PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ENCINITAS, CA 92024 PERMIT NO. 94
THE COAST NEWS
.com MAKING WAVES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
VOL. 31, N0. 46
Feds, city wrangle over shore .study com SAN MARCOS -NEWS
Oceanside considers sales tax
By Promise Yee
OCEANSIDE — Oceanside is working to ensure a shoreline study to protect city beaches is completed. A study was launched in 2016 to estimate the impacts of erosion to Oceanside’s shoreline after the construction of Camp Pendleton Harbor in 1942, and to explore solutions to mitigate erosion of city beaches. The three-year study is overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers. It was promised to the city as a mitigation measure at no cost. Things changed in October when the city was informed by the Corps that the study will be stalled due to a lack of federal funding. The Corps presented two options to move the study forward. One discussed option is for the Corp to fully fund the study, but limit it to looking at mitigations to pre-construction conditions of Camp Pendleton Harbor. “With this option, it will be more difficult to secure future funding, and there are no guarantees that our study will be a priority for
By Promise Yee
OCEANSIDE — Oceanside is considering adding a half-cent city sales tax to increase its revenues and meet rising city service costs including paying for crime prevention, 911 responses and road pothole repairs. Oceanside currently has a 7.75 percent sales tax. A half-cent increase would generate $11.2 million in annual revenues. The proposed tax increase comes after the city has made deep cuts to reduce its budget. In past years 100 employees were laid off and not rehired and department budgets were severely trimmed. Going forward the city is looking for ways to increase its revenues. Results of a city voter survey of a half-cent sales tax increase being put on the November 2018 ballot were shared by True North Research staff at the Nov. 15 City Council meeting, with positive findings. A phone survey of 1,334 city voters was conducted in English and Spanish from Sept. 25 to Oct 3. Voters expressed 80 percent satisfaction with city efforts to provide services. A solid 62 percent of voters surveyed said they would support a sales tax increase being placed on the upcoming ballot. Voters said they are strongly in favor of more funds for public safety and public works. Council members said they want to ensure there TURN TO SALES TAX ON A11
NOV. 24, 2017
WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE STREET
Kiyan Dabestani, 4, of Carlsbad, picks out the perfect toy car from Burning Rubber Toy Co. at the Encinitas Holiday Street Fair on Nov. 19. MORE PHOTOS ON PAGE B11. Photo by Promise Yee
the Corps,” Kiel Koger, city public works director, said. The second option, and the one preferredTHE by the Corps, is for the city to VISTA share 50 percent or more of the study costsNEWS and have the study analyze several ways to protect the shoreline. “This option would increase the chances of an actual construction project being created in the future,” Koger said. “They also indicated that if there were a cost share, that the project would likely be a ‘higher priority’ for the RANCHO Corps.” The SFNEWS original study was set to look at potential increases to structure damage along the city shoreline caused by erosion and mitigation measures to reduce damage. It was also planned to explore practices to restore sand from coastal rivers and streams and replenish city beaches. Depending on the option selected all or part of the original study will be completed. The city asked for infor-
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TURN TO SHORELINE ON A6
Conservancy adds to land holdings near San Elijo Lagoon From staff reports
ENCINITAS — The San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy has bought 77 acres of scrubby canyon that adjoins residential neighborhoods near Cardiff and the nearly 1,000-acre San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve. The property is crossed by hillside trails that connect Lake Drive to existing habitat at the western
Strawberry Fields. Its purchase was made possible by a gift from Solana Beach resident Ann Dunne, a longtime conservancy sponsor. “I stared at that jewel of nature, still wild, for hours from the top of Annie’s Canyon Trail at San Elijo Lagoon. It belongs in safe hands, and now it is,” Dunne said in a written statement announcing the acquisition.
The purchase is the largest expansion in nearly 30 years of protected land near the lagoon, said Doug Gibson, the conservancy’s executive director and principal scientist. The land is classified as rare “coastal sage scrub” and “southern coastal bluff scrub” habitat home to federally endangered animals and plants including the
San Diego pocket mouse, the California gnatcatcher and Del Mar manzanita, Gibson said. A survey commissioned by the conservancy also identified other special-status plants that include California adolphia, wart-stemmed ceanothus, Orcutt’s pincushion, Del Mar Mesa sand aster, cliff spurge, San Diego barrel cactus, beach golden aster,
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sea dahlia and Nuttall’s scrub oak. The conservancy manages the San Elijo Ecological Reserve with San Diego County Parks & Recreation Department and the California Department of Fish & Wildlife. In addition, it owns 143 acres within and adjacent to the reserve and conservation easements on more than 70 acres.
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21 Nov 2017