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VOLUME 27 NUMBER 31
Proposed retirement community assessed CV planners submitting first comment letter to city BY KAREN BILLING Staff Writer The Carmel Valley Community Planning Board is submitting its initial comment letter to the city, detailing its issues with the proposed Rancho Del Mar Continuing Care Retirement Community. Rancho Del Mar is planned for the dirt lot adjacent to the San Diego Polo Fields on El Camino Real. The board’s initial concerns for the senior community include compatibility with the surrounding area, density, traffic, drainage and preservation of view corridors. The plan for the 23.88-gross-acre site includes 50 skilled nursing units and 174 care casitas with 18 acres of open space courtyards. Across the street on El Camino Real will be a 29,147-square-foot wellness center for residents to utilize without traveling farther out to places like area hospitals. Rancho Del Mar’s plans will depend largely on how the Via de la Valle and El See RETIREMENT, Page 6
Aug. 4, 2011
Coast-Canyons council map draws praise BY KAREN BILLING Contributor Another San Diego City redistricting hearing was held Aug. 1 at the UTC Forum Hall. Attendees voiced appreciation over the fact that the ideas of the favored Coast and Canyons map have been ab-
sorbed into the preliminary San Diego City redistricting map. La Jolla resident Joe LaCava, the architect of Coast and Canyons, thanked the commission for finding the plan viable. “You listened to the arguments and our proposal
and vetted it against what the city charter required and saw that is the right thing to do for this corner of the city, not just because the residents wanted it,” LaCava said. “Coast and Canyons keeps La Jolla whole and makes it whole for the first time in 10
Summer Movies in the Park
years.” In addition to bringing a piece of La Jolla back from District 2, the map also keeps the UC San Diego and University City communities intact and keeps communities of interest together such as Carmel Valley, Del Mar
See MAP, Page 14
Kindergarten space tight at Ocean Air Lottery system left 39 students displaced
Isabella, Hannah, Shannon and Julia get comfortable for a presentation of the film ‘Despicable Me’ during Summer Movies in the Park at the Ocean Air Community Park on July 29. See page B10 for more. PHOTO: JON CLARK
Mesa, Torrey Hills and Torrey Pines. “This plan has kept community planning areas whole, school districts whole and kept the most important coastal communities that affect all of us
BY KAREN BILLING Staff Writer The Olesky family moved to Carmel Valley to be a part of the Del Mar Union School District (DMUSD) and picked their home for its proximity to Ocean Air School, just 500 feet away. They loved the idea of walking their child to school. Now they are faced with the “nightmare” scenario that there is no room for their kindergartner at their neighborhood school.
At the July 27 DMUSD board meeting, parent Harry Dennis described the same nightmare—his wife in tears because their daughter couldn’t go to school with her friends. Of the five kindergarten girls on their street, half are headed for Sage Canyon instead. Said Boumsellek, who lives 100 yards from Ocean Air, echoed Dennis’ concerns: “I have to explain why all her friends are going to the same school and she can’t get in,” Boumsellek said. Ocean Air currently has 123 kindergartners, decided See SPACE, Page 6
Another new police captain for Northwestern Division The Carmel Valley Northwestern Division yet again has a new captain. Captain Lori Luhnow is taking over for Captain Albert Guaderrama, who was only in Carmel Valley for seven months after taking
over for Captain Miguel Rosario. The new captain was introduced at the July 28 Carmel Valley Community Planning board meeting, prompting David Bartick to ask why there’s been such a
high turnover rate. Luhnow said it’s a hard question to answer, but mainly the turnovers are related to budget issues and department consolidations. “I’m feeling it from the community and the offi-
cers that they are tiring from the turnovers,” said Luhnow, noting she hopes to be in Carmel Valley for a long time. Luhnow was one of the first female motor officers in the city in 1993 and
has worked in nearly every department, spending the most time recently at San Diego’s Family Justice Center, which deals with victims of domestic violence. See POLICE, Page 6