PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ENCINITAS, CA 92024 PERMIT NO. 94
THE COAST NEWS
MAKING WAVES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
VOL. 26, NO. 28
JULY 20, 2012
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Council refocuses on plan
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By Wehtahnah Tucker
the city manager in 2006. His current contract, which began Dec. 2, 2011, is for a two-year term with an optional one-year extension. In it his pension is based on a 2 percent at age 60 formula using the average of his highest three-year salary. Under his previous employment he was entitled to earn 2.5 percent at 55 based on his highest one-year salary. Ott also agreed to pay the entire cost of his portion of the CalPERS retirement
ENCINITAS — The City Council received a staff report on the progress of the general plan update but asked for significant changes to be made to updating the various elements of the city’s blueprint. Specifically, the council agreed that the land use and housing elements should be refocused using different methodologies to determine resident input. During a special session on March 7, the City Council overwhelmingly agreed to scrap a major portion of the draft general plan and the consultant who helped create it. The housing element is a crucial element of the document that will shape the city’s landscape — both figuratively and literally — by dictating where and how new housing will be built. The state mandated portion of the plan requires additional housing to meet projected population increases. “We’ve never had a certified element by the state,” said Planning Department Director Patrick Murphy. The 1989 housing element was self-certified, as was allowed by the law at the time. However, the state’s housing and community development agency must now certify the new plan. “I know people think the housing element is the most important element and it’s not,” Murphy told the council. He termed the goals and policies of the element as “vanilla.” “It’s the most regulated element.” But the portion of the plan that calls for additional housing and potential zone changes has galvanized the community. Mike Andreen of the New Encinitas Network, a group comprised of 22 commercial property owners in the El Camino Real corridor,
TURN TO MANAGER ON A16
TURN TO PLAN ON A16
GOOD EYE
Encinitas photographer Joanna Herr Hanks is where she wants to be as a professional B4 photographer.
INSIDE TWO SECTIONS, 48 PAGES
Arts & Entertainment . . A8 Camp Pendleton News . . B11 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . B20 Comics & Puzzles . . . . . B22 Legal Notices . . . . . . . . A17 Lick the Plate . . . . . . . . A14 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . A22 Odd Files . . . . . . . . . . . . B3 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Small Talk . . . . . . . . . . . B1 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . A15 Taste of Wine . . . . . . . A13 Who’s News? . . . . . . . . . B5
MATCH ON THE MIDWAY
Rising American tennis talents Christina McHale (pictured) and Sloane Stephens call the ball for an exhibition match on the deck of the USS Midway Monday to help kick off the Mercury Insurance Open, which began on July 16 and ends July 22 at the La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad.The two players hit soft volleys on a smaller than regulation-size, modular tile tennis court. Photo by Tony Cagala
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City manager told he can’t reduce his pay By Bianca Kaplanek
SOLANA BEACH — It’s not often a person willingly takes a pay cut and is then told it’s not allowed, but that’s essentially what’s happening in Solana Beach. City Manager David Ott retired in 2010 and then worked as an interim employee before being hired back full time less than a year later. He agreed to return to the position under the terms of a two-tier pension program, adopted unanimously a few months before he retired in 2010, that affects newly
helped craft the tiered system hired employees. But Ott was informed by — City Attorney Johanna officials from the California Canlas said Ott, as part of his re-employment, “volunteered to be the first one to be under the new retirement system.” “Unfortunately, CalPERS did not see it that way,” she said. Amy Norris “Despite the contracCalPERS spokesperson tual agreement between the city and Public Employees Mr. Ott, CalPERS has resisted Retirement System, or our efforts in fulfilling pension CalPERS, that he couldn’t do reform.” Ott joined the city in that. Calling him a “trailblaz- 2003 as fire chief and director er” for pension reform — he of public safety and became
We have to administer retirement benefits according to the law.”
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