PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ENCINITAS, CA 92024 PERMIT NO. 94
THE COAST NEWS
VOL. 27, NO. 14
.com
MAKING WAVES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
APRIL 5, 2013
Not guilty plea entered in filmmaker’s death By Jared Whitlock
ENCINITAS — Michael Vilkin, 61, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to the murder charge of John Upton, a 56year-old filmmaker known for exposing the horrors found in Romanian orphanages. Vilkin shot Upton twice with a revolver March 28 near their homes on the 2900 block of Lone Jack Road. Prosecutors said the evidence so far doesn’t support the defendant’s claim of selfdefense. Vilkin has a vacant lot and easement next to the home where Upton was living at, according to prosecutor David Uyar. On the morning of March 28, Vilkin hired two workers to clear the brush from the easement. Moments before the shooting, Upton saw the workers and offered to move his car out of the way. Upton saw Vilkin on the hill above and began walking toward him. When Upton got within 10 feet, Vilkin fired two shots at Upton, hitting him in the abdomen and head, Uyar said in court. “There doesn’t seem to
Mayor Matt Hall (right) answers questions from local television media after the City Council declared its approval of the Quarry Creek project with 656 homes at the April 2 meeting. Photo by Rachel Stine
656 units approved for Quarry Creek By Rachel Stine
Michael Vilkin is ushered into an arraignment hearing. He stands accused of murdering John Upton in an altercation near their Encinitas residences. Photo courtesy of Don Boomer, U-T San Diego
be an active threat the victim was making at the time,” Uyar said after the arraignment. Previously, the two men were in a dispute over brush
and tree trimmings, according interview with 10News,Vilkin to Uyar. He added that there claimed that the shooting was hadn’t been any “violent made in self-defense. “I did not go to him,” altercations” between the two men in the past. TURN TO VILKIN ON A25 Last week, during an
Food truck moratorium lifted in Del Mar By Bianca Kaplanek
DEL MAR — Food trucks will soon be allowed to roll back into Del Mar. Council members approved ordinances at the April 1 meeting establishing rules for the mobile eateries that had some residents and business owners all fired up when they first appeared in town this past October. The new law, which will take effect in about a month, provides regulatory standards for most mobile vending businesses, but especially food Residents ponder their food truck options during Wednesday night gatherings of the mobile businesses in TURN TO FOOD TRUCKS ON A25
MEET THE MONARCHS Even though the warmer weather might be delaying the arrival of Monarch butterflies, the Monarch Butterfly Program in Encinitas is readying to re-open. B5
October. City Council approved food truck regulations at the April 1 meeting. Once the new law takes effect, a moratorium will be lifted and the mobile eateries can return to the city. Photo by Bianca Kaplanek
Two Sections, 56 pages Arts & Entertainment . A16 Food & Wine . . . . . . . . A12 Legals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A19 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B7
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CARLSBAD — With their concerns about traffic, emergency services and environmental impacts assuaged by staff testimonies, City Council voted to approve the Quarry Creek housing development at its full 656 proposed homes after years of review and a multitude of public comments. “Somebody asked me today, ‘Why is this (Quarry Creek decision) so difficult? You are either pro-environment or pro-development.’ Couldn’t be any wronger. I’m pro-development and proenvironment,” said Councilmember Keith Blackburn at the April 2 meeting. The Quarry Creek housing development project proposes constructing residential units on a 156-acre site south of state Route 78 and west of College Boulevard along the border between Carlsbad and Oceanside. Council members cited the need to meet state housing requirements and to make the project financially feasible as reasoning for supporting the 656-unit proposal from the Quarry Creek developer, Corky McMillin Companies. “We have to place those (affordable housing) units somewhere. Where would you like to place them?” said Mayor Matt Hall, addressing the project’s opponents. “This site is a logical place to place the units to the ability that the property can hold them. So I would push for the higher end (of the number of
housing units.)” The Quarry Creek development will enable the city to meet its impending state housing requirements by building affordable residential units at high and medium-high densities. Without the project, the city would be unable to meet its requirements by the end of the housing cycle April 30. If Carlsbad didn’t meet its state housing requirements, the city would be penalized by the state and receive greater housing requirements for the next housing cycle, according to Carlsbad’s Housing and Neighborhood Services Director Debbie Fountain. McMillin insisted that Quarry Creek depended on constructing 656 units not only to provide units for the city’s housing requirements, but also to be financially feasible. In statements presented to City Council at a meeting in March, McMillin asserted that the cost of the Quarry Creek project would remain between about $50 million and $40 million regardless of the number of homes built. This is due to the required improvements the developer would have to construct, including road construction to mitigate traffic, constructing a bridge across Buena Vista Creek and moving utilities along Haymar Drive underground. Yet unlike the cost of the project, the revenue Quarry Creek would generate would be greatly affected TURN TO QUARRY CREEK ON A27