September 13, 2006 - Top Stories
Unless you have been living under a rock, (which some residents do) you have probably noticed that Valley Center’s infrastructure has undergone some serious changes.
For more than a year, our town is gradually becoming a bona fide city, as the multi-year Valley Center Road Widening project continues to inch along.
Telephone poles have been moved (eventually to be undergrounded), and much earth has been displaced. Valley Center has a new sewer system, and a pumping station that will treat water for many residents.
Everywhere you go, people have an opinion on the newfangled changes going on the in the Valley.
Some people welcome the growth, while others harken back to the way things used to be.
Whatever side of the fence you may be on there is one thing all residents should be able to agree on—getting around Valley Center has become increasingly difficult.
At the heart of this issue is commerce in our little town.
The business owners that choose to do business here all have opinions about how the road project affects their business.
On one hand, a wider road brings in a chance for more business; on the other, more congestion might make Valley Center a less attractive place to shop.
Surprisingly, not all businesses have been impacted in the same manner. Some have not felt any inconvenience, while other can only operate on the weekends when the roadwork is not going on.
Here’s what some business owners had to say:
“I think the only reason the roads are being widening is so more people can get to the casinos. If you come here (to the shopping center) between two and three you’re not getting in here.”—Charles from The Video Playhouse
“Actually it’s making our sign very dirty. We’ve put it out on the road. As far as stopping new people from coming in, we’re having a harder time because the entrance is hard anyway, and now its blocked off. Other than that, we’ll be glad to have it done.”—Susan Williams from Desert Rose
“Gosh, this little shopping center here, people come in no matter what. I don’t really know if it’s affecting our business in a bad way. It is harder to get in here, and you have to be careful. I’m surprised that nobody’s hit somebody head-on in the suicide lane. People don’t want to drive down the hill and they like to shop local.”—Tirso Ruiz from The Sports Closet
“I’ve only been open Saturdays and Sundays at this point. It doesn’t do me any good, at this point to be open. I’m shut down Monday through Friday. They are gone on the weekends, so I’m open on the weekends, sticking the cars out there and that’s the way it been going for me.”—Jim De Pew from P&C Motors
* * *
As the construction continues, we’ll continue to keep you posted. If you are a business owner or residential owner impacted by the construction and would like to sound off, call us at 749-1112.
Two churches in town, Calvary Chapel and Ridgeview, have joined forces.
Calvary Chapel, which was established around 1993 and has about 75 members, has joined with Ridgeview, which has about 300 members and is located at 28094 North Lake Wohlford Road.
The church had been meeting at the sanctuary at the corner of Miller & Cole Grade Road, which had previously been a Baptist church and the Olive Branch church. Tom Linley, Calvary Chapel’s pastor, has been at the church for about six years.
Doctrinally the churches are very similar. According to Bill Trok, pastor at Ridgeview, “We don’t spend a lot of time fighting about minor differences in doctrine.” In other words, they don’t battle a lot about great questions of the day such as how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
Calvary Chapel’s pastor, Tom Linley, and Trok became good friends a few years ago.
“For the past couple of years Bill and I have gotten to know each other, and realized that we had kind of the same vision, and we saw that we have differing and complimentary gifts,” Pastor Linley told The Roadrunner this week.
“We played around with the idea of merging. Instead of a lot of little churches why not join forces and try to reach the communiyt in that way?” said Linley.
Trok will remain as senior pastor and Linley will become associate pastor.
According to Trok, the church will explore adding some programs, and possibly an additional service.
Ridgeview, which is located at a site where Grandview Church used to meet, is kind of out of the way. It’s on North Lake Wohlford Road, just past the middle school and just before the casino.
Once you actually find the church, however, you will discover that it’s in a very charming, woody area.
Services are held Sunday 9:30 a.m. There are also some meetings midweek. Call 751-9890.
As crop values for San Diego County reached an all-time high this year, Valley Center accounted for almost 8% of the total crops planted.
With nearly 80% of the water in VC sold to growers, this community remains an agricultural powerhouse compared to the rest of the county.
The area covered by the VC Municipal Water District also accounted for well over half of the total acres of avocados planted in the county.
Twenty percent of the acres devoted to nurseries and nursery crops in the county were in Valley Center.
Nearly 28% of the citrus acreage planted in the county is in Valley Center.
Figures like these have been unavailable in previous years.
Although for purposes of privacy, the County Department of Agriculture, Weights & Measures (AWM) in its annual report does not break down the numbers of acres devoted to various kinds of crops in terms of communities, the VC Municipal Water District this year did just that.
In January the district published a detailed report of each type of ag, going so far as to identify three acres devoted to sugar cane and 30 acres of grapes. It was the most comprehensive and complete study of farming in Valley Center in the history of the water district.
By subtracting the Valley Center totals from the County Dept. of Agriculture totals, The Roadrunner was able to come up with percentages of totals. This allows us to calculate how much of the total VC growers contribute to.
So, for example, we were able to calculate that while the total acreage in agriculture in the county was 273,176, that the total for Valley Center was 21,434 acres, or nearly 8%.
Totals for acres planted in avocados for the County were 26,326 with 14,829 acres of avocados in Valley Center, or 56%. The total value of the crop in 2005 was $251 million. That made VC’s avo industry worth $141 million last year.
Last year 10,221 acres countywide were planted in cut flowers and nursery crops. Valley Center accounted for 2,058 or about 20% of that. Since nursery crops were worth $990 million in 2005, that made nursery crops a $198 million industry locally.
The acres countywide planted in citrus last eyar were 13,803, compared to 3,823 in Valley Center. That gives VC about 28% of the total. Since the total value of the crop countywide last year was $38.364 million, that made the VC citrus industry worth about $11 million.
According to the county report, the crop values countywide surpassed $1 billion for the 13th year in a row. It reached $1.5 billion last year. That’s a 5% increase over last year, according to County Agricultural Commissioner Bob Atkins.
Ag ranks as the fifth most valuable industry in the county. San Diego growers exported 8,500 shipments to 62 countries around the world. More than 200 crops are grown locally. Eighteen (18) crops had a value of $10 million or more.
Nursery and flower crops account for 66% of the County’s ag value. That’s somewhat different in VC, where avocado crops rival the nursery crops in value ( $141 million for avocados, compared to $198 million for nursery crops.
To obtain a full copy of the report county report, go to http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/awm/crop_statistics.html.
If you’d like to see the figures for Valley Center, contact the Valley Center Municipal Water District office at 749-1600.
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
Copyright © 2006, Palomar Community Newspapers, dba Valley Roadrunner. All rights reserved. This content may not be archived, retransmitted, saved in a database, or used for any commercial purpose without the express written permission of the Valley Roadrunner.