Governor Gray Davis on Dec. 18 declared a state of emergency in the fight against a Mexican fruit fly infestation in Valley Center.
“The Mexican fruit fly is a very destructive pest that has the potential to wipe out agriculture as we know it,” Gov. Davis said. “In declaring an emergency, I am instructing my Secretary of Food and Agriculture and my Director of the Office Emergency Services, to work together to eradicate this pest.”
The current area of infestation in Valley Center grows an estimated $75 million worth of crops annually. Left unchecked, the Mexican fruit fly could infest the entire state of California. The estimated impact to the state economy for such an infestation would range from $750 million to $2 billion annually, including the loss of jobs in both rural and urban communities and lost trading opportunities.
The emergency declaration will enable state agencies to pool resources and work cooperatively with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) in addressing the response to the infestation.
A spokesman for CDFA told The Roadrunner that the eradication program should follow in a few days.
CDFA has already established a 117-square mile quarantine zone around the infestation that severely restricts movement of fruits, vegetables and other host plants.
To date, more than 70 adult Mexican fruit flies have been trapped inside the quarantine zone, with larvae confirmed at six sites.
The Mexican fruit fly is native to Southern and Central Mexico. The fly attacks over 40 different kinds of fruits, including citrus and avocado. Damage occurs when the female fly lays eggs in the fruit. The eggs hatch into maggots, which made the fruit unfit for human consumption.
Whether you favor landscaped medians along Valley Center Road may depend on whether you own a business there.
The VC Road business community is decidedly worried about what landscaped medians in front of them might do to their businesses, a recent survey shows.
The VC road subcommittee, which has been working with the County Dept. of Public Works on improvements to the Valley Center Road widening design, surveyed business owners and operators along VC Road and asked comments from residents who don’t own property along VC’s main thoroughfare.
The survey asked if they opposed or favored landscaped medians and whether they had concerns about them. They were asked to list the concerns.
A total of 122 answers were received, although some came twice from the same person (responding as both a business and a person). A few answers came from organizations such as VC Trails Assn., VC Women’s Club and VC Art Assn. (How those organizations determined their positions is unclear in the survey).
Of 122 responses, 66 were in favor of the landscaped medians, 43 were opposed. Thirty-six said they had concerns. One petition signed by 29 residents also favored the landscaped medians.
Note: You could answer the survey saying you supported the medians, and still have concerns. Many did.
If you break down the survey into those who own or have businesses along Valley Center Road, the results are somewhat different.
Fifty-four respondents with addresses on VC Road answered the survey. Of those, 15 were in favor, 32 were against and 31 had concerns.
Most concerns of the business owners fell into these categories:
1) Owners worried about a loss of business due to the medians. One owner wrote: “Medians will mean we will close our business.”
2) The perceived need by owners (and some residents) to make it possible for customers to turn left into businesses and make U-turns.
Several of those who said they favored medians also said they had concerns about accessibility.
Several owners called for two-way, left turn (TWLT) lanes, such as are common on Valley Parkway in Escondido. Those who opposes such lanes refer to them as “suicide lanes.”
Others felt the medians would attract business: “attractive and safe; retain small town feel . . . will reduce head-on collision; attractive town with safe road will entice residents and non-residents to patronize business.”
Another wrote: “If we are going to grow, let’s grow pretty.”
One business owner who does not have a business on VC Road commented, “Understand business community’s concern, but believe traffic flow, safety and aesthetic look are positive.”
A business owner on Cole Grade wrote: For safety; slow traffic; keep country town atmosphere.”
A deputy sheriff commented, “Planted medians are more pleasing to the eye, but not as user friendly when trying to maneuver emergency equipment or move traffic in a gridlock situation.”
Currently the County has proposed a “maximum” median that extends most of the 3.5 miles from Woods Valley Road to Cole Grade Road.
This is different from the 1.5 mile seven-part median that was first proposed several years ago, but which was never approved.
Consensus Needed
At a recent meeting where he gave an update on the VC Road Project, Doug Isbell, Deputy Director of the Dept. of Public Works, Engineering Services said “Our position is that we will design them and put them in where we get consensus that property owners want them. We are working with property owners in the south node and the people in the north, where we can get consensus. If we can’t get consensus we won’t build them.”
Whether a landscaped median system goes in is also dependent on funding, said Isbell.
“We don’t know whether we have the money to build planted medians or not. If there is funding for them we will construct them, and find a way for someone to pay for the maintenance. "\A lot of things that have to come together to make medians happen.”
By DAVID ROSS
People driving up the Valley Center Grade a few days ago got a taste of what’s in store for motorists for two years once the VC Road widening project begins.
Doug Isbell, Deputy Director of the Dept. of Public Works, Engineering Services, reported on the road widening project Dec. 16 to the VC Municipal Water District board.
The project is of interest to VCMWD because it will coordinate a large scale replacement of water mains along that road at the same time.
“If you drove up the road you got to experience the first part of the VC road widening project,” Isbell told directors.
Traffic has been slowed as DPW clears the habitat area around the section of the road known as “the luge” in anticipation of the roadwork.
The project has been divided into two parts, the southern part and the northern part. The southern part, from Escondido to Woods Valley Road, has been divided into Phase I, from Escondido to a mile from Banbury Road and Phase II, from a mile from Banbury Road to Woods Valley Road.
This southern part of the road was supposed to have been authorized to go to bid this month, said Isbell, but now that probably won’t happen until May.
Two factors hold up the bid process:
1) The City of Escondido, which is widening Valley Parkway up towards VC as part of the same project, is still obtaining rights of way from Escondido landowners. Some condemnations are possible in that process.
2) The County is still working with state and federal environmental agencies to define the parameters of a resource habitat loss permit.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and California Fish & Game Dept. want wildlife crossings under the road at five locations, said Isbell. The department spent $30,000 collecting “road kill” to find out where the wildlife are crossing, he said.
Such crossings are concrete boxes 15 X 15 feet that allow animals to cross the highway without becoming “at one” with the blacktop.
DPW disagrees with the number of crossings needed. “We’re trying to negotiate a more reasonable solution,” said Isbell.
The state and federal agencies are also requesting that fences be installed on the uphill side of the road to encourage the animals to use the crossings.
Isbell hopes to go the Board of Supervisors for final authorization in May so that construction on the southern leg can begin in September. Once begun, it will take two years.
“It’s going to be a very, very big challenge to negotiate two way traffic on that road in a safe manner,” said Isbell.
The County will contract with the California Highway Patrol for extra enforcement in those two years.
Pipeline Coordination
The water directors were, of course, more interested in the northern section of VC Road, since that’s where water mains are located.
Isbell alluded to the fact that the district has waited over 15 years and spent $50,000 on redesigns, only to have the County change its plans.
“We appreciate the problem that the district is having with its old pipeline. . . . you’ve shown patience and a half with us,” he said.
“We had the project near one hundred percent designed, but in the last few months the community expressed some interest to see if there could be some modification made that would have people drive a little slower,” he said.
A subcommittee of the VC planning group was tasked to meet with Isbell and his staff to work “traffic calming” and other aesthetic considerations into the design.
“ In meetings with the community, we’ve agreed to narrow the lanes,” said Isbell. Medians will stay at 14 feet wide while the inside lane be 11 feet wide and outside lane will be 12 feet,” he said.
“This will make motorists feel a little more confined. The intent is to have a maximum driveable speed in the 45 mile an hour range,” he said.
Isbell is also discussing planted medians with the subcommittee. The County has proposed medians for the 3.5 miles of VC Road between Woods Valley Road and Cole Grade Road (see related story on a survey of business owners and residents, Page A1).
Isbell’s says the County will put in planted medians if 1) There’s enough money left over for that and 2) the community can reach a consensus on where the medians go.
Multi-Use Path
Another change to the road plans is to create a multi-use path from Miller to the Community Center. The path would be three feet below the road behind a log fence.
“It will give the road a nice rural look and give the road a more rural look,” said Isbell.
He added that the road subcommittee had asked the County to look at saving the big oak at VC Oil.
“We investigated alternate designs but nothing would work because of the two intersecting roads. The tree would block sight lines for motorists at that intersection.
“We haven’t given up the concept of moving the oak tree to Corral Liquor, or rather to where Corral Liquor used to be,” he said.
They are getting an arborist to look at the tree. “It will all come down to whether we have the funds to do that. . . We don’t know if it is viable for the tree to be moved or not.”
No Additional Time
Asked if meeting the subcommittee’s requests have slowed down the project or added to its cost, Isbell told The Roadrunner:
“It has not added any time because we continued with the right of way acquisition at the same time,” said Isbell. “One condition was that it wouldn’t slow that down. In terms of the costs of the amenities, all of these things will be constructed if there are funds to pay for them. The landscaped median falls into that category.”
DPW hopes to have the plans 75% complete in May of 2003 to give to the water district. This will define all of the road alignments and presumably allow the water district to make its own plans.
Isbell will go before the Board of Supervisors in April of 2004 for authorization of construction to start in July of ‘04. Construction will take an estimated two years, he said.
Meantime DPW must acquire 87 parcels of land for right of way for the new construction.
“We hope to avoid any eminent domain,” said Isbell.
Preliminary Study
The County is also in the preliminary study phase of widening Valley Center Road from Cole Grade to Rincon Reservation and is doing designs for improving the North Lake Wohlford & Valley Center Roads intersection.
Rincon Reservation has pledged fund to help in building the road that will serve its Harrah’s Casino.
Recently Rincon officials gave the County $748,000, the first of several mitigation payments to help with the Valley Center Road south project.
Part I
This is our annual wrap up of the year. But since it was SUCH a year, we invite readers to send us their own assessment of 2002 and what stories they think were at the top (no more than a paragraph, please!) that we’ll publish in the next few weeks.
The second year of the third millennium brought great changes in the face of Valley Center. We opened our beautiful new Sheriff’s substation and VC Library. We said Howdy to a new annual event: The Bulls & Barrels Rodeo. We saw disasters small and large. We bid goodbye to old friends and said hello to new ones. We added a new term to our vocabulary: Mexican fruit fly.
Let’s take one more stroll down memory lane —
* * *
January
The future Valley Center Local History Museum was the first building to rise at the site of the new County Library complex on Cole Grade Road — The VC Municipal Water District and the fire department discouraged VC residents from painting their yellow fire hydrants in patriotic red, white and blue; citing that different colors denote different water pressures — Three members of the family that owned Valleyranch Market were among those caught up in a federal net of indictments that closed on an alleged drug distribution ring — The VC Planning Group got a taste of a proposed shopping center at Cole Grade & VC roads which included a supermarket, shops and 71 town houses — Jerome Stehly of VC was elected Chairman of the California Avocado Commission — With traffic fatalities in Valley Center nearly triple the year before, the CHP was cracking down in VC — State cancer officials were mulling the scope of a study to determine whether VC had a “cancer cluster” or not.
February
Grading had begun on the new Woods Valley Ranch golf course — A couple of hundred people attended the “Gathering of Eagles” at Pala Casino, where they honored veterans of all 17 reservations in San Diego County —VC’s Henry Rodriguez, an elder, activist, historian and one of the most highly respected Indians in San Diego County, died in a tragic car accident in Pauma Valley — VCHS’s Leonard “Bull” Nelson became the school’s first Masters champion and second State qualifier in wrestling — Ten lovely VC girls; Shawna Lane, Shalom McCullough, Veronica Gutierrez, Heather Lyons, Jessica Grosenor, Tiffany Quackenbush, Stephanie Rizzo, Cynthia Pinal, Lindsey Cannon and Renee Bierle, were the contestants for the 2002 Miss Valley Center Pageant — VC’s Patsy Fritz and Supervisor Bill Horn were engaged in a heated race for the incumbent Horn’s job as Fifth District Supervisor.
March
VC’s Bill Horn won a third term as Fifth District Supervisor — Lindsey Cannon was crowned Miss Valley Center 2002, with First Runner-up Renee Bierle and Second Runner-up Shalom McCullough at her side — VC’s Don Phelps, a 32-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department, hung up his star — Construction was set to begin on Lilac Elementary School in August and was to be completed one year later — The Courtyard, previously known as Mountain Valley Center (one of VC’s main commercial centers), had its grand opening to introduce the new look and some of the new tenants — The VC Chamber of Commerce announced plans to hold a Bulls ‘n Barrells Rodeo for the 2002 Western Days — VC students experienced farm animals up close and personal the A-Z buffet at the annual Farm Day at the Gang Ranch.
To be continued —
Newly elected State Senator Dennis Hollingsworth doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to critiquing the State’s response to Valley Center’s Mexican fruit fly infestation, including its tendency to keep information to itself.
“Unfortunately, this is another example of the Davis administration not preparing for a disaster when all the signs were there,” said the Republican legislator. “It’s similar to the inaction that led to the budget crisis.”
According to Hollingsworth, there were Mexfly infestations in 1999 and 2000. “Assemblyman Bruce Thompson and Senator Ray Haynes authored legislation that said there needs to be some dollars set aside and the State Dept. of Food and Agriculture needs to come up with some protocols to deal with the problem.”
Davis vetoed the legislation in 2000, saying that he didn’t need it and that he would come up with the protocols for dealing with potential infestations.
“That same legislation that provided dollars was returned by me in 2001 and was held and died in the appropriations committee,” says Hollingsworth.
Because of that lack of legislation dealing with the situation, says Hollingsworth, “The biggest impacts on the delays in implementing the eradication protocols are the lack of protocols for moving minor crops out of the quarantine areas, crops such as persimmons, fuyus, and star crops. There’s no approved protocols for fumigating them and there’s not enough time now to get new ones approved by the USDA.”
He adds, “We definitely need to be looking at not only the overall picture of how to keep exotic pests out of the state, but to have legislation in place that provides contingency plans for all types of infestations.”
Protocols do exist for fumigating avocado and citrus crops, says Hollingsworth, “but they have such a huge a quarantine on a scale that they haven’t seen before that they are really not sure how to deal with it. We introduced legislation that was also stymied that would have provided a mechanism and some dollars to work with USDA research for all of the contingencies to be in place.”
The senator predicts that “eventually things are going to get rolling. State Food and Agriculture is going to come on very strong in an eradication effort. While it may take time for the wheels of the department to start turning I think they will come on with an effective plan for eradicating the pest. My job is to make sure our farmers are taken care of in that mix.”
Asked what pitfalls exist in dealing with the threat, Hollingsworth said, “If the science calls for aerial spraying, I think that needs to be looked at, rather than just ground-spraying or trying to accomplish it all with sterile releases of male fruit flies.”
Hollingsworth’s new office in Temecula is getting a lot of phone calls of constituents who say that the quarantine area is too large.
“The size of the area and that the protocols provide the right balance of protection and allowing farmers to move their crops are certainly on our list of concerns,” he said.
You can reach Senator Dennis Hollingsworth’s Temecula office at 909-676-1020.The Valley Roadrunner
P.O.B. 1529, Valley Center, CA 92082
Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
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