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ENCINITAS: Planning Commission ponders plan update
By RUTH MARVIN WEBSTER - Staff Writer | ∞
ENCINITAS ---- As Encinitas begins the long and ambitious endeavor of updating its blueprint for growth, a document known as the city's general plan, members of the Planning Commission were asked Thursday night what they would like to see in that plan.
City staffer Diane Langager told the commissioners that the process will take at least two years and probably much longer than that.
"We are very excited about the plan update," she said Thursday night. "We expect the process will be very challenging but also very fulfilling for staff and for the community."
Earlier this year, the City Council instructed the staff to initiate the update, naming it a top priority for the new year.
The first step, Langager said, was to solicit input from all of the city's commissions and committees. That input, she said, would be used to help select a consultant for the job.
Since its original adoption in 1989, the city has never undertaken a comprehensive update of its general plan. And since then, many new policy issues such as sustainable growth, climate change, stormwater cleansing and green building have come to the forefront.
Commissioner Paul Van Slyke said that he personally considered historical preservation ---- particularly of the Leucadia Highway 101 corridor ---- to be important.
"And I also think that greener building is a smart way to move," he added.
Commissioner Tom McCabe stressed how better computer-generated graphics should be incorporated into the new document.
Commissioner Gene Chapo said that it would be important for the city to look at the direction the state and the San Diego Association of Governments are going in terms of land use and planning.
"They will have more and more say about what we do locally, and we need to really pay attention to what they are thinking," he said.
Chapo also said that, in the next couple of years, the city will have to choose what tack it will take on the issue of sustainable growth.
"There are communities like Santa Cruz or Berkeley that are really cutting-edge," he said. "And in the next few years, we will have to decide if we will go that way or more to the middle."
Contact staff writer Ruth Marvin Webster at (760) 901-4074 or at rwebster@nctimes.com.
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Truth wrote on Nov 6, 2008 9:40 PM:I doesn't matter what the planning commision does. Quite wasting your time. the three stooges will disregard all your suggestions, and do what their masters (the developers) tell them to do. Jerome the sell out is in doing the developers dirty work for 4 more years.
Justice wrote on Nov 7, 2008 5:30 AM:Truth is correct. That is why the election Tuesday was so important.
This will be a completely confrontational process as the elititism that is so strong in our city and the two elitists on our council try to bring back the 'community character' commision and make it more difficult for 'outsiders' to join us here in paradise.
One big Home-Owners Association with plant and color pallates; invasive weed police, water police etc...the land of the free no more.
Santa Cruz and Berkeley? Mr. Chapo might bear closer scrutiny than the SanDag he warns about with observations like that.
John E wrote on Nov 7, 2008 7:06 AM:The Encinitas General Plan was the result of a concerted grass-roots effort to preserve our neighborhoods against the high-density upzoning and overdevelopment which had become commonplace under County rule, particularly on Supervisor Paul Eckert's watch.
As a taxpayer, I find it appalling that the city is planning to spend $500K on outside consultants to update a document which needs only minor tweaking and updating.
Cardiffian wrote on Nov 7, 2008 7:50 AM:The world is changing - especially since 1989. We have available today technologies that didn't exist back then. There are more people today then back then. Because of this, reviewing the plan is a good thing. I trust the current council to do the right thing. I also trust the community to advise the council on what is right. What - you think that Nanninga and Collier are just going away? They're not - they will also be part of the process, and they will have input. So I don't agree with Truth, Justice or John E. To me they sound like sore losers - come on, be part of the solution. Right now you're sounding like the problem.
Whats to Ponder wrote on Nov 7, 2008 9:00 AM:Whatever you do the Surfriders will sue. Give it to them to figure out and save money on lawsuits
To Gene Chapo wrote on Nov 7, 2008 10:37 AM:Berkeley cutting edge? Have you seen downtown Berkeley? It is becoming a ghost town with empty store fronts and an ever more unfriendly to business environment. The streets are dirty and bum-filled. You want that to happen here?
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