The VC Parks & Rec. district Thursday night presented a vision for developing nine acres at the corner of Lilac & Valley Center roads and asked members of the public to comment.
This is important since the public could be asked to authorize as much as $12 million to pay for the vision.
The vision includes a community center, senior center and YMCA gym/multi-use facility.
The gym would be 8,800 square feet, the community center 7,200 sq. ft and the senior center would be 9,500 sq. ft.
About a dozen VC residents attended the meeting that was chaired by Eric Jockinsen. John Gerritsen, senior project manager, from Masson and Associates showed two maps of possible developments of the nine acres.
Jockinsen said that it is his vision to develop a center in the middle part of town or serve a buildout of 40,000 residents. “We are trying to have a civic center where people can go and do what they need to do without doing an awful lot of driving," said Jockinsen. ““We are just trying to decide what the community will need as it grows.”
Gerritsen, a resident for 30 years, is part of the team contracted by the district to study how to develop the property. “So I have a personal interest in how this is developed,” he said.
The fire station is part of the land that the district owns, however the plan works around it and treats it as a separate entity.
The proposal creates easy access to Lilac and Valley Center roads. "This will provide an opportunity for the center to grow," said Gerritsen.
The gym and multi-use building would be a joint use project with the Boys & Girls Club.
Gerritsen presented two maps. The second is the one most likely to be used because it impacts the oak trees the least while maintaining the relationship between the gymnasium and the community center.
Gerritsen called it a “campus style” concept.
The County has designated a trail system to run along VC Road. The new park will have a trail of its own that will connect to the County’s. Gerritsen and the parks board have done walk-throughs to come up with a multi-used trail which will integrate into the county system. It improves upon it, said Gerritsen, by taking a straight line and meandering it through the trees.
The late Brendan McNabb, who was the County’s project manager for the VC Road widening had originally suggested running the County’s trail into one of the only remaining oak groves in Valley Center, which is on the parks property. “We thought it was a grand idea to run a trail through there,” said Jockinsen.
When McNabb died his vision of a trail that connects to the County trail and is paid for by the County died too. “It fell off the County’s map to be built at their expense,” said Jockinsen. “We are still up in the air as to who will pay for it. It’s the only part of the trail that is not funded,” he said.
When Jockinsen opened the meeting to audience comments Pat Tousley said, “I think it’s a wonderful plan. A senior center is badly needed.”
She suggested that the VC Art Association could meet there and added that there are a lot of seniors who need a place to go. “There is no place in Valley Center for them to go.”
She said she has written to Supervisor Bill Horn and asked if the old CDF fire station property next to the school district on Cole grade Road could be used for a senior center.
Jockinsen said that’s unlikely because the land belongs to the State of California.
Another lady suggested integrating the senior center and YMCA so seniors could mentor the kids.
Asked if building locations are set in stone Jockinsen said that won’t be decided until after the project is approved by the voters.
He said the senior center will likely be dark when seniors aren’t using it. That contrasts with the gym/YMCA and community center, which would have dual uses.
Resident Rich Rudolph said he likes the second plan because buildings are farther from the roads.
The community center would be larger than the current one. It would have upstairs offices that could be used by businesses or organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce and be another source of income.
The gym would be multipurpose—not just a basketball court. It would have portable bleachers and multiple activities concurrently. The district will be meeting with the YMCA to get ideas on what to include in the gym, said Jockinsen.
Resident Joe Barner suggested including a skate board park in the plans. “There is really not a place outside for them to do that. If you don't give them a place to do that they will use your parking lots,” he said.
Jockinsen said they have looked at this before and that the insurance is prohibitive and a skateboard park is too expensive to run. They examined skateboard parks operated by other entities. The expense, “made our heads spin,” he said.
A resident asked what will happen to the old community center. Jockinsen said that they have tried to get the Community Hall put on the historic register, which would help preserve it. He said it will continue to be used. “It's not going anywhere.”
Morgan Rogers asked if they are considering a new swimming pool. Jockinsen replied that that too would be very expense, however they are looking at expanding the existing Adams Park pool.
“So far as a new one, probably not,” he said. The real problem is that the district doesn’t have the money to run another pool. It would be easier to expand the one. “It's just a matter of digging at one end,” he said.
The development, he said, would be another way to generate income for the district. The board is reluctant to spend the PLDO (Parklands Development Ordinance) money on projects that don’t generate cash, he said. The nine acres is “just prime, prime land,” he said.
Note: PLDO funds are generated for the parks district whenever a new house is built. It can be used only for capital projects, not for maintenance.
Another lady, a senior, replying to the woman who suggested that the senior center and YMCA should be adjacent, commented “I’m a senior citizen, and I don't really want the kids all that close!”
Gerritsen said he plans to create some separation between the two centers.
Director Tom Litchfield noted that the board will go to the community for a third time to ask for funding. “This time unlike previous times, the district will be spelling out exactly how the money will be spent,” he said.
The center could cost between $11 million and $12 million he said. Currently VCP&R has about $600,000 in PLDO funds.
The board was asked how many sewer connections it will have to serve the development. Jockinsen said that the district was able to buy ten EDU (equivalent dwelling units) and will be getting eight EDUs from the Orchard Run development for a total of 18.
“We will build whatever you tell us to build,” Jockinsen told the audience.
A 14-year-old freshman at Valley Center High School was hit and killed about 5:45 p.m. Sunday while he was riding his bike with a friend.
Kas Saunders, 14, was pronounced dead at the scene at Cole Grade Road, across from Pauma Heights Road, after he was struck by a 1997 Cadillac sedan driven by VC resident Robert Bernabeo, 47.
The Cadillac had been traveling southbound on the road at about 30-40 mph. The two bicyclists were traveling on the right shoulder ahead of the driver. A friend of the bicyclist was riding his bike just ahead of the victim and witnessed the collision.
According to one report Kas yelled a warning to his fellow rider, saving his life.
The Cadillac veered to the right. The victim struck the windshield and went under the car.
The victim was dragged under the car until the car came to a stop on Pauma Heights Road just west of the intersection.
The boy was not wearing a helmet, according to California Highway Patrol spokesman Tom Kerns.
Family members were present when the young man died, according to a spokesman for the VC Fire Protection District, whose Mercy Ambulance answered the call.
He had been riding on Cole Grade Road in the southbound lane.
The driver of the sedan was Robert Bernabeo, 46, of VC. He was not injured. He was evaluated by a California Highway Patrol drug recognition expert at the scene, according to Kerns and later booked for felony DUI for allegedly driving under the influence of a prescription drug, and for manslaughter.
Word spread quickly of the accident, which was near the high school, and soon a crowd of about 100, many of them young people, gathered nearby.
One of the earliest people to come upon the scene was Principal Ron McCowan, who told The Roadrunner: “Obviously it hit the school very hard. He knew quite a few students because he had been in the community a long time. He was a well-liked young man, which is showing up with how many students are grieving.”
Additional counseling staff and members of the clergy were brought to the school Monday and spoke to students who were having a tough time after the accident. Many students elected to stay home.
Students worked on writing condolence messages to Kas Saunders’s mother, McCowan said.
* * *
Kas Saunders lived with his mother, Kim in VC and had lived in Valley Center all his life. He had just started his high school career a few weeks earlier.
“I feel empty on the inside without him, like I can never cry or laugh again,” Kas’s best friend, Justin Causey said in an interview Monday.
They spent lots of time together.
“Usually we would always go over to each other’s houses. We would swim and ride bikes and hike behind his house. Sometimes we would go to the movies together.”
Kas, said Justin, “liked a lot of anime [Japanese animation]. I know he was a fan of the Saw movies and Resident Evil.”
Justin remembers meeting Kas in the fifth grade. “We were put the same classroom and me and him started hanging out.”
Kas had wanted to be an FBI agent when he grew up, according to Justin. “He wanted to stop all gang members. He didn’t like gangs. He told me he wanted to do it because one of his family members was killed by a gang.”
The most remarkable thing about his friend was his ability to make others laugh, said Justin.
“He made me laugh. The main reason I laughed was him. I’d say something that was funny and then he would laugh hard and that would make me laugh.
“It was a joyful, a high-pitched laughy voice that could bring a smile to everyone’s face.”
Three hundred 9th grade VCHS students Tuesday, Sept. 25 kicked off the Partnership for Success program guaranteed admission to California State University San Marcos.
They took part in a ceremony in front of the Kellogg Library at the university.
The ceremony included students, teachers, parents, administrators and board members from the Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District along with university officials.
The Partnership for Success Program guarantees admission to all Valley Center High School graduates who meet minimum CSU eligibility requirements starting with the class of 2011.
The entire 9th grade Valley Center High School class will be bused to the university to tour the campus and participate in the ceremony.
Dr. Karen Haynes, University President and VC-P Supt. Lou Obermeyer, will preside over the ceremony and inspire the entire 9th grade class to pursue a post-secondary education.
The ceremony will also include accepting a $25,000 donation from the Staples Foundation President, Joe Bowe, as seed money for the program.
The Partnership for Success Program enhances and expands the educational opportunities for residents living in the area. Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District and California State University San Marcos have agreed that a college preparation program and guaranteed admission and support partnerships will provide a valuable mechanism for increasing the number and percentage of VCPUSD graduates qualifying for admission into the university. For further information contact:
A large crane prepares to lift large pipelines into place on Monday as part of the Valley Center Road widening project.
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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