October 19, 2005 - Top Stories
If Valley Center doesn’t add new roads and homes allowed in the soon-to-be-adopted GP2020 are built, VC Road may someday need six lanes and Cole Grade and Lilac may need four lanes.
The County is looking at creating alternative routes to take pressure off VC’s road network.
The VC planning group, which has long supported alternate routes, has been asked to vote on the County’s suggestions for future roads.
It has scheduled a special meeting to discuss it: Monday, Oct. 24, 7 p.m., VC Middle School.
Bob Citrano, of the County’s Dept. of Planning & Land Use, made a presentation Monday on the various alternatives that the County proposes.
For seven years the County has worked on GP2020. As of July the Board of Supervisors adopted two land use designation maps.
One is the staff’s map, called the baseline map. The other is the Board of Supervisors’ alternative.
At that point, the DPLU began modeling what will happen if all parcels are built out as laid out on the maps.
Those figures were fed into computer models. “Many Valley Center roads were ‘broken’ at that point,” said Citrano.
Under the build-out scenario they would reach E & F levels of service (F is the worst possible).
The choices for dealing with this nightmare scenario are two:
1) Increase the number of lanes for Valley Center Road, Lilac and Cole Grade, or
2) Add alternative routes
Meantime Citrano gathered input from community members and met with the planning group’s circulation subcommittee several times.
The subcommittee made the following recommendation, which was adopted by the full planning group Monday:
A) Create local connections that reduce local traffic in VC, Cole Grade and Lilac Roads, while retaining rural character
B) Increase the number of escape routes for use in emergencies.
C) Plan for the future; establish routes for roads needed 20 and 30 years from now.
Adding routes will disperse traffic, mean more narrow, country roads, improve access to schools and to the “villages” proposed for the southern and northern “nodes.”
The following additional routes are under discussion.
Note: We will provide a link in The Roadrunner web site (valleycenter.com) to the County’s website where there are graphic representations of all of these routes.
The routes are general and not exact yet:
A1— Southern I-15 Connection
Primary Connection —
a. Extend Mirar de Valle Road west to Mountain Meadow Road (current CE alignment)
Potential Ancillary Connections —
b. Extend North Broadway to proposed Mirar de Valle/Mountain Meadows alignment
c. Extend Betsworth Road to proposed Mirar de Valle/Mountain Meadows alignment
This was presented to the Hidden Meadows Sponsor Group recently and “they were very mixed,” in their reaction, according to Citrano. Their main objection was that I-15 would bring in more traffic. A north Broadway connection might accomplish the desired effect without adding to the Meadows’ traffic, said Citrano.
A2 — Northern Interstate-15 Connection
Primary Connection —
a. Extend Oak Glen Road west to I-15 via Lilac Ranch, West Lilac Road, and Old HWY 395
Secondary Connections —
b. Construct Stardust Lane as a local public road and extend it from W. Oak Glen to Cool Valley Roads
c. Construct Stardust Lane as a local public road and extend it from to Cool Valley to McNally Roads
A3 — South Village Connectivity
a. Extend Woods Valley Road west to Mirar de Valle
b. Parallel route to Valley Center Road (Mirar de Valle to Lilac Road)
c. Connect Mirar de Valle and Betsworth Roads
A4 — Pauma Heights to Cool Valley
a. Extend Little Quail Run to Saddleback Road
b. Extend Saddleback Road to Pauma Heights
This would use the planned Brook Forest subdivision for rights of way. The alternative would improve connectivity with the high school and the proposed new route to I-15.
A5 — Cool Valley to Fruitvale
a. Connect Villa Sierra Road
b. Connect High Point Drive to Wilhite Lane at Miller Road
c. Connect Wilhite Lane to Cool Valley Road
d. Extend Miller Road through the planned Sundance Ranch subdivision to Paso Robles Road
e. Extend Cool Valley Road to Yellow Brick Road using either Callejo Feliz Terrace or new connections as shown
This would require cooperation with Sundance Ranch developer to extend Miller.
A6 — Fruitvale to N. Lake Wohlford Road
a. Extend Fruitvale to Yellow Brick Road
b. Extend Yellow Brick Road to Vesper Road
c. Vesper to N. Lake Wohlford Road
A7 — Cole Grade Road West
a. Extend Cool Valley Road west of Cole Grade
b. Extend Miller Road west
c. Connect new Cool Valley / Miller Road extensions
d. Realign Miller Road
There is a proposed subdivision that would preclude connection between Cool Valley and Miller. So this route is not considered a likely option.
A8 — North Village Connectivity
a. Cole Grade Road to Miller Road [Alignment shown based on recommendation of Circulation Subcommittee]
b. New Valley Center Road / Fruitvale Road connection
c. New Valley Center Road / Vesper Road connection
d. New Vesper Road / Fruitvale Road connection
e. Southern bypass — Connect Valley Center and Miller Roads along the southern edge of the village
f. Extend Fruitvale Road to Miller Road
F. was not supported by the subcommittee.
B1 — Paradise Mountain Area
Existing Condition — Two-lane roadways extend deep into valley without a secondary access
Currently, Paradise Mountain Road is a Rural Collector (2 lanes).
B2 — Paradise Mountain Road
Existing Condition — 2 Lane roadway with no outlet.
Currently, Paradise Mountain Road runs from N. Lake Wohlford Road to Guejito Road as Rural Collector (2 lanes) Deficiency — Most of connection is unbuilt.
Planning group Chairman Andy Washburn noted: “These are routes that most of us will not see. They will come many years in the future, but now is the time for us to say this is what makes sense in the future, so that as development occurs those rights of way will be saved.”
He added, “I hope we will choose Valley Center type roads, the types that go around hills rather than through hills.”
Conceding that any neighborhood where a road is proposed will likely protest it, he added, “We all benefit if we open up the way that we move through Valley Center. Nobody is trying to stick a road down anybody’s . . . or up anybody’s. . . well, you get the idea.”
* * *
In other business the group voted to create the Orchard Run subcommittee to make recommendations on the 118 acre, 300 unit development overlooking the VC ballfields.
Larry Glavinic will be chairman of the subcommittee. Meetings will be next month, and the subcommittee will make a recommendation to the group next month. Watch the paper for announcements of the subcommittee’s meetings.
* * *
The group Monday welcomed its newest member, Maurice Cloutier. He already had a nameplate ready to go. It’s the same one he used when he was on the Escondido High School Board some years ago.
Valley Center drivers traveling at the bottom of the grade have watched with anticipation and perhaps dread as a bridge has sprung up over Valley Parkway near Washington.
Surely this must mean that traffic gridlock is in the future for drivers in that area.
Actually, it’s quite the contrary.
Although extensive grading work is planned for the Eureka Ranch development of 340 units on 161 acres, the bridge across the parkway will allow movements of 300,000 cubic yards of earth from east to west.
The bridge allows them to do that without traffic controls.
The land, which was in groves before, is being developed by two firms, Lennar Corp. and Centex Corp., according to Jay Petrek, senior planner for the City of Escondido.
The project is far and away the biggest residential development currently on the books for the city, said Petrek.
Within four to six months grading should be done, weather permitting, and assuming that they don’t run into a significant amount of rock.
After grading is complete, the bridge will come down. This will be followed by fine grading, building pads and undergrounding utilities. Then ten model homes will built.
Lot sizes range from 5,500 sq. feet to over 8,000 sq. feet. All are single family homes.
The development will widen Valley Parkway to four lanes, however, there will, for the time being, be a gap between the just completed Phase I of the Valley Center road widening and Valley Parkway.
Funding to complete the four lanes has not been approved yet, said Petrek. Completing it is part of an agreement between the County and the city.
“We recognize that’s going to be a needed improvement,” said Petrek.
A signal will be installed halfway between Lake Wohlford Road and Washington on Valley Parkway as part of the project.
Because of the number of vehicle trips the project is expected to generate, the developer is responsible for doing “significant” road improvements east of the project.
Part of the residential development includes a mile and a half of bike and horse trails. They will connect to the existing trails system at Daley Ranch. Walkers, bikes and horses will be able to take them from Daley Ranch nearly to Grape Day Park.
Sometimes you can get a lot of satisfaction in giving from helping someone, or a family directly, simply because you can see the results directly in their life.
That’s what Gina Mitchell of Gina’s Hair Salon and her employees decided.
“We’ve helped victims of the Katrina disaster and we’ve helped those who were affected by the Paradise fires. But sometimes you like to see the results from your giving,” she said.
The salon has adopted a working mother and her children from the area.
They are accepting non-perishable donations. Gasoline cards and gift certificates are also appropriate. They are also trying to come up with a functioning car for the woman.
“Our efforts will continue through the holidays. All items will be delivered to the family weekly. We want to thank you for joining in our efforts to help this mother get back on her feet,” said Mitchell.
When you drop items off at the salon, consider signing the “Thinking of You,” card in the lobby.
If you have questions, call the salon at 749-2344.
Craig Adams has resigned from the Valley Center Planning Group.
Adams, who is a popular teacher at Valley Center High School, where he teaches five classes and is the CSF advisor, sent a letter to the group saying that his workload at the school has become such that he couldn’t give his full attention to the planning group.
Adams, who for several years was chairman of the group, and who retired, only to run for election several years later, has served a total of 11 years.
He has also been popular with the voters, and has consistently scored either highest or near the top of vote getters each time he has stood for election.
“So, we have another vacancy,” said Andy Washburn with a sigh Monday night as he read Adams’s resignation letter.
This is the fifth vacancy that the planning group has had to fill since the November election.
The planning group will begin advertising for a replacement for the vacancy, which is Seat #4. The term expires in January 2007.
Interested persons should contact Leon Schwartz, Chairman of the Nominations Subcommittee, at 751-0163 for an application and a description of the nomination process. Applicants must be registered voters, living in the Valley Center Planning Area.
The Valley Center Community Planning Group is a board of fifteen elected representatives that advises the County of San Diego on land use and related planning matters. The next regular planning group meeting is scheduled for Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. at VC Community Hall.
The Valley Roadrunner
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Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
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