Dan Thornton is a behind-the- scenes kind of a guy, who believes in achieving results rather than making a lot of noise. So he was shocked to learn last week that he will be honored Saturday as Valley Center’s Citizen of the Year.
The honor will be conferred upon Thornton at the annual Chamber of Commerce Installation Dinner, held at Escondido Country Club. Cocktails are at 7 p.m. with dinner beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $30/person and are sold at The Roadrunner and Chamber of Commerce offices.
A resident and businessman for nearly 20 years, Thornton first arrived as the proprietor of Valley Center Motor Machine. Later he acquired Dan’s Auto. Today he is a real estate and mortgage broker with a business that combines the two: Oak Realty & Financial.
Thornton has, over the years served on the VC Planning Group, been president of the VC Chamber of Commerce, helped write the VC Design Review Guidelines, was a founding member of the VC Kiwanis Club, was president of the the VC Fire Board and president of the VC Optimist Club.
When various members of the community, led by the Kiwanis Club, rolled up their sleeves in the late 1980s and helped plant a row of baby eucalyptus trees along Valley Center Road, Thornton was out there digging holes with the best of them.
Thornton has served on the VC Fire Board two sets of terms. The first time he served four years and then stepped down. Four years ago he decided to run for the fire board again and is now beginning his second consecutive term.
Thornton is chairman of the finance committee of the fire board, and, in that capacity is spearheading a drive to pressure the County to speed up the widening of VC Road for safety reasons. He is also treasurer of the Valley Center High School Foundation.
Two things drive him: “I firmly believe in giving back to the community that has supported me over the years and second, I’m an active guy. I like to stay active and involved. I love to sword fight and joust and I bore easily.”
He also doesn’t shy away from controversy. “I tend to be very direct and focused,” he says. When he was Chamber President (1988-90) he took a very aggressive pro-business, pro-sewer stance. “I was at the forefront of a lot of mud-slinging,” he recalls.
Married to Sharon for 19 years, together they have three daughters, Kelly, 18 who attends UC Long Beach, Jaime, who is a freshman at VCHS and on the freshman basketball team, and Danielle, a sixth grader at the middle school.
Over the years as his family grew, his community activities slowed a bit as he spent more time with them at various sporting events and activities.
He never disappeared from public view for very long, but he has mellowed in his approach to it.
“As I’ve gotten older I’ve tried to listen more and talk less. I love to watch the local political scene. I consider myself a public servant and not a politician. I have a love hate relationship with it. I love doing things for the community but I hate the ‘politics’ part of it,” he says.
Thornton has a libertarian small-government philosophy that tends to shade many of the votes that he takes as a fire director.
“My philosophy has always been that I believe in this country and the freedoms this country gives us. I’ve tried to balance the needs of the individual with the needs of the government area. It pains me to see how, even though we are the greatest country in the world that our freedoms are eroding before our eyes. I’ve always tried to build consensus on anything that I’m involved with, with the least amount of government interference possible. I’m very pro-business. I’ve been fortunate to live in a beautiful community for the last twenty plus years. It’s been a nice ride while it’s lasted.”
The Valley Center Municipal Water District board Jan. 6 joined the VC Fire Protection District board in approving a resolution that declares that traffic and road improvements are a “critical issue” and asking the County to expedite the VC Road widening.
Fire Marshall Joy Justis, representing the fire district, said the purpose of the resolution, “is to make a stand. We have gone over this and over this for years and years and this is the last thing we can think of to get some kind of action and expedience from the county on our roads up here.”
The resolution, which was to be on the VC Planning Group’s agenda Jan. 13, will eventually be forwarded to Supervisor Bill Horn and the full Board of Supervisors.
“I don’t hold a lot of hope,” said Board Pres. Gary Broomell.
“I hope it does some good,” added another director.
IN OTHER news Gary Broomell was elected to another term as board president. Bob Polito was retained as vice-chairman.
“We have a very fine board that seems to work well together and I think it’s good for the district," said Broomell. Board elections are held every two years.
Safety Net
The board also approved the Fruit Fly Safety Net Program that allows farmers hurt by the quarantine to postpone paying part of their water bill in return for the district putting a lien on their property.
The program’s details were presented at the December meeting.
“We’ve had one phone call on this,” said Gen. Mgr. Gary Arant.
Because three of the five directors are farmers who might be able to take advantage of this program, three had to step down. Then one, Bob Polito, was chosen by lot to provide the third vote.
“I would certainly qualify for this but I won’t use it, said Broomell. Director Randy Haskell said he won’t use it either.
Dual Meters
The board also approved a revision to the district’s administrative code that allows dual water meters to be installed for homes that have fire sprinklers.
Staff reported that dual sprinklers are actually cheaper over the long run to having a homeowner buy a larger meter to accommodate the added pressure requirements.
By DAVID ROSS
At the first meeting of the year Monday, with a brand new group of members, the VC Planning Group drew a crowd of about 100 for its full agenda.
Highlights included:
• approving a resolution of traffic safety sponsored by the fire district.
• passing four resolutions supporting the road safety subcommittee’s recommendations for Valley Center Road, including landscaped medians.
• approving in concept plans for the shopping center/condominium project at Cole Grade & Valley Center Roads, with conditions to be added later on.
• welcoming new members Lael Montgomery, Ron Adair and Craig Adams.
The group reelected Larry Glavinic as chairman and Jim Yerdon as vice chairman. Although Rich Rudolf wanted another term as secretary, the group voted 8-4 to elect Andy Washburn.
Traffic Safety
The group’s support for the fire district’s resolution for traffic safety was unanimous: 11-0.
The resolution calls for the County to expedite the widening of VC Road, to add a traffic signal at North Lake Wohlford & VC Roads and to increase traffic patrols by the California Highway Patrol.
It was previously approved by the fire board, water board, and is due to be considered Thursday by the school board.
Dept. of Public Works deputy director Doug Isbell, was asked if it is physically possible to speed up the road widening.
“We’re trying to get it done as quickly as possible,” said Isbell.’
Planner Mel Schuler, who is also on the fire board, said the resolution was not “about medians or the committee that’s studying the road, but about the entire gamut of traffic safety and signals.
Valley Center Road
Sandy Smith, chairman of the Road Safety Subcommittee, gave a final report on the committee’s meetings with County staff.
Her committee generated a six page report and asked that the group pass four recommendations:
1) support the county’s current plan, including walking trails.
2) Support continuing efforts to move trees out of the road right of way, but only to the extent that funding is available.
3) Support a landscaped median plan for VC Road and encourage efforts to raise money to maintain this once it’s created.
“Our priority is to build the road,” said Isbell. “We will fund it up to the money available.” Money comes from Transnet sales tax revenues.
4) Establish a road subcommittee to monitor the project.
Smith said many recommendations her committee made will require outside funding, or fund-raising by the community.
For instance, by narrowing the four lanes, some room is created for pathways, but funding for some of the pathways will have to come from private sources.
The group wanted to save as many of the 400 trees growing along VC Road as possible, and to have landscaped medians, but “really the community needs to raise funds if any of this is going to happen,” said Smith.
The County has identified those that have a good chance of surviving. No trees will be saved without community contributions.
In May DPW will present specific designs on the pathway that goes from VC Oil to Miller This 10-13 ft pathway, will have a split rail fence to divide it from the traffic.
VC Parks & Rec District is working with DPW to meander the path through its land instead of just next to the road.
Smith also reported on the landscaped median discussions.
This included surveying business and land owners along the road and residents. About 140 answers total were received.
The County is happy to add landscaped medians as long as 1) the community reaches a consensus on where they will go 2) the County finds the $2 million to build them and 3) a funding source to maintain the landscaping is found.
After half a year of discussions, the proposed medians are essentially the same six that were proposed a couple of years ago.
“We want to make the road as aesthetically pleasing as possible without harming the ingress and egress,” said Smith. Some left turn medians for safety sake will be added. These won’t be landscaped.
The two miles of medians proposed include the following:
From the top of the grade to Banbury
From Banbury to Woods Valley Road
From the new Mirar de Valle to Sunday Drive with one break
From Calle De Vista to Lilac
From Lilac to Chapparal
A break until Canyon Road, stopping just before the nursery
From the nursery to Miller
From Indian Creek potentially all the way to Cole Grade.
Planner Mel Schuler said, “I find it interesting that we have to fund raise for a road for our community. I thought that was what taxes were for.” He asked how this fund-raising would not delay the implementation of the road.
Members of the group are going after private and grant funding for things like paths and saving trees. If that is not in place by the time the road must come through, it will be built without them. Neither effort will delay the process, said Smith. Because the median landscaping must have an infrastructure, it’s the trickiest to fund.
“We’re following the planning group’s directive to keep this project on schedule,” said Isbell.
The northern road (from Woods Valley to Cole Grade) should go before the Board of Supervisors for funding by April of 2004.
Bid documents will offer contractors three alternatives for medians.
“Maybe we can build one. Maybe we can build two,” said Isbell
Construction will start on the northern part of the road the summer of 2004 and take two years.
“We’ll have plenty of time in the next 18 months to get as many trees moved as possible,” said Isbell.
Planner Rich Rudolf said he is uncomfortable with planning group members being involved with fund-raising. This violates County Policy I-1, he said. “It may not technically be illegally, but I think we are skirting around legality.”
Glavinic said the planning group won’t have a lead role in fund-raising.
Rudolf noted that when the south node merchants proposed a pedestrian village they said they would pay for medians in their end of town. “We haven’t heard from them for two months but that was what it was then,” he said.
On the southern end of the road project, the City of Escondido is moving to acquire rights of way in the city’s portion.
“That’s very good news,” said Isbell.
Funding for the southern end will go before the Board of Supervisors in April. Work will start in September of 2003 and be finished by March of 2005.
Shopping Center
The planning group gave conceptual approval to the shopping center and 71 condo project behind the post office. It reserved the right to attach conditions as the process goes forward.
The project will include a retail center with a supermarket, a major drug store, two, two story 15,000 sq. ft. professional office buildings and condos.
Most of this the developer can do “by right” meaning that he only needs to get discretionary permits for the condominium part of the project That will require a major subdivision.
Commercial property will take up 18.2 acres. A private road will bisect the property, going from VC Road to Cole grade.
Between the office buildings will be a small park.
There will be 11 acres of residential, each ranging from 1600-2200 sq. ft. and split level. The condos will have a rec building and spa.
“We feel that there are some real benefits to the community,” said John Ashkar, president of S&S Investment Co.
“This will be nicely landscaped. This can serve as a focal point for Valley Center. One proposal for the park is that there will be a covered structure like a gazebo, where concerts could be given." he said.
“We feel that that because it’s a mixed use development that people in townhomes could use the shopping center without ever getting into their cars. Office commercial may generate jobs. The ideal situation would be to live in the town homes, work in the office and do shopping in the center, and do without a car.”
The condos could also serve the needs of young people who can’t afford a large house and acreage and for seniors who can’t keep up a large acreage.
Ashkar noted that the developers are working with the VC Cemetery District to allow the district to buy an acre for expanding its operation.
Of the 14 oaks on the property, eight will be saved, said Ashkar.
An existing orange grove will be removed to make room for the leach field, which will take up 18 acres.
The developers proposed signal lights at either end of the private road.
This may cause a problem , Glavinic told The Roadrunner, because the school district already is proposing a signal light at its school complex on Cole Grade Road, which is 600 ft. away.
“We know that we need to work with the County to coordinate signal light,” said Ashkar.
The project will be built in phases, with construction “dictated by the market,” said Ashkar.
Planners Carol Prime, Rich Rudolf and Lael Montgomery, said the center wasn’t rural enough in appearance.
Rudolf asked if the developer was making an effort to approach existing retail merchants to offer them space and avoid putting them out of business.
“We have a lot of shop space that we will be looking to rent out,” said Ashkar. “Your community is growing and there’s a tremendous need for more services. If the mom and pop stores are competitive then there’s room for everyone. This center is meant to provide a wide range of services that a community would need.”
Schuler commented that he didn’t see two or three story condos as being ‘senior citizen friendly."
“When I look at this it still feels suburban,” said Prime.
Ashkar defended the center’s look, saying that it will contain large pockets of green areas.
Robert Hancock, speaking from the audience (he stepped down as a planner because his nursery is next door to the proposed center) said, “We really need to change our ideas of what ‘rural’ is. We need to get away from the idea that for something to be rural that is has to look like a chicken coop.”
Local schools could face $1 million in cuts as a result of the $38 billion state budget crisis, Supt. Karen Jobe told The Roadrunner this week.
Among the programs that may be hardest hit will be the summer school program. For many years this program has functioned as both an enrichment program as well as a place for remedial students to make up their subjects.
This year it’s likely that summer school will be “by invitation only,” said Mrs. Jobe.
“At this point it’s looking like categorical programs will be cut 10.8%,” she said. That’s about $500,000. Non-categorical programs, which is the day to day education program, will probably also be cut, but by 2.15%, or another $500,000.
The school board will hear about these cuts, and the superintendent’s recommendations on how to deal with them, at Thursday night’s school board meeting, 7:30 p.m. at the high school library.
By DAVID ROSS
Valley Center residents last week dug out of two days of high winds that left most streets with blown down trees, shattered greenhouses and filled the roads with debris, branches and the occasional hanging power line.
It was probably the worst wind damage in a quarter century, and in some places rose to 100 mph for short gusts.
Windfall Losses
Although almost everybody had something to show for the high winds, local avocado farmers, especially those within the Mexican fruit fly quarantine, appear to have been particularly hard hit.
Valley Center avocado growers’ losses to wind were a third of the total number of avocados lost throughout Ventura, Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties.
“I guess the winds along with the quarantine just underscore the tremendous risk that farmers face even in an idyllic setting like Valley Center or Southern California,” commented San Diego County Farm Bureau Executive Director Erik Larson.
According to the California Avocado Commission total avocados down in all areas of Southern California during the two days of the wind (Jan. 6&8) were 10-15 million pounds.
Total fruit down inside the Valley Center Mexfly quarantine area totaled between 7-10 million pounds.
Of the the 10-15 million pounds that fell to the ground , 5-7 million will be packed and sold.
Subtracting the windfall fruit that will be packed and sold, windfall pounds from the quarantine area which cannot be packed and smaller fruit under maturity standards which also cannot be packed, the total net volume lost to the winds totals 5-8 million pounds.
“Growers in the wind’s vortex were hit extremely hard,” said Mark Affleck, president of the California Avocado Commission. “But the volume lost to the total 12-month crop is less than 2% and will not have a significant impact on fruit availability in the marketplace.”
Not Just Farmers
VC resident Hope Goodwin told The Roadrunner that it’s not just farmers who have been harmed by the winds.
She’s frustrated because she feels that Gov. Gray Davis should declare a state of emergency for the wind damage as he did for the Mexican fruit fly.
“My question is, why hasn’t anyone looked into it?” she said.
She contacted State Senator Dennis Hollingsworth’s office and didn’t get much satisfaction.
“They told me there isn’t enough money in the state budget to cover a declaration of emergency here,” she said. “They also said that no one but me has called them about this.”
Like many residents, Goodwin had damages that may be only partially covered by home insurance.
“If their excuse is that no one is complaining, then maybe people should start complaining, both to Hollingsworth’s office and to the governor.”
She lost seven trees, fences are down and she’s going to need a new roof.
“My insurance covers part of it. The lowest estimate is $28,000 for the roof and homeowner’s insurance is only covering part of that.”
Readers who wish to contact Senator Hollingsworth are directed to the following numbers and addresses:
State Capitol, Room 2048, Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 445-9781
27555 Ynez Road, Ste. 204 Temecula, CA 92591 Phone: (909) 676-1020
By DAVID ROSS
Part I of a series about a gallery and its artists.
* * *
Valley Center has always had a strong artistic community—Lately that community has begun to flex its muscles and extend itself into Escondido.
The Artisan’s Gallery in Escondido, which moved to its present high-profile location (224 E. Grand) in Escondido last March, is hosting a strong group of about 50 artists which also includes a significant cohort, a dozen, from our Valley.
Artists in the Artisan’s Gallery show their work and, in some cases, maintain studios on the premises of the 13,000 sq. ft. gallery.
In addition to the 3000 sq. ft showroom, which opens onto Grand Avenue’s growing colony of art galleries and various blossomings of a fertile intellectual street scene, the Artisan’s Gallery also houses a 1600 square foot classroom and meeting room, which can be rented out.
Jeanine and Carl Dahlquist, owners of the gallery, say that the gallery moved last March from its Valley Parkway location to the current site, in the middle of Escondido’s artistic commercial center that is growing up near the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.
“We’ve been working with artists for eight years,” says Mrs. Dahlquist. “I enjoy working with artists and helping them develop a following.”
They originally started with a gallery of 3000 sq ft. “We knew we could provide a place for artists at a reasonable price,” she says.
Today they have a large collection of original art, limited editions, metal garden art, statuary, reproductions, prints, and collectable gifts.
All of the artists are featured on the gallery’s website: www.artisansgalleryandmore.com
The gallery is open most of the time on weekdays and some of the time on weekends. Being artists, they don’t absolutely commit to any particular schedule, but if you drop by the gallery, chances are you’ll run into some creative person at work.
On most Saturdays you’ll encounter Dorene Terryberry (not a VC artist, but well known to many VC artists as a teacher and friend) doing demonstrations.
Valley Center artists Jim Honey and Caroline Linscott also offer classes.
Next week, we profile some of the VC artists whose work are featured at Artisan’s Gallery.
To be continued.
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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