The Board of Supervisors Sept. 24 will review how County planners handled referrals of individual residential property owners’ complaints on how their property was designated in General Plan 2020 map.
The meeting begins at 9 a.m. at the County Administration Center, 1600 Pacific Hwy, Rm. 310, San Diego.
About 183 complaints countywide were filed. Ninety-one were in the Fifth District. The board referred them back to the county Dept. of Planning & Land Use on June 25.
Fifth District Supervisor Bill Horn told The Roadrunner Monday that he is unhappy with the preliminary map on the referrals.
“My understanding is that I’m not going to be happy with it because they didn’t do what I asked them to. The message I tried to give out was that I didn’t want to downzone anyone,” Horn said.
“What I asked Ivan [Holler, division chief for General Plan 2020] to do hasn’t been done. I know he’s got a lot of pressure from various groups, but I can’t downzone everyone just because someone wants to save their land for them. That’s not right,” said Horn.
The net result for many owners who apply for permits under the Resource Protection Ordinance (RPO) is that they will be restricted from a lot of building anyway, he said. “We shouldn’t downzone anybody. Let the project do that.”
He added, “I haven’t discussed it with her, but I’ve heard that Dianne [Jacob, supervisor, District 2] is saying the same thing. I’m probably going to make a lot of individual changes on the day of the hearing.”
Horn concluded, “I don’t know why we shouldn’t get our way. The environmental community shouldn’t have a say so, the property owner should have the say so.”
Horn is one of five votes on the board of supervisors, a hard fact that he acknowledged: “I don’t say it’s going to be solved, but I’m going to do my best to keep from downzoning anyone.”
Mass Resignations?
Larry Glavinic, chairman of the VC Planning Group, Monday called DPLU’s attitude towards individual protests “intransigent.”
Glavinic wants to meet with other planning group chairmen and craft a unified position to present to the Board of Supervisors.
He complained that the GP2020 Steering Committee, whose members are planning and sponsor group chairmen, has not met recently.
“If it’s a good plan, when you get feedback, you modify things,” said Glavinic of GP2020.
The plan is not consistent with its own objectives #1 and #9, “defensibility” and “community consensus,” he said.
“I don’t believe they have consensus,” said Glavinic. “If they have consensus why do they have one hundred and eighty three complaints? There’s a lot more people out there with just as good a case who have not been heard.”
Glavinic has contacted ten planning chairmen, including those in Alpine, Crest/Dehesa, Descanso, Hidden Meadows, Pala, Pauma, Rainbow, Ramona and Twin Oaks.
He wants to meet with them this Friday at the Holiday Inn Express in Escondido.
He wants them to consider three basic positions.
1. Add some feature(s) to get consensus from us.
2. Stop GP2020
3. Mass resignation of PG/SG chairs
“I want them (the Board of Supervisors) to hear from the planning group chairs that there is no consensus on GP2020,” he told The Roadrunner. “The job is not done. How can you go forward with things that have major flaws. If they had done their job we would all be singing the same tune.”
Glavinic urged people who have an opinion on GP2020 to attend the Sept. 24 meeting.
“Now is the time to do it. Now is show time. Some people think it’s already too late, that the die is cast.”
The Tantlinger Trust
One VC family who is angry over how its property has been treated in the GP2020 map is the Tantlinger family.
For 35 years Keith Tantlinger of Pauma Heights Road has owned three contiguous parcels that total 36 acres.
His land is adjacent on three sides to properties that are designated one dwelling per two acres, including a project by Crews Development. The VC Planning Group has approved his request for one unit per two acres.
Tantlinger complains that DPLU’s justification for its “compromise” to make his land one unit/4 acres is that it be “consistent with surrounding densities.”
Since two of his parcels are 7.69 acres and 7.42 acres, that would effectively limit each parcel to one unit.
In a letter to Gary Pryor, Director of DPLU, Tantlinger wrote: “I foolishly believed that without a power point presentation or a professional ‘hired gun’ to present our facts to your staff and the commissioners, that an unprofessional private citizen could be heard.”
Unenviable Position
Andy Washburn, a member of the VC planning group, said he doesn’t envy the supervisors, “given the forces that are in play in the final pieces of GP2020. The community through several mechanisms has made their voice known. The owners of the properties are often in conflict with the desires of the community. Then, you go up a level to the County and try to do regional planning or try to make sense on county level and you find yourself in conflict with both the community and the property owners. Somehow, through this process, the Board of Supervisors faces some tough decisions.”
Craig Adams, another planning group member, agrees with Glavinic’s position.
“Valley Center is lucky to have dodged most of the proverbial bullets because we are west of the San Diego County Water Authority Line. We got 80 percent of the referrals. But I still feel sorry for the Hellhole people who are being held hostage on their own property.
“It’s clear there is no mechanism in place that will compensate the property owners for being downzoned. Until there is one in place and funded I don’t see how anyone can approve a government land grab which is what this in our opinion. I’m still appalled that a small group of people that are not elected (SOFAR) has final say over who can develop their property east of that waterline. SOFAR does not represent the county or the people. It represents a small interest group.”
Jerry Beers loves his torch red, modified ‘55 Chevy, and so will you when you view it at the fifth annual Oktoberfest at the VC Community Hall on Saturday, Oct. 11.
Beers, chairman of the vehicle display portion of the event, invites all collectors of vintage and custom cars and trucks, formula racing cars, bikes, kids’ racers/soap boxes, anything with wheels that will be of interest to people attending the event to join him in showing off their special vehicles at Dos Valles Garden Club’s fund raiser.
Beers says it can be a car or any other type of conveyance--gorgeous, awe inspiring, homely, quaint, one-of-a-kind, ingenious, whatever, but must be something the owner is mighty proud of in some way.
Though no prizes will be given, those bringing a preregistered vehicle for display on the day of the event will receive a free bratwurst dinner and beverage. To sign up, call 749-2140. For Oktoberfest information, call 751-1906.
Proceeds from the event will be donated to horticulture and agricultural education programs that the garden club supports.
By DAVID ROSS
With the development of Woods Valley Ranch on track after several years delay, the VC Municipal Water District is once again looking at expanding the planned sewage treatment plant there to serve surrounding properties.
For several years, when the development of Woods Valley Ranch was in doubt, the district put the possible expansion of the development’s wastewater treatment plant on hold.
Water district directors heard a progress report on the plant at Monday afternoon’s meeting.
A condition of the major use permit and waste discharge permit and CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) approval for the water reclamation plant to serve the development and golf course was that it be designed to be expanded to serve others in the area.
When the district contacted surrounding property owners, many said they were interested in obtaining sewer capacity.
Because of the request of two such property owners, Bell and Alti, the district in 1998 agreed to be the lead agency for the expansion of the plant. The district and the two property owners agreed to jointly fund a study of the expansion with a budget of $198,000.
In 1999 the County signed a memorandum of understanding with the County setting up VCMWD as lead agency for the expansion project.
For the next few years Woods Valley was dormant. It went through two more owners before Newland Communities Inc. became the current developer.
“Now that the project is moving forward we’re looking to have a plant,” Wally Grabbe, assistant district engineer, told the board Monday.
The district is working to include another large development, Orchard Run (property adjacent to the VC ballfields) in the water treatment plant’s service area.
Newland Communities is applying to modify its water discharge permit, which currently requires that the plant be inside of a building. That requirement would make expansion of the plant difficult, said Grabbe.
Gen. Mgr. Gary Arant told directors, “What we have are people who indicated an interest in a sewer. The determination of where the boundary will go will depends on the feasibility of serving these individuals. Are we going to force people into it or configure a sewer service area that makes sense and serves those who want to be in it?”
There are limits to how much more the plant could handle. This is determined by the size of the wastewater storage area, he said.
“The decision process we may have to go through is that certain properties will be in and certain properties may be out,” cautioned Arant. “Not everyone who has indicated interest will get service. Some properties may be left out because it won’t be feasible for them to be in. It’s going to be a careful balancing act between how far properties are from the plant and how much seasonal storage there is.”
Cost to individual property owners will be another factor.
When the County gave up on its sponsorship of a Valley Center Central Valley Sewer in 1997, the costs per EDU (equivalent dwelling unit) were approaching $20,000, said Arant.
“Some property owners were looking at significant dollar costs. I’m not sure that we’re going to be cheaper than that,” said Arant.
Here’s a paradox: Although growth in Valley Center appears to be robust, school enrollment is actually down 100 students from last year.
The fire district is reporting over 250 homes are being built and being inspected.
This is hardly more than have been recorded in previous years. So, given that Valley Center is growing, how is it that 100 fewer students started the school year three weeks ago compared to the year before?
Karen Jobe, school superintendent, believes that she has the answer.
“I haven’t scientifically researched it,” she said, “But with the least expensive home in Valley Center priced at $350,000 you’re not going to see many first time homebuyers buying them. That’s showing up in the decline of enrollment in the lower grades.”
It’s not just a Valley Center phenomenon. According to Mrs. Jobe, Ramona’s school system is down 400 students. Vista’s is down also. Fallbrook High School’s enrollment is growing, but not its lower levels.
“We planned for fewer kindergarten students but all across the lower grades we’re down. We expected fourth grade classes to be too full, but they are below that,” said Mrs. Jobe.
The practical effects of this decline in enrollment will be that the school district will have to make budget adjustments to reflect the loss of $500,000 in revenue.
That’s about the same as the cuts that the district had to absorb this year as a result of the State’s $38 billion budget crisis.
The effects of declining enrollment will require a few personnel changes, because some schools are overstaffed.
So far, the effects of this are as follows:
Bill Kvitli has turned his 4/5 class at Lilac Elementary over to Gina Roen to become a teacher on special assignment at the Upper School. Linda Whiteside will move her bilingual skills from grade 8 at Pauma to K/1 at Pauma, and John O’Donnell will likely be taking Linda’s 8th grade English/Science assignment.
Not much in the way of cuts are anticipated this year, but when the budget process begins next January, they will have to take a hard look at numbers.
Once the bills for this year’s modernization and the opening of Lilac Elementary School are totalled up, then the district will have to make decisions on how tight it needs to be to be fiscally prudent, said Mrs. Jobe.
By DAVID ROSS
If you are a public official, you must be as blameless as Caesar’s wife. Or is it as clean as a hound’s tooth?
Robert Hancock has found that out for himself. About two years ago Hancock, who is a member of the VC Planning Group and the Design Review Board, put two trailers on his property for his farm workers to live in.
The trailers are located on a street, just past Chapparal Terrace, that used to be known as Ballerina Lane, but is unnamed today.
One trailer houses a husband, wife, son and baby on the way, who lost their previous housing. The other trailer houses a husband, wife and son.
The trailers were put in without permits, although Hancock says they were built to code.
“I didn’t have the time,” says Hancock, who admits that he should have applied for the permits. “He was losing his housing and he was losing his house. If I had waited he would have moved on and I would have lost my head guy.”
Hancock, who owns and operates a local nursery almost immediately began getting complaints about the trailers from some of his neighbors.
Some neighbors got so angry that they wanted to make the area a gated community to keep traffic out.
One of those neighbors, Bill Bohorquez told The Roadrunner, “He moved in one trailer and the traffic was pretty bad and then we all got a little bit upset. But then the people were so nice we cooled off. Then he moved in another trailer, a dilapidated thing with the TV outside, and a couch, water running under the trailer.”
Another neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said that Hancock told her that if a gate was put up he’d knock it down.
Hancock denies that conversation ever took place.
Because Hancock is a public official, his case has caused more attention than it would otherwise.
Hancock drew more fire a couple of months ago, when, at the design review board he introduced a motion to launch a public campaign to clean up some of the unsightly messes around town.
Some people who read about that in the paper interpreted that to mean that Hancock wanted to crack down on illegal signage. Some neighbors thought he was being hypocritical.
“I’m not talking about bringing people to task for code violations,” says Hancock. “I thought our town could use a face lift. How much does it cost to clean up. I feel like I try to help the community.” He says he’s not interested in illegal signage as much as things like the unsightly “car dealership” at the corner of Valley Center & Miller Roads.
According to Pam Elias, chief of the Code Enforcement Division of the Dept. of Planning & Land Use, the division received a complaint last September and acted on it last June.
Hancock was issued a warning that he needed to get permits for farm worker housing.
“He [Hancock] has migrant workers,” Elias told The Roadrunner. “The State allows us to offer a special zoning classification called farm worker housing. It allows them to put mobile homes, where appropriate.”
But first Hancock must get a building permit and go through the zoning process to get the trailers designated as farm worker housing. He also needs to demonstrate that the workers are doing actual farm work.
He has now applied for such permits.
Hancock was not issued a citation, just a warning.
“This is standard practice to deal with people that we have never dealt with before. We give them the time to get the complaint fixed,” says Elias. “We always give people a chance to correct the problem.”
Hancock, for his part, wonders why he has been singled out.
“There are seventeen trailers on adjoining properties. I wonder why they picked me?”
He also doesn’t understand why his neighbors object to the workers’ housing.
“For them to see this they have to trespass on my property. They have to pass through my gate to see these things. There’s no raw sewage like they told the County. The electrical is all to code.”
He says that two trucks from the Dept. of Environmental Health have showed up at the trailers and said there was no health problem.
Bob Geisick of Environmental Health would only confirm that the department had followed up on a citizen’s complaint. He would not say whether or not there was a problem with sewage leaking on the ground, as some neighbors had complained.
Elias said that a sewage problem was not listed on the things that Hancock had to fix to make the trailers legal. However, the land around the trailers would have to perc in order for him to be issued a building permit.
Hancock believes he is getting blamed for all the illegal squatters in the vicinity of his property.
He points to a shack across the creek from his property, where, he says, upwards of 30 people live, without bathrooms. Instead of septic the shack has a 25 ft. pit.
“I’m getting blamed for that,” says Hancock. “The County knows about that and does nothing.”
He doesn’t mind getting the permits for the two trailers. “I admit freely that I didn’t permit the building, but I don’t want to take the brunt. My thrust is the uneven application of the law. I’m being singled out but everyone else doesn’t have to do it.”
Miss Valley Center, Malinda Lasley, along with fellow queens from Fallbrook and Escondido, will be a celebrity auctioneer for the Redwood Elderlink fund-raiser “A Western Round-Up of Family and Friends,” Sept. 27, 3:30-8 p.m. at Redwood Elderlink center.
Top celebrity auctioneer for the evening will be Stephanie Edwards, Rose Parade commentator.
Also appearing will be Rick Robledo and the Working Cowboy Band and the Valley Center Promenaders. The square dance group will put on an exhibition.
Redwood Elderlink, although based in Escondido, serves many people from Valley Center.
Miss Lasley, Miss Fallbrook, Autumn Garcia, and Miss Escondido, Chantel Giamanco, will assist with the silent and live auction.
For tickets: call the Elderlink office at 480-1030. Tickets are $40 apiece and two for $75. This includes dinner, beer, wine and entertainment.
Auction items include: dinner at local eateries, tickets to all of the major theme parks in the area, golf packages, a Puerta Vallarta trip, a week in Big Bear, golf clubs from Callaway, season passes to the 2004 Del Mar races and tickets t o local theater productions.
This the the second annual fund-raiser. Money will go to provide services to adults and seniors with dementia, Alzhiemers, physical and mental disabilities and shut-ins.
Elderlink is beginning its tenth year. Although it predominantly serves a senior population, it serves anyone in the population who has a need.
It has several divisions. One such, Homelink, sends caregivers to people’s homes so they can stay independent.
It also provides the Out and About Shuttle for seniors within Escondido. The shuttle transports its clients to go shopping and to medical appointments.
It also provides rehab therapy and partners with the Arthritis Foundation to provide aquatic exercises.
Keri Salmon, a Valley Center resident who is program coordinator for FAST (Financial Abuse Specialist Team), another program of Elderlink, says that the team works with aging and protective services to seniors to protect them from economic scams.
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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