Volume XV, Issue 34
www.solanabeachsun.com
Aug. 18, 2011 Published Weekly
Affordable housing project meets resistance Residents say ‘Pearl’ not a good fit for South Sierra
■ CCA student volunteers in Guatemala. Page 9.
BY CLAIRE HARLIN STAFF WRITER Nearly 100 community members packed the Solana Beach City Council chambers on Aug. 15 for what ended up being a heated and, at times, hostile public informational workshop regarding a controversial proposed mixed-use affordable housing project on the 500
block of South Sierra Avenue. The three-story project, called “The Pearl,” would include 54 parking spaces, 10 apartments and 1,300 feet of
commercial space, which developers hope to fill with a high-end neighborhood market or “boutique deli.”
SEE HOUSING, PAGE 6
The proposed development on the 500 block of South Sierra Avenue would include 54 parking spaces, 10 apartments and 1,300 feet of commercial space. RENDERING COURTESY OF FOUNDATION FOR FORM ARCHITECTURE & DEVELOPMENT
‘Flowers and Foliage’ art show ■ Travel writer always on lookout for adventure. Page B1
How did 9/11 affect you? Most of our readers can vividly recall where they were on Sept. 11, 2001. As the decade anniversary of that worldchanging event approaches, we are asking “How did 9/11 impact your life?” We invite you to submit an essay of not more than 300 words for possible publication in this newspaper and online. Also, if you are holding an event in memory of the 10th anniversary, we would like to hear about it. Submissions can be sent to: editor@rsfreview.com. Please include a color photo of yourself, sent as a jpeg attachment. The deadline to submit is Aug. 26 and Sept. 1.
Don Pallia, Pat Boyd and Emily Hilgendorf attend the reception for the annual Solana Beach Library Summer Art Show, titled ‘Flowers and Foliage,’ on Aug. 10 at the library. See page B13 for more. PHOTO: JON CLARK
Thousands of local students lack proof of whooping cough booster BY MARSHA SUTTON Senior Education Writer As students in the San Dieguito Union High School District prepare to return to school on Aug. 30, a new requirement for admittance has only been met by half the district’s students. Assembly Bill 354, signed into law September 2010, requires all incoming seventh- to 12th-grade students to show proof of having received a whooping cough booster shot (also called Tdap) by the start
of the 2011-2012 school year. Acceptable proof is a copy of immunization records or a note from the student’s doctor. Even though this news has been widely disseminated, only about 5,800 of the district’s approximately 12,000 students have submitted proof to date, said Rick Schmitt, SDUHSD’s associate superintendent of educational services. Although a message from
SEE BOOSTER, PAGE 15
SB alters fee structure for toddler, preschool programs BY MARSHA SUTTON Senior Education Writer The Solana Beach School District (SBSD) raised fees for its Child Development Center at its Aug. 11 board meeting, for its toddler and preschool programs. Unchanged is the cost of programs for elementary school-age children, which includes before-school, after-school, minimum-day, holiday and summer care. To remain self-supporting, the district must increase CDC fees to counter rising costs, according to the board report, which estimated that the new fees will generate between $101,000 and $194,000 annually in additional income. SBSD superintendent Leslie
Fausset said the old system was cumbersome because each family’s bills were calculated individually based on hourly and daily rates and each child’s irregular drop-in hours. “We need to know resources for staffing, and too much flexibility becomes a problem,” Fausset said. “We needed to wipe the slate clean and find a new system that’s simpler.” The new system, she said, standardizes costs and streamlines accounting procedures by changing from a daily to a monthly fee structure, which was determined after comparing fees charged by other competitive preschools, including
SEE FEE, PAGE 15
DM: Ramp could relieve fair traffic, but timing critical BY CLAIRE HARLIN Staff Writer The Del Mar City Council could make plans within the next six months for a direct-access ramp from Interstate-5 to the fairgrounds, dependent on securing funding for a traffic and environmental analysis. Such a project would coincide with the already planned widening
of I-5 to eight general purpose lanes, plus four managed lanes to accommodate the projected increase in traffic in the North Coast Corridor. “The time crunch is caused by the planning window for the I-5 expansion, which is about six months long,” said Del Mar Deputy Mayor
SEE RAMP, PAGE 6