Median strip landscaping maintained by the casinos? It could happen!
A meeting on Friday between “stakeholders” interested in landscaping the median strip that will bisect Valley Center Road explored several ways to get it done. One possibility is that one or more of three casinos, Pauma, Valley View or Rincon, will pay for, or even do the landscaping.
The meeting included Dr. Mandayam Rajan, project manager, Engineering Services Dept. of Public Works, and his boss, Doug Isbell, director of public works, Larry Glavinic, chairman of the planning group, Phil Geddes, chairman of the Design Guidelines Board, Joyce Johnson, general manager of VC Community Services District, resident Carolyn Pateman, and others.
The meeting was a combination of fact-finding and “where do we go from here?”
Mrs. Johnson reiterated the CSD’s concerns about liability involved in using volunteers to maintenance landscaping on a median where traffic is going by on either side at high speeds.
Dr. Rajan told The Roadrunner Monday that he is trying to get a ruling from County Counsel on the liability issue.
Glavinic has been talking to representatives of three casinos
“The casinos are excited,” he told the VC Planning Group meeting Monday night. “We are trying to make sure how it will happen.”
He said he approached them with the idea that “Would you be interested in maintaining the median and maybe getting a little signage such as ‘This section is being maintained by?’ ”
Dr. Rajan wants County Counsel to tell him whether the casinos could be used as a funding mechanism under the umbrella of the CSD as lead agency.
Rajan agrees that it’s probably not a good idea to use volunteers for the job. “It should be done by a professional management company.”
DPW is looking at some existing models of road maintenance by a community, such as Mission Road in Fallbrook, which is maintained by the Rainbow Municipal Water District and in Fallbrook.”
He added, “I’m not sure whether we can deal directly through the casino people. We are going to explore everything and come back to the CSD and have another meeting and see where we go from there.
Glavinic told The Roadrunner this week, “We need to find a lead agency that DPW can support. They want to support it. I think the parks are basically interested but there’s some legalese that needs to be worked through. . . I think the County could write a policy that could cover them without impacting their budget.”
Glavinic commented, “The flaw in the current plan is there is no money for maintenance. DPW doesn’t have money for maintenance. That’s the problem with this thing, they have capital money only. Same deal with the parks. They can buy a park but they can’t keep it going. That’s the basic flaw in the current system.
“I think there’s a real opportunity for a win, win. There’s time to do it but we can’t lose too much time.”
Mrs. Johnson commented this week: “We haven’t closed the door. But we’re waiting to hear what they have to say. A lot of questions need to be answered. The County was very easy to work with. Doug Isbell and Dr. Rajan are very easy to work with.
No decision is likely to come from the CSD board for a couple of months at least, said Mrs. Johnson.
The road widening could start to happen sometime in 2003, after right of ways are acquired from the 85 parcels along Valley Center Road from Woods Valley Road to Cole Grade Road.
By DAVID ROSS
Under pressure from the County Dept. of Land Use and the State Water Quality Control Board, Newland Communities Inc. has apparently backed off from not building a golf course right away on its 437 acre Woods Valley Ranch.
In a raucous meeting of 150 community members Monday night of the VC planning group that Chairman Larry Glavinic at one time threatened to shut down, James Delhamer, president of the California Division of Newland, and a cadre of consultants backtracked from earlier statements that a golf course would be delayed and even eliminated,
Newland’s position vis a vis the golf course has evolved over the last couple of weeks.
At the end of January Delhamer told The Roadrunner that no golf developer could be found to put in the course because it was not economically feasible.
As recently as last Thursday Delhamer told the paper that eventually a golf course would be put in. “We’d be crazy not to,” he said. But he said that would have to wait until market conditions made it possible. Meantime an olive grove, vineyard and alfalfa fields would serve in the interim.
But Monday night there were no more talks of delays.
As Delhamer conceded, the plans to put in a farm instead of a golf course, “have caused a great stir in the community, so we are going forward with the golf course development.”
The golf course would be built as part of phase one, he said. “We are implementing the plan as approved, which includes the golf course.”
Delhamer did not mention that the Department of Planning and Land Use ruled last week that the developer was required to follow the original Specific Plan Amendment, which requires a golf course as part of the first phase.
Upon questioning by an audience member, he conceded that the California Regional Water Quality Control board had sent a letter to the VC Municipal Water District asking whether the developer planned to build the golf course.
VCMWD will take over the wastewater plant once it’s built.
The Regional board’s letter linked the waste water plant with the golf course where the treated effluent will be sprayed.
The board wrote: The Report of Waste Discharge and Order No. 98-09 specifically identify the golf course as the only wastewater disposal area for the proposed project.”
In other words: no golf course, no toilet flushing.
Asked how the developer will put in a golf course when several golf course developers have declined to take on the challenge, Delhamer said, “We are a well funded and responsible development company. We have the strength to see a development through.”
That wasn’t good enough for many.
Several members of the audience, most vocally neighbor Angela Radcliffe, demanded that the developer be forced to have a performance bond to ensure that the golf course is built in a timely manner.
“Who’s doing your golf course and when are you going to get it started? We want to see that golf course now or we want to see a change,” she said.
This item was reviewed by the planning group as an informational item only, although The Roadrunner is informed that several planners had requested to vote on the item.
Chairman Larry Glavinic commented “The project has been approved but unless there is some new information I don’t know that we have to vote on it again. however it is a big project, probably the most of any development in town.”
He said if there is new information the group may put it on the agenda as a voting item.
History of Woods Valley Ranch goes back to the late 1980s when Watt Industries bought the land and participated in the last general plan amendment that was approved for VC: 437 acres as an SPA.
From 1990-92 Jack Ritchie of Watt Industries developed a specific plan and a tentative map with the County. In 1997 the SPA was amended to add additional lots and open space.
In 1998 after it was clear that there wasn’t going to be a community sewer the developer went through a water reclamation plan.
Between 1994-2002 the developer went through the process with agencies to acquire permits from Corp of Engineers, the state and federal fish and wildlife agencies and The California Regional water Quality Control Board.
Newland acquired the land on Jan. 8.
After several versions, the plan is for there to be 250 acres of open space, an 18 hole golf course, 270 residential lots with an average lot size of one half acre. The interior of the development will have even smaller lots.
.Brian Mooney, of Mooney and Associates, environmental consultants, has been with the project for many years.
He led the Newland team through discussing several issues that have concerned Woods Valley Ranch’s neighbors.
Planners quizzed the developer several times to make sure that a golf course will be developed as part of phase one.
“Now it’s going to be a golf course again, right?” asked planner Eric Laventure.
The golf course will commence right after the grading, said Mooney.
“When you sell the first house the golf course won’t be completed but by the time you sell the thirtieth house it will be,” said Mooney.
Planner Mel Schuler pressed them on the golf course again later..
“We are grading a golf course.,” said Delhamer. “Within a week or so you will see the golf course form up. We are actively looking for golf course developers. We are not going to leave the community without a golf course.”
He added, “Actually it’s our overall financial benefit to get the golf course in as quickly as possible. People will pay a premium to live along a golf course. It is in our benefit to get it in as fast as possible. But we want a financially responsible golf course developer.”
Members of the public were very skeptical of the presentation.
“Why did you start grading when you did not have a plan complete?” demanded one neighbor.
“We have not lost any time in the construction of the golf course,” Delhamer relied.
A woman said, “I’m not sure that that golf course will ever be built. If it isn’t the open spaces should be given to the public. The public is giving up a lot and changing the community feel. I don’t know how you’re going to ensure that a golf course will be built. It should be turned over for soccer fields.”
Delhamer replied, “Although we aren’t golf course developers we are a strong company and there are ways to make this attractive to golf course developers. We are going to have a golf course.”
Resident Madge May asked why they blasted so many rocks around the project. “You massacred the property. Why didn’t you leave it in open space?” she asked.
Mooney said the grading was all spelled out in the process that took 14 years. Newland bought an approved document, he said.
Rob Decker, a neighbor, complained, “You’re taking out a 275 year old oak tree that I’ve been looking at all my life.”
John Browning, another neighbor, was unhappy about the destruction of a hawk habitat.
Over the issue of trees, Mooney said they have calculated the number of trees that will be lost and many times that number will be planted in mitigation.
Another neighbor complained, “Where do the geese go?”
Rick Landavazo, chairman of the Valley Center Land Conservancy, said that a plan that old is out of date.
“Our community has changed, times have changed and even though you have your plans you should consider changing with us. You are a powerful company, you can make it happen. Instead of having a closed off gated community it would be much better for us to have a park where people could take their kids. I would like you to consider that idea.”
He also urged planting native bushes and plants.
Mooney said the open space will be planted in native plants, in the spaces between the golf course.
Landavazo insisted: “A closed gated community is not compatible with our town.”
Delhamer said they could have a park or a golf course, but not both. “There’s no room for a park of any size that would benefit the community and a golf course. It’s one or the other.”
Radcliffe quizzed the developer about a stop order on the grading that the County imposed shortly after grading began.
“We were given a stop order,” said Delhamer. But they sat down with the County and showed that they were working within the permits, and the County accepted that, he said.
Another neighbor, Bill Wagner, demanded a performance bond on the golf course.
“The project currently requires the construction of the golf course and we are going to implement the plan,” repeated Mooney.
Several audience members yelled out “Performance bond! Performance bond!”
“It’s not a requirement of the county,” said Delhamer.
“We don’t care!”
By DAVID ROSS
It’s not uncommon to see a family business. It’s a little more uncommon to see a family business devoted to art.
The Dluhos family, which recently moved to Valley Center, are fulltime artists. Each of them has a specialty. Andre, the father, is mainly an oil painter. His wife, Yary, is mainly a water colorist. Son, Peter, is a designer of glass sculptures.
Right now their passion and their specialty is glass art.
The family gathers around sketches for proposed glass sculptures, and, if all three agree, they carry out the design.
A glass sculpture is a complicated procedure, involving many hours of casting glass in molds and then attaching them together. It’s not glass blowing.
Andre and his family came to this country from Czechoslovakia shortly after the Russians invaded the country in 1968. Andre had met his wife, Yary when they were in art school. Together they started a painting and graphic arts company in what is today the Czech Republic. Russian tanks persuaded them to leave.
Traveling outside of the country was strictly regulated. But after receiving permission to take a vacation in Communist Yugoslavia, Andre was able to use his artistic skills to alter their visa so they were able to escape to Austria.
They arrived in the U.S. in 1969 and son, Peter, then aged 5, was able to watch the moon landing on television in America.
They started out in Cleveland, and not in the art business. “It’s very hard to be an artist in a foreign country,” Andre observed. He went to work at a paper company.
So he and his wife worked on their art on weekends and eventually worked it into a fulltime business.
They decided to move to Escondido, where Andre went to work as a graphic artist.
Peter reached college age and attended UCSD, where he majored in biochemistry and political science. His father discouraged him front entering the art field because it was “too tough.”
He did it anyway.
Today the family business is quite successful. The family has done several public art pieces and their works hang in galleries in Carlsbad and Escondido.
Andre paints with a modernistic style. Sometimes he likes to apply the paint with his fingers. “To me it feels like I’m feeling the paint, modeling with the paint,” he says.
Yary paints abstract water colors, although she also helps to develop the glass sculpture projects that are their main effort right now.
They recently turned their attention to glass sculpture. They wanted to do something more creative than just vases and plates, so they developed the idea of a larger than life orchid, put together out of molded strips of glass.
“It was a huge challenge to put together and to make it work,” says Peter. “I like the medium of glass. We’re putting all our time and work into glass.”
Inquiries are coming from all over about this unique work of art.
They are nowhere near the end of the development process they say.
If 10 is a finished concept, right now they are at 2 compared to what they want to eventually achieve, says Peter.
“Painting is almost easy compared to glass!”
You can visit the Dluhos website at www.apjsculpture.com or call them at 749-1680.
Ten young Valley Center women will compete on March 2, 2002 for the Miss Valley Center 2002.
This year’s pageant whose theme is “Aloha Valley Center” will be held at the Middle School Multi-Purpose Room on March 2. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the program begins at 7 p.m. sharp.
Tickets are available from each of the contestants, the Chamber of Commerce, The Valley Roadrunner, Women’s Club members or by calling Karen Greene, pageant director at 749-1863.
Pre-sale tickets, which include the program, are $8 or $10 the night of the pageant.
Contestants are Renee Bierle, a 23 year old senior at CSUSM; Lindsey Cannon, a 17 year old senior at VCHS; Jessica Grosvenor, an 18 year old senior at VCHS; Veronica Gutierrez, an 18 year old senior at VCHS; Shawna Lane, a 17 year old senior at VCHS independent study; Heather Lyons, a 19 year old freshman at Palomar College; Cynthia Pinal, a 17 year old senior at VCHS; Shalom McCullough, an 18 year old senior at VCHS; Tiffany Quackenbush, an 18 year old senior at VCHS and Stephanie Rizzo, a 17 year old at VCHS. Look for pictures and bios in The Roadrunner.
If anyone knows the whereabouts of past Miss Valley Centers, they are asked to contact the director, Karen Greene. “We would like to extend an invitation to the pageant to recognize you and see where your life has taken you. Please respond by February 25 deadline,” she said.
The Miss Valley Center Pageant is co-sponsored by the Valley Center Women’s Club and Chamber of Commerce. It is made possible with San Diego Community Enhancement Grand funds, thanks to the support of Bill Horn, county supervisor.
By DAVID ROSS
(First of a series of three interviews with candidates for Fifth District Supervisor).
* * *
The Roadrunner interviewed incumbent Fifth District Supervisor Bill Horn last week.
Supervisors Horn is running for re-election on March 5 emphasizing his accomplishments in helping to bring about the County’s current high ranking as a fiscally strong government.
Horn was invited to talk about what he considers to be the issues of the election.
“I think as far as the county goes, our big challenge is going to be the coming state budget,” Horn said.
“Obviously they are going to cut us again. That’ll be a challenge.”
He pointed to Governing Magazine, which recently rated San Diego County third best in the nation and best in the state for fiscal soundness. He then listed some of his accomplishments during his second term.
“Last year when I was board chairman we assured that we would continue to collect tobacco settlement money of $30 million /annually for the next thirty years. I think we made the wise and prudent move to sell off our future receipts for current bond payments.”
That money has been committed to areas of health, including the Healthy Family Initiative, which provides health insurance for children of working families.
He added, “Two big issues for us are North County transportation and affordable housing.”
He points to three developments of 500 new units of affordable housing recently funded to be built in Fallbrook.
On the issue of transportation: “We would like to widen I-15 to create a third new freeway north and south. That’s still on the table.
“I offered Fish and Game a regional park on the San Luis Rey river in return for permits to widen Hwy 76 to the 15, to widen the 15 and fix the interchange at 78 & I-5. The problem is the Buena Vista Lagoon. There may be some disturbances of habitat.
“I’ve offered that I would be willing to put in the river park in return for the permits from Caltrans, but only if they give us the permits. They [Fish & Game] don’t play fair. They can hold something up forever. And Caltrans needs the help.”
Horn is also proud of the fact that gang activity has decreased in North County.
Another major issue the board is dealing with is General Plan 2020.
“That is the big challenge,” Horn said. “One of my issues on GP 2020 is to make sure we are hearing from the community. I want to be sure I have Valley Center’s input and Fallbrook’s, and if I see that and I see staff has ignored it, I will do what I’ve done before and stop it [The GP 2020 process.]
He’s not trying to be “an obstructionist” on the issue, he says. “I’m concerned that the citizens are not being paid attention. Staff comes up with these grandiose plans and I see it as my job to make sure that that community input gets in there and is addressed. If those community concerns are not addressed I will dig in my heels and say no.”
He said that aides, like his land use aide Chris Brown, keep him updated on the various communities’ concerns over GP2020.
The Roadrunner asked Horn about his Jan. 19 vote for the draft of goals and policies for its integrated trails program. Horn ran in 1994 as an opponent of trails. What has changed?
“Because private property rights were respected,” Horn said. “It’s on the public rights of way. One reason my running for supervisor originally was that I was having a trail pushed down my throat. I commended staff for this draft because they left private property owners alone.”
He added, “That’s a major issue to me. Private property rights are always a major issue to me. We spend most of our time dealing with government and it is a three billion dollar government but as a watch dog for private property rights. I haven’t lost that focus. I’m thinking of starting a group, Citizens for Property Rights. I think you have to have a forum and a non-profit. I think people vote with their checks and I think we need to turn around some of this stuff. People are having to surrender too much of their property to get building permits, especially when sixty percent of the land in this county is government owned.
“I’ve heard it said of me that I don’t like open space. I do think there needs to be an advocate for our property rights.”
We asked Horn’s opinion about the issue of casinos and traffic as they relate to Valley Center.
“As you know we jumped into our report of what we thought the traffic impacts of the casinos were going to be. Those didn’t materialize. We did the reports fast and without a whole lot of backdrop. We got very little cooperation from the state.”
The County has had to rethink some of those impacts, he said.
“Obviously I think the number of casinos and the number of machines were oversold. I guess the financial backing is not coming for a couple of these. Really the panacea of casinos has kind of fizzled. I was worried about that in the beginning. I voiced those concerns.
“Traffic is an issue and traffic certainly has increased for those of us in Valley Center, even with casino traffic being off. Those roads needs to be really improved.”
Asked to comment on some issues that his opponents are bringing up, Horn said: “Mr. Barnard is the Sierra Club’s candidate. He questions all my donations and they all seem legal to me.
And opponent Patsy Fritz?: “She’s just always at it. I think she’s still mad over the sewer.”
Going back to the issue of contributions, Horn referred to “the complaint that I’ve raised too much money. But I think people vote with their checkbooks. I know the accusation is that it’s just developers but I’ve got farmers and businesses and most of my donations come from my home district.”
One issue that Horn says he doesn’t want to see become political is the issue of the possible cancer cluster in Valley Center.
“I have done everything I can to get this investigated. We have really good folks doing the investigation,” he said. “It’s a major, major issue. I have stayed away from trying to make this a media circus. I have put the best I have on this. I’m very happy with the cooperation we are getting from the families. If something really needs to be done we will be back to look at it.”
Horn concluded the interview by pointing to his accomplishments in getting North County its “fair share.”
“If you listen to some of the speeches downtown most people don’t know there’s life north of Miramar.”
Horn points to his endorsements by all of the mayors in his district, plus the Deputy Sheriff’s Assn., Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham, Assembly-man Mark Wyland, Sheriff Bill Kolender, County Assessor Greg Smith and supervisors Dianne Jacob, Greg Cox and Ron Roberts.
“That’s a very good cross section and I think it’s a result of the cooperation we’ve gotten on the board for issues in North County,” Horn said.
The Valley Roadrunner
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