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THE RANCHO SANTA FE NEWS
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VOL. 9, NO. 11
JUNE 14, 2013
Officials fight back on mosquito problem By Jared Whitlock
CARMEL VALLEY — From the cockpit of a Bull 206 helicopter hovering above the Penasquitos Lagoon, veins of blue water contrasted with the green wetland below. There wasn’t much green in sight a month ago. Most of the wetland was completely submerged in standing water, leaving the area prime for mosquito breeding. It even prompted concerns over the spread of West Nile Virus. “There’s less water now and that’s good news,” said helicopter pilot Jason Colquhoun over the roar of the engine. “The view from up here says a lot.” Colquhoun, who works with the San Diego County Vector Control Program, dropped organic larvicide while cruising over the area. Normally, he treats 20 acres every 28 days in the spring and summer months. But given the proliferation of mosquitoes over the past two months, 70 acres of the lagoon received larvicide spraying. Amid residents’ concerns,the greater- An aerial view of the Penasquitos Lagoon shows arteries of standing water near Torrey Pines than-normal aerial application is half of State Beach. Due to the freshwater, the area has seen a jump in mosquitoes in the past two TURN TO MOSQUITOES ON A15
months. To address the issue, officials will finish dredging the opening of the lagoon in a week and they’ve stepped up larvicide applications. Photo by Jared Whitlock
Council finally gets TBID financials By Bianca Kaplanek
DEL MAR — Council members finally received a progress report with financial details on the Tourism Business Improvement District formed nearly three years ago to increase occupancy in the city’s six hotels. The district is required to provide City Council with an annual update. A presentation was given March 4 by the owner of a company hired to help with the marketing efforts but council members were frustrated by the lack of financial information. Those details were provided June 3 by John Lambeth of Civitas Advisors, who helped develop the Del Mar program, and Mike Slosser, general manager of L’Auberge Del Mar and chairman of Visit Del Mar, the nonprofit organization created by the district to manage the assessments. Slosser was sick in March and unable to attend that meeting to give a presentation. The district is funded by a 1 percent fee paid by hotel guests since October 2010. Nearly $375,000 has been collected so far but less than half has been spent, Lambeth said. After repaying the startup costs, about $205,000 was rolled over into this year’s budget. Most of that will be spent in the next six months,
THE BIG READ If a cook needs a restaurant — a writer needs a bookstore. So says Sean Christopher, a budding author, who began his own unique bookstore where passersby can take any book they find. B1
2012 TBID Budget Projected and Actual Service Tourism Promotion/Special Events Commercial Zone Improvements DMVA Downtown Program Administration City Fee Total
Percent 74 10 10 5 1 100
Budget $119,394.56 $16,134.40 $16,134.40 $8,067.20 $1,613.44 $161,344.00
Actual $118,160 $15,968 $15,968 $7,984 $1,597 $159,677
2013 TBID Budget Service Tourism Promotion/Special Events Commercial Zone Improvements DMVA Downtown Program Administration City Fee Total Slosser said. Nearly $30,000 will go toward downtown improvements such as pathway lighting between Hotel Indigo and downtown, holiday lighting and entry signs into the city. The remaining $175,000 is slated for marketing. The majority of the money collected — 74 percent — is budgeted for a promotional campaign. Another 10 percent each goes to commercial zone improvements and the Del Mar Village Association downtown program. Only 5 percent is allocated for administrative costs and the city receives 1 percent to
Two Sections, 32 pages Arts & Entertainment . . A6 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . B13 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B12 Food & Wine . . . . . . . . A10 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B5
Percentage of budget 74 10 10 5 1 100
cover any costs incurred for processing the money, which is collected with the transient occupancy tax. The attached charts show last year’s proposed and actual budget as well as the projected budget for 2013. By comparison, the Carlsbad and Carlsbad Golf district budgets total more than $1 million and Coronado and Oceanside have budgets of $517,000 and $472,000, respectively. Del Mar’s is enough to make a difference but it’s on the small side, Lambeth said. Slosser also noted collections were impacted because
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Dollar Amount $125,111.63 $16,906.98 $16,906.98 $8,453.49 $1,690.70 $169,069.76 some of the hotels have undergone renovations since the district was formed. The assessment applies to hotel stays 30 days or shorter. Government days are not assessed. The five owners of the six hotels — L’Auberge, Hotel Indigo, Del Mar Motel on the Beach, Del Mar Inn/Clarion, Les Artistes Inn and Secret Garden Inn — make up Visit Del Mar’s governing board. A DMVA representative was also included as a nonvoting member, but new rules no longer allow nonprofit organizations to have nonvoting board members so the DMVA representative is now an advisory member. The board will be expanding to include restaurants and other businesses.The district is also developing comprehensive partnerships with the Del Mar Fairgrounds and racetrack, Lambeth said. Slosser said an expanded board is a “great idea.” “We want it to be inclusive,” he said. “We believe it TURN TO FINANCIALS ON A14
The Rancho Santa Fe Fire Department works to put out a blaze. The department is backing out of a fire services personnel contract signed in 2010 by Rancho Santa Fe and coast cities. The department says the agreement wasn’t streamlining operations for its fire staff. File photo
RSFFD pulling out of services contract By Jared Whitlock
RANCHO SANTE FE — Encinitas, Solana Beach and Del Mar, along with Rancho Santa Fe, contracted to share fire personnel services in 2009. Beginning July 1, Rancho Santa Fe will be struck from the contract. The coast cities and Rancho Santa Fe inked the agreement to unify the departments, get rid of duplications and save money. The coast cities are happy with the arrangement and will continue with the contract, according to officials. But Rancho Santa Fe determined its needs don’t align with those of the coast cities. Under the current agreement, the coast cities share three deputy chiefs, two from Encinitas and one from Solana Beach, with Rancho Santa Fe. In exchange, Rancho Santa Fe provides access to three shift battalion chiefs and one battalion chief training officer with the coast cities. The agreement aimed to streamline personnel operations, but that didn’t necessarily happen in the Ranch, said Rancho Santa Fe Fire District Chief Tony Michel. “We still weren’t on the same page in some ways,” Michel said. He added that there are no hard feelings between the fire districts; they’ll continue to help each other with emergency services and train together. Additionally, the districts will continue to search for cooperative grants and work together on vehicle maintenance programs. “Our districts have a long history of working together,” Michel said. The other sticking point between Rancho
Santa Fe and the coast cities: whether one or two chiefs should head the areas. Presently, the coast cities and Rancho Santa Fe have two fire chiefs, one in Rancho Santa Fe and one in Encinitas. The coast cities advocated moving to a onechief model to promote further cooperation among the coast cities and Rancho Santa Fe. From the coast cities’ perspective, the change had the added benefit of saving money. “We had people answering to two different bosses,” Encinitas Fire Chief Scott Henry said. “We saw an organizational efficiency,” he added. Henry said that the coast cities have achieved annual cost savings from the agreement. But he recognized Rancho Santa Fe is unique, and said he doesn’t fault the department for going its own way. Michel said that having one chief in charge of all the areas could isolate the Ranch — a community with sprawling homes and plenty of landscaping liable to catch fire. Consequently, he added that having the best fire services in the Ranch means “knowing this area and consistently being here.” Both fire chiefs said nixing the agreement won’t affect fire response times. Henry said canceling the contract will allow the fire department to reorganize, saving an estimated $29,000 in Encinitas, $17,000 in Solana Beach and $11,000 in Del Mar. That’s because starting in July, the coast cities plan to reassign two deputy chiefs TURN TO FIRE SERVICES ON A14