceSpeak essentially replaced the city’s e-Town Hall tool, which the city cancelled after council members were disappointed with the results of its widely publicized online engagement campaign for the housing element. The eComment pilot will last for a year, after which the council will decide whether to continue with the tool.
Carlsbad looking to lay out energy saving road map IT’S THE LAST WEEKEND OF ply with the plan to avoid greenhouse gas evaluations, which are costly, Grim said. The city of San Diego is the only other municipality that uses the same process. It calls for more efficient buildings, which includes increasing the codes or an audit before major renovations. The city also wants to incorporate photovoltaic systems, which use solar power, on new construction. “A lot of people are getting PV systems,” he said. “The uptake in that will probably even exceed what our ordinances would anticipate.” As for transportation demand management, the goal is to get people away from single-occupancy veTURN TO ENERGY ON A7
City will televise all meetings of design review process ad hoc group By Bianca Kaplanek
DEL MAR — After learning it is relatively inexpensive to broadcast ad hoc Design Review Process Advisory Committee meetings, council members agreed to televise all remaining gatherings. The committee was formed in June 2015 to address the impacts some recent residential construction is having on community character. Members were asked to identify concerns and recommend solutions that could include changing cur-
rent regulations and procedures. The group was controversial from the start as many residents said they believed the nine appointed members were anti-development. In February of this year, in an effort to increase transparency and encourage as much public participation and outreach as possible, the chairman asked that all meetings be televised. Council members said the number of meetings that can be recorded is limited
by the city’s contract with Del Mar TV and extending it could be expensive. But earlier this month they were told the cost is $162 per meeting. On Sept. 6 they authorized funding to televise two meetings. Two weeks later, as part of the consent calendar at the Sept. 19 meeting, council approved funds to broadcast all remaining meetings. The group expects to meet about five more times this year, which will cost the city $972.
The Sept. 21 meeting was recorded and posted on the city website. According to the staff report, there are sufficient funds in the budget to pay for the service through 2016. Council approved spending for “all additional upcoming” meetings,” the staff report states. The group will meet Oct. 4 and 19, Nov. 1 and 16 and Dec. 7 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Del Mar City Council Chambers at 2010 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Ste. 100.
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system, bicycle and pedestrian lanes, water conservation, drought resistant, recycled water and synthetic turf installation. The CAP administration, Grim, and his interdepartmental team will implement the plan using the CEQA checklist, regional collaboration and an implementation plan. The city and its consultant will develop sample ordinances among other measures such as monitoring and other greenhouse gas contributors not in the plan. “Probably in September next year, we will present the 2016-17 annual report … and let you know how we’re doing,” Grim told the council. The CAP was adopted in Sept. 2015 and city or private projects must com-
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which focuses on healthy lifestyles, walking, biking, public transit, sustainability and more. Also, the city engaged in 2006 pilot study with the San Diego Regional Office and San Diego Area of Governments (SANDAG) to evaluate energy efficiency in numerous buildings. Recommendations included changing out streetlights, replacing building lighting and more using the SANDAG Energy Road Map. As for solar power, two facilities — at Alga Norte and the Safety Training Center — have panels to energize them. The city’s efforts have also included sustainability, an improved traffic management center, city fleet conversion to hybrids, trail
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CARLSBAD — The City Council received an update on the Climate Action Plan, its progress and future plans. Michael Grim, the Climate Action Plan (CAP) administrator for the city, said staff conducted a cost analysis with officials at the University of San Diego, met with city departments participating in the CAP and developed costs, which were provided in February and included in Fiscal Year 2016-17 budget. “The first year or two of cap implementation is fully budgeted,” Grim said. “One important aspect of the Climate Action Plan is that it streamlines project review.” In 2010, the city adopted the Community Vision,
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