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VOL. 35, N0. 8
Carlsbad economy hits growth spurt Report: City’s economy grew by $1 billion in 2021
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By Nijat Mamtimen
CARLSBAD — The city of Carlsbad’s economy grew by $1 billion to $14.6 billion in 2021 after producing the second-largest gross regional product in San Diego County, according to a city staff report presented to the council earlier this month. The city’s second-quarter growth spurt for the fiscal year 2021-22 (up 7.3% from approximately $13.6 billion in 2020) was attributed to a number of factors, including new jobs, low unemployment (3.4% unemployment rate in December), improved office and industrial vacancy rates, tourism and rising home values. “This growth was seen across all industry categories and was led by manufacturing, wholesale trade and professional scientific and technical services,” said Matthew Sanford, the city’s economic development manager of Carlsbad, during a Feb. 8 Carlsbad City Council meeting. According to the city’s report, Carlsbad’s economy grew by $800 million to nearly $13.6 billion in 2019, but “remained flat” in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year in Carlsbad, there were 15,418 unique job postings between October and December, an TURN TO CARLSBAD ON A18
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Chick-fil-A brings ‘chicken wars’ to Carlsbad. A3 Homeless in North County: Luke’s story. A5 THE
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Carlsbad selects sites to study for rezoning. A7 Midway evaluator changed applicants’ scores. B1 Solana Beach’s Sabrina Lee honored with award. B1
VISTA Del Mar Heights rebuild gets $2.1M costNEWS hike. A7
.com Food & Wine Kyle Harrop,
Horus Aged RANCHO Ales. B9 SFNEWS
.com A RESIDENTS’ lawsuit alleges San Dieguito Union High School District’s new electoral map violates the California Voting Rights Act by disenfranchising a third of voters in the district and purposefully targeting two board members by gerrymandering their districts. Story on A6. The Coast News Graphic/Jordan P. Ingram
Encinitas council advances Pacific View plans By Bill Slane
ENCINITAS — In a move nearly 20 years in the making, the Encinitas City Council is moving forward with plans to convert the former site of Pacific View Academy into a public arts center. The site, located on Third Street near downtown Encinitas, has been dormant since the closing of Pacific View Elementary in 2003. The city purchased the site in 2014, but since then, plans for the property have not been openly discussed by the City Council.
THE SCHOOL closed in 2003, and the city purchased the site in 2014 with the idea to build an arts center. File photo
Roughly three years later in 2017, the Encinitas Arts, Culture and Ecology Alliance entered into an
agreement with the city to operate and maintain the site and submitted an application to the city’s planning
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department to redevelop the property. However, when the agreement with the city expired, the application never returned to the city’s planning commission and since then the site has remained dormant. According to the city, the original application from the Encinitas Arts, Culture and Ecology Alliance is also still valid despite being last seen by the city’s Planning Commission in 2019. Councilmember Joy Lyndes says the site is an important part of the community and is eager to get
the site back online for the city. “The Pacific View property itself is part of the character of our community,” Lyndes said. “And it’s been neglected, unfortunately, but it can come back. I do a lot of work with historic preservation and there are some good bones there.” Following the original partnership with the Encinitas Arts, Culture and Ecology Alliance, the council was keen on transforming the site into a space for the arts. “Really focusing on TURN TO PACIFIC VIEW ON A8