PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID ENCINITAS, CA 92024 PERMIT NO. 94
THE COAST NEWS
.com
MAKING WAVES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
VOL. 23, NO. 34
AUG. 21, 2009
Board urged to go smokefree at fair
THISWEEK COMMUNITY FOR A CAUSE Neighbors and family help the family of a young boy afflicted with cancer by raising money to help pay his A3 medical bills
By Bianca Kaplanek
DEL MAR — Nearly a dozen people thanked the 22nd District Agricultural Association board of directors at the Aug. 11 meeting for imposing smoking restrictions at this year’s San Diego County Fair, saying it made for a much more pleasant experience. Then they took it one step further and urged the board to make the venue entirely smoke-free for next year’s event. “Generally speaking, things looked a lot better,” Carmel Valley resident Tom Hetherington said. But he described signage that was used to indicate smoking was limited to restricted areas as
GOLDEN GIRLS
Local girls take the glory in the 12-and-under fastpitch softball World A6 Series in Florida.
Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . A9 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . B15 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . B18 Consumer Reports . . . A11 Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A8 Crossword Puzzle . . . . B18 Doorman Diaries . . . . . B3 Eye on the Coast . . . . . . A5 Hot Off the Block . . . . . . A9 Legal Notices . . . . . . . . A24 Odd Files . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Outside Perspective . . . . A4 Pendleton News . . . . . A17 Pet of the Week . . . . . . A19 Sea Notes . . . . . . . . . . A11 Second Opinion . . . . . . A13 Small Talk . . . . . . . . . . . B1 Taste of Wine . . . . . . . A12 Who’s News? . . . . . . . . . A8
HOW TO REACH US (760) 436-9737 CALENDARS SECTION: calendar@coastnewsgroup.com COMMUNITY NEWS: community@coastnewsgroup.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: letters@coastnewsgroup.com
Above, 3-year-old Carlsbad resident Shaun Saenz toasts his first marshmallow. The Carlsbad Recreation Department presented the Snores & S’mores overnight family campout at Stagecoach Community Park in Carlsbad on Aug. 15. This event offered all the fun of camping, with the safety and conveniences provided by a local community center. Activities included a walking photo safari, an animal scavenger hunt, games, relays, crafts and a Fun Zone. The evening features included a barbecue dinner and outdoor movie screening with s’mores-making. See Page A22 for more photos. Photo by Daniel Knighton
TURN TO SMOKE ON A18
Community market La Costa Town Center wins final approval targeted for ATM theft By Jeannie Sprague-Bentley
CARLSBAD — After some deliberation and a slight revision, City Council unanimously gave La Costa Town Square the green light Aug. 18, despite protests from community members worried that the project will have them sitting longer at red lights. The planned development will bring 284,400 square feet of shopping, with banks and two gas stations, a 55,000-square-foot multi-story office project, 64 single-family homes and a medium-density residential project to a planned residential community, which many say is already too congested. The project would consist of “high-end” commercial development, with a public plaza, much like that of Del Mar Plaza, or the Forum, said Van Lynch, senior planner with the city of Carlsbad. However, many of the res-
idents who spoke out against the projects pointed out that the “high-end” shopping areas do not have large, 98,000square-foot buildings they called “big box,” as part of the project. Most of those who spoke to council regarding the 83acre project, located off Rancho Santa Fe Road and La Costa Avenue, said a “regional” shopping center will bring too much noise and traffic congestion to their rapidly growing community, and that the roads are already gridlocked. Projections are for more than 25,000 extra cars on the road, said Bruce Ehlers, a former planning commissioner with the city of Encinitas who works in Carlsbad as vice president of engineering for Linear LCC. Ehlers proposed reducing the size of the commercial project to reduce the number of projected cars on
Beads, 75% OFF
the road. The majority of the residents who spoke also suggested the project be scaled back. After hearing from dozens of residents from La Costa and surrounding communities who gathered at City Hall on Aug. 11, City Council postponed its decision on the proposed development, while city staff and the developer worked to make changes to the plan. The high-density housing west of Rancho Santa Fe was scaled back to medium-density, and limitations on the size of the “big box” store was set at 100,000 square feet. The fate of the project was decided a week later, when the council unanimously approved it, by approving to amend the Master Plan and General Plan and the Environmental Impact Report, and a “statement of overriding considerations.” According to information
DEPT. STORE PRICES
Silver & Jewelry
Superstore! Voted San Diego’s #1 bead store!
Example: Dept. store price $300
our price $80
FREE pearls & beading class Saturdays 12-4pm with this ad
WE MANUFACTURE AND SELL TO DEPT. STORES
released by the city, “Before a project which is determined to have significant, unmitigated environmental effects can be approved, the public agency must consider and adopt a ‘statement of overriding considerations,’ the agency must explain and justify its conclusion to approve such a project and show that the general social economic or public benefit justifies its approval.” Plans for the multifamily residential development, a low-income housing project, originally had most residents concerned. Proposed on a parcel of land just west of Rancho Santa Fe Road, it was scaled back and rezoned to mediumdensity instead of the highdensity originally proposed for the housing project. Councilwoman Ann Kulchin said it wasn’t fair to
By Randy Kalp
RANCHO SANTA FE — A local market received an unscheduled pre-dawn facelift during a failed burglary attempt to steal its ATM machine, the store manager said Aug. 19. Other than some cosmetic damage to the now nonoperational ATM, there is no evidence of the destruction caused by a Chevy Colorado pickup truck that was backed through the front windows of Stumps Village Market in Rancho Santa Fe during the early morning hours of Aug. 17. After busting through the 120-square-foot glass wall, the thieves attached a moving strap to the ATM in an
TURN TO CENTER ON A20
TURN TO MARKET ON A18
HUGE SELECTION JEWELRY, BEADS, SILVER AND MORE Our stock is constantly being updated with the newest beads.
South Sun Products 146 N. El Camino Real, Encinitas 1 blk N. of Enc. Blvd. on El Camino Real
760.753.1900
I-5
Via Molena
X Encinitas Blvd.
El Camino Real
TWO SECTIONS, 48 PAGES
SNORES AND S’MORES
via Cantebria
INSIDE