Planning Commission gives nod to golf course

| Wednesday, January 22, 2003 10:00 PM PST ∞

PAT STOREY
Staff Writer

CARLSBAD ---- Though all expressed "grave reservations" about stricter habitat preservation standards demanded by the California Coastal Commission, Planning Commissioners Wednesday forwarded the city's habitat management plan and municipal golf course to the City Council's plate for consideration next month.

Commissioners voted 5-1, with Commissioner Melissa White opposed, to approve changes to both the environmental impact report for the city's proposed municipal golf course, and addendums to its local coastal program.

The meeting was attended by about 50 members of the public, several of whom objected to Coastal Commission tactics.

"I don't think anyone in this room likes what's going on here today," said Matt Adams, director of government affairs for the Building Industry Association of San Diego County. "(The Coastal Commission) was encouraged to come in as a partner in this process from the beginning. ... Their actions strike at the heart of what we are trying to accomplish here."

The golf course and the habitat management plan were nearly through the approval process several years ago when the Coastal Commission challenged the plan, saying it would destroy sensitive habitat and wetlands within the coastal zone. As the lead agency responsible for carrying out the Coastal Act passed in 1976, the commission said any plan for land within the coastal zone would require them to approve a coastal plan amendment. Since then, city and Coastal Commission staffs have been working out details that apply stricter preservation standards.

Though he supported the changes, they left a "terrible taste in my mouth," Commissioner Bill Dominguez said, adding that he believed the Coastal Commission was forcing the city to surrender local control.

"But the City Council must make the final decision on this," he said.

City staff at the meeting presented plans for the golf course, which has been redesigned to have less environmental impact on sensitive habitat on steep slopes and wetlands. The course remains essentially the same, with two holes moved and a planned golf-related industrial site eliminated.

The 18-hole championship-length course would include a clubhouse with a restaurant, driving range and golf-training facility on 350 acres of city-owned land north of Palomar Airport Road at College Boulevard. The course is a key element of the city's habitat management plan which will set aside nearly 7,000 acres of undeveloped land remaining in Carlsbad.

Plans for building the golf course have been in the works since the mid-1980s. It was originally planned around Lake Calaveras but was switched to the current site when the city purchased the property in 1995.

The revised habitat management plan and the redesigned golf course will go before City Council Feb. 4. At that time, council members will get a look at new cost estimates to build the course, as well as financing options. Figures presented to the council three years ago projected the cost to be around $26 million.

Contact staff writer Pat Storey at (760) 901-4068 or pstorey@nctimes.com.

1/23/03

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