November 1, 2006 - Top Stories
Fire board director Weaver Simonsen worries that the fire district could put the price of a house even further out of the reach of normal people if it adopts developers’ fees.
“Are we making houses unaffordable by tacking on these developer fees?” he asked at Thursday night’s board meeting. The board was discussing whether to authorize SCI Consulting Group to proceed with its study of a development impact fee for the Valley Center Fire Protection District.
Nevertheless, the board did vote 4-0 to authorize the study at a cost of no more than $8,500.
SCI will also continue to do its previously authorized comprehensive parcel analysis, fire service plan peer review and benefit analysis. That could lead to asking residents to approve additional funding for VCFPD.
The developer fee study would require NO vote of the people, and could almost immediately start generating over $150,000 a year, according to estimates of Gerald van Steyn of SCI.
“It’s a good idea,” said Simonsen, “but you have to be cautious.”
He added, “You’re driving up the cost of housing along with everybody else and then people scream about affordable housing.
“It might be better if you took the fees off and came up with some other way to tax. I understand the concept of taxing to add a new fire station but to put a tax on to provide an operational service is something we should look at very carefully,” he said.
Board Pres. Mel Schuler said, “We are looking at it because everyone else is doing it. The schools are doing it and the parks are doing it because it’s the only way to increase your income.”
He added, “We’re pretty strapped in what we can do even at the point where we are looking at the potential for a bond to keep us where we need to be or where we would like to be.
“We can’t fall asleep and assume there’s some way to increase our income. SCI made a good proposal and if we don’t take advantage of it we are missing out.”
Simonsen agreed they should do the study, but that before the district adopts developer fees it should invite developers and builders to get their input.
A subcommittee of district administrator Steve Mahady, Schuler, Chief O’Leary, incoming director Oliver Smith and Thornton will continue to meet with CSI on its original project.
At their first meeting with van Steyn they cleared up a lot of questions. They gave van Steyn various “scenarios” that they want to look at and what funding is needed to achieve them. These include building a third fire station, adding a full time chief, or just maintaining the status quo.
“CSI will be back at the next meeting of the board in November,” said Schuler.
* * *
Five new firefighters who have joined the Valley Center Fire Protection District courtesy of supplemental funding from the County were introduced at Thursday night’s fire board meeting. They are: Tim Stephanovic, Abe Gonzales, Robert Reynolds, Anthony Cortes and Jason O’Brien.
Doug Moriarty and Rich Roesch, president of Mercy Ambulance noted that it’s coming up on the third year anniversary of the ambulance company being hired by the fire district.
To commemorate that the company will hold a barbecue Nov. 13 at Station 72 (the fire station at the corner of Valley Center & N. Lake Wohlford Roads). The public is invited to the barbecue, which will be held before the 7 p.m. board meeting.
Do you know the term: GIS, (geographical information systems)?
If you don’t, and you have children in the school district, they may soon know more about this technology than you do. Way more.
GIS is a technology that will be more and more common in business and government.
With GIS you can link data to location data, such as connecting people to addresses, buildings to parcels, water mains to streets, fire stations to fire incidents. You can then layer the data to understand better how everything works together. The applications are endless.
The district has gotten a grant for $450,000 that it is sharing with Palomar Community College, San Diego Mesa College, Fallbrook High School District, the Regional Environmental Business Resource Assistance Center and 30 industry partners to integrate GIS technology into the classroom. Ultimately $238,000 of the grant will directly benefit Valley Center students.
Denise McAndrews, who made a presentation on the grant to the October meeting of the VC-Pauma school board, noted that “We will use GIS to teach and then use GIS as a tool.”
The grant money will be used to buy computers, GIS units, a plotter, a server, to license software and get training.
“This is really exciting because in the business world you use this all the time,” said school board trustee Lori Johnson.
“We are going to be one of the few districts that will be at the forefront of it,” said McAndrews, who wrote the successful grant last spring.
Open Forum
At the open forum portion of the meeting, Dr. Clark Henderson, who has four children that he and his wife homeschool, asked the board to consider amending its policy on athletic and extracurricular participation by homeschooled children.
Supt. Lou Obermeyer said that she is surveying other districts to see what they are doing.
“We are collecting information and hope to share it with you at the next meeting,” she said.
Federal Impact Funds
Dr. Obermeyer presented a report on the Fall Conference of The National Assn. of Federally Impacted Schools (NAFIS) in Washington D.C. She, trustee Barbara Rohrer and business manager Pam Moe heard the latest information on the the federally funded Title VIII program.
Changes to the program and because the district lost many students who had been living on the reservation after their homes were destroyed by the 2003 Paradise Fire caused the district to lose $660,000 in federal impact funds.
“It’s an extremely valuable conference for our district to attend,” said Dr. Obermeyer. “It’s critical to attend these meetings at stay abreast.”
Title VIII is the second oldest elementary secondary federal education program. First passed in 1950 it provides aid to districts whose students live on federal lands not subject to property taxes. Over 1 million students in the United States are impacted.
The district has five Indian reservations in its boundaries.
“It’s a very complicated funding program,” observed Dr. Obermeyer. She noted that it is the only education program that is not “forward funded,” i.e., funding is based on calculations arrived at three years earlier.
Title VIII falls under federal No Child Left Behind legislation, which is currently up for reauthorization.
VC’s delegation met with legislative staffers and legislators on Capitol Hill along with delegations from the other 99 districts in California that get this funding. They asked legislators to restore funding to 2005 levels.
Mrs. Rohrer said that the congressional leaders she met said that it is perfectly legitimate for districts to expect to get this money since they don’t get property taxes from the areas covered.
“Valley Center has more Indian reservations than any other district in the state,” she said.
She added that attending this conference is very valuable. “To continue to be represented at this conference I would value highly. We just have to keep up to date on how that funding is coming along and to remind them that when it comes to budget, this is not the place to cut.”
IN OTHER business the board heard a presentation from Director of Curriculum, Ken Clark, regarding the Partnership for Success Program. The program guarantees entrance into Cal State San Marcos for VCHS graduates who meet CSU requirements.
Clark asked for direction from the board on how to proceed.
“I think it’s a great program and I would like to see us move forward,” commented Mrs. Johnson who asked that it be brought back next month as a voting item.
Disaster Plan
The board also approved the updated District Disaster Plan.
Developer Fees
The board held a hearing hearing on developer fees before voting to increase them from $2.24 to $2.63/ sq foot.
Along with every other community in the nation, Valley Center will vote at 11 precinct locations on Tuesday.
Although, in the main, the election will be unexciting locally, there are some contested elections.
Five candidates are running for three seats on the Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District board.
Incumbents Barbara Rohrer, Henry Van Wyk and Lori Johnson are attempting to fend off challenges from Doug Dechairo and Johnny Sowers.
Rohrer, Van Wyk and Johnson are running as a team, and touting their accomplishments during their long tenures on the unified board. They all say that since they recently appointed a new superintendent that they would like to stick around to see her through her first years at the job.
Dechairo, a longtime pediatrician in the area, is calling for some changes on the board, including more two way communication between trustees and the community.
Sowers, a longtime educator in the area, says that his experience in this area and passion for teaching and students will make him an asset on the board.
In the VC Municipal Water District’s third division longtime incumbent Gary Broomell (in his fourth decade on the board) is defending his seat from newcomer Al Sherr.
Sherr, a UPS driver, emphasizes keeping water rates low and the need to have a director represent the district on the San Diego County Water Authority board. He would like to direct district resources towards modernization and cost cutting measures.
Broomell, a lifelong grower, emphasizes that the job of a director is setting policy, rather than the day-to-day workings of the operation. He says the staff and general manager of the district are outstanding and his philosophy is to let them do their jobs.
At the periphery of Valley Center is the Deer Springs Fire Protection District, where probably the most hotly contested election is taking place.
The normally sedate fire district is the center of a controversy that is actually about a proposed development, the 2,700 home Stonegate development.
Opponents of the development want to try to impede it by stopping dead the fire board’s approval of a fire protection plan that the development needs to proceed. They claim that the plan is inadequate.
There are three seats on the board open, and two incumbents are running: Tom Bumgardner and Robert Winje.
Frank Donnelly, Pete Orner and Bruce Tebbs have made Stonegate’s fire protection plans the linchpin of their election efforts.
In conjunction with a weekly art program, Patrons of Special Care for Special Seniors Foundation will screen the animated cartoon The Adventures of Sidecar Ole and Tazzmo ™ at the Valley Center Library on Tuesday Nov. 7 at 4 p.m.
Designed for children ages 5-11, the animated “Adventures” will educate children about the value of all people, regardless of their age or abilities.
The Adventures of Sidecar Ole and Tazzmo was spawned from the idea of VC resident and PSCSSF CEO Carol Mohrbacher, who aspired to find a way to provide an educational tool for the next generation.
The animated feature follows a group of children as they attend a birthday party at the beach. They leave out Zach, the birthday boy who has some disabilities. Sidecar Ole teaches the children that “differences don’t make a difference” and they all go on an adventure together.
The animated cartoon is an entertaining and understandable way to present to young children difficult topics, in this case, Alzheimer's disease, and other disabilities.
Mohrbacher believes that the animated cartoon creates an opportunity for parents to bring the subjects of differences into everyday conversation for children and families.
For more information, call (619) 865-7019, or e-mail Cristin.Zweig@gmail.com.
Little witch Alyssa Ramirez won first place in the first grade and younger division for most traditional storybook character at Saturday’s annual Halloween Carnival at the lower school.
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.