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THE COAST NEWS
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VOL. 28, N0. 18
May 2, 2014
SAN MARCOS -NEWS
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Council members unanimously approved an affordable housing complex that will be built on a city-owned parking lot in the 500 block of South Sierra Avenue. Courtesy rendering
City Council gives green light to affordable housing .com RANCHO SFNEWS
North County resident Robert Nelson makes a fashion and ecological statement at the Encinitas 101 MainStreet Street Fair on April 26, with his wardrobe adorned with cigarette butts he’s picked up from Oceanside to the Cardiff Kook statue. When he was 8 years old, his father told him it was just as bad to step over trash as it was to litter. He said picking up the cigarette butts was the best thing he could do to help the community. Photo by Tony Cagala
Agreement bolsters agriculture education By Jared Whitlock
ENCINITAS — A variety of new agriculture, sustainability and education programs are blooming along Quail Gardens Drive. And a new agreement aims to nurture their growth. Groups in the area, including the Leichtag Foundation, EUSD (Encinitas Union School District) and the San Diego Botanic Garden, recently formed an organization called the E3 Cluster. E3 recently signed an agreement spelling out that representatives will meet on a regular basis to collaborate on education projects, share resources and address common concerns, according to Jim Farley, president and CEO of the Leichtag Foundation. “The stars have aligned in a lot of ways,” said Farley. “Groups in proximity to each other — with similar missions — have ambitious plans.” Indeed. Last year, the Leichtag Foundation began revamping the 67acre property between Quail Gardens Drive And Saxony Road, where the Eckes once grew poinsettias. Since then, Leichtag has launched a variety of agricultural initiatives, and a network of nonprofits dedicated to issues like food security have moved on the property. Next to Leichtag, the Botanic Garden is looking to build a pavilion, complete with classrooms, a kitch-
From left: Tim Baird, EUSD superintendent; Jim Farley, CEO Leichtag Foundation; Susan Hight, executive director Magdalena Ecke Family YMCA; Pam Ferris, president Seacrest Village; Roger Bolus, San Dieguito Heritage Museum board member; Julian Duval, president San Diego Botanic Garden. These representatives signed an agreement to strengthen an environmental education hub that’s taking root on Quail Gardens Drive. Courtesy photo
en and an amphitheater. Another neighbor, the San Dieguito Heritage Museum, is adding exhibits, like a depiction of downtown in the 1940s. The goal: offer a wider picture of the area’s history. And across the street, EUSD’s 10acre farm — containing a community
Human trafficking
Two Sections 52 pages
San Diego County has become a “hot spot” for sex trafficking, especially of minors. A5
Rotarians at work
Encinitas Rotary Club members help give back to the community for Rotarians At Work Day. A18
Historic World War II planes still have the power to fascinate. B1
A&E..................... A12 Classifieds.......... B21 Food & Wine....... B12 Legals.................. A19 Opinion................A4 Sports.................. A27
garden and satellite campus — should debut in the next several months. “We have shared interests that can be better served by this agreement,” Farley said. “We aren’t aware of another hub like this.” An initial collaboration between TURN TO GROWTH ON A18
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By Bianca Kaplanek
SOLANA BEACH — A mixed-use affordable housing development in the works for almost three years was approved unanimously by City Council at the April 23 meeting, despite opposition from nearby residents, the threat of a lawsuit and allegations of legal manipulation and violating city codes. Many of the dozens of people who provided written and oral comments said they support affordable housing because “it’s the right thing to do.” But they opposed this particular project on a city-owned parking lot in the 500 block of South Sierra Avenue. “There’s only one place this beautiful project fits and that’s on a projector screen,” said Martin Schmidt, who has lived across the street from the proposed development for 20 years. “It’s painfully clear to everyone that lives in the neighborhood that it just doesn’t fit. “When you take this project off the screen and put it on this small parking lot, what you have is a project that is simply bursting at the seams … on a street that is bursting at the seams now,” he said. Hitzke Development Corporation has been working with the city to build a 10-unit, mixed-use complex that would satisfy a decades-old legal requirement. Although all cities must provide affordable housing, Solana Beach has been subject to lawsuits since the 1990s after City Council took action that closed a mobile home park. Affordable housing advocates threatened litigation, claiming low-income units had been eliminated. Rather than go to trial, the city entered into what
become known as the Perl settlement which, among other things, mandated the replacement of 13 affordable units. Since then three have been provided. The Hitzke proposal is a three-story complex on a 14,721-square-foot lot with three approximately 500-square-foot one-bedroom units, three two-bedroom townhomes that are 918 to 1,032 square feet, three three-bedroom units ranging from 1,002 to 1,232 square feet and a 1,383-square-foot four bedroom. They will be available to tenants with annual incomes between $33,000 and $44,000. Monthly rents will range from $740 to $1,145. The existing parking lot has 31 public spaces, all of which would be replaced. Hitzke will also provide the required 18 spaces for the residential component and another four for the commercial space, which is slated for office use. It was originally planned to be a small, high-end market but it was changed and made smaller in response to concerns about increased traffic. There will be 22 public spaces and one for the office on a street-level lot. A basement-level lot will include all 18 residential spots, as well as nine for public parking and three for the office. The estimated total development cost is $6 million, including about $1.1 million for predevelopment items such as architectural, planning and engineering studies, an analysis of water, sewer and other utilities, application fees and legal costs. The city provided a TURN TO HOUSING ON A22