Two key Ponto property owners say they'll pay their share

By: PHILIP K. IRELAND - Staff Writer | Wednesday, July 27, 2005 10:15 PM PDT ∞

CARLSBAD ---- Two of four major property owners planning hotels, town homes, restaurants and shops in Carlsbad's Ponto area gave qualified support this week to the city's request for money to pay for an environmental study.

"We're going to support (sharing the costs of an environmental impact report) providing the contract makes sense," said Dale Schreiber, who plans a 110-room hotel with commercial space and below-ground parking on 6 acres at the city's southern border. Schreiber said he wants an equitable distribution of the costs over all the properties.

Schreiber is one of 12 property owners involved in a plan to develop a skinny stretch of 50 acres wedged between Carlsbad Boulevard and the railroad tracks south of Poinsettia Lane.

Four owners ---- Schreiber, K. Hovnanian Homes, Wavecrest Resorts and Carlsbad Coastal Resort ---- have 17 of the 25 parcels that make up the 50 acres. The balance of acreage is split between eight owners of small plots.

"Most definitely we will contribute," said Bob Cummings of K. Hovnanian Homes. "We don't know to what extent thus far, but we think it's a good call" to do the environmental report.

The company plans a resort of town homes and multi-use buildings with residences over retail stores, Cummings said. K. Hovnanian Homes owns about 20 acres in the Ponto area at Carlsbad's southern border.

Representatives of Wavecrest Resorts and Carlsbad Coastal Resort did not return requests for comment.

City planners have not decided how to divide the costs, estimated at between $150,000 and $200,000, Mayor Bud Lewis said Tuesday. The report will take 18 months to two years to complete. The city, as lead agency, will pay a share of the expense.

Bowing to citizen requests that the city complete a full environmental study, the City Council authorized the study July 23 with one condition: If the property owners share the cost, the city will proceed.

"As long as (their contribution) is reasonable, I would support it," Lewis said. "More than half I would support, less than half I would not. Those properties are valued at millions. I would assume they would pop up and help out."

Council members "strongly encouraged" the property owners to pony up their fair share of the study's costs.

The Ponto plan, created over the last two years at a cost of nearly $200,000, defines acceptable uses, structures and appearances for development of the land. In it city planners call for a "mixed-use, active pedestrian and a bicycle-oriented area with a strong sense of place, village atmosphere and unique character of design."

The plan proposes three hotels, pedestrian plazas, parking structures, time-share units, a restaurant, meeting rooms, retail shops, town houses, and a "live-work neighborhood" where people could live above the businesses they own.

City planners said they embarked on the plan in 2003 because they saw the need to organize and control development of the properties. Ninety-eight percent of the land slated for development is privately owned and zoned for commercial use. Rather than allow each property to be developed "piecemeal," the city sought a common look and feel through the plan.

Last month, as part of the approval process for the Ponto plan, city planners brought a less-detailed environmental report before the board. However, a three-hour stream of speakers ---- homeowners, surfers, environmentalists, and citizens ---- convinced the City Council to slow down and do the full environmental study.

Contact staff writer Philip K. Ireland at (760) 901-4043 or at pireland@nctimes.com.