About 150 members of the community gathered Saturday night at Harrah’s Pavilion to see Verle Yoder sworn in as Chamber of Commerce president and to honor Citizen of the Year Ron McCowan.
This was probably a record attendance for the event.
It was also a star-studded evening when it came to politicians, with Assembly-man Kevin Jeffries and Fifth District Supervisor Bill Horn attending.
Jim Dorschel was MC again, a task he has carried out gracefully for the past few dinners.
McCowan was introduced early to give Assemblyman Jeffries a chance to give him a plaque, and then leave for another appointment.
He was introduced by last year’s Citizen of the Year, Marcia Townsend.
In his brief address McCowan, principal of VC High School, downplayed the role he played in organizing the campus into a fire relief center during the October wildfires. Instead he chose to talk about relationships, highlighting the rapport that teachers form with students and named several teachers that motivate students and create successful relationships.
In his address as incoming president Yoder praised the incoming board and commented, “It’s all about setting up a great team!”
He spoke about how the Chamber has been working to do strategic planning for the future and told business owners, “Let us know if there is anything that we as a Chamber can do for you.”
Outgoing president Yeager used the opportunity to highlight sponsors of tables at the dinner, including Valley View Casino, Harrah’s Rincon, San Pasqual Tribe, Palomar Broadband, John Konyn & Son Dairy; and centerpiece sponsors, Lake Wohlford Café, SDG&E, Cal State San Marcos.
Awards were presented to “Businesses of the Year” to Harrah’s Rincon Resort & Casino and Valley View Casino and “Small Business of the Year” to the Community Pharmacy.
LaVonne Johnson, who heads up the Chamber’s Ambassadors was honored as that group’s first ever “Ambassador of the Year.”
Last year’s Chamber board of directors was recognized: Tom Bumgardner (leaving), Carol Timm (leaving), Keith DeTellem (leaving), Roger Leydecker (leaving) and Joe Johnson (leaving). So were last year’s Ambassadors: Donna Weldon, Jana Limon, Nicky Lovejoy , Stacy Gibson, Brenda Kline and Tiffany Lopez (all leaving).
Last year’s Western Days committee was recognized: Tom Bumgardner, LaVonne Johnson, Kathy Woodhouse, Charlie Smith, Craig Ames, Roger Leydecker, Chairman; Morgan Rogers, LaCross Foundation; Kathy Holt, Publicity & Grand Marshal; DonnaMarie Cruickshank, Valley Center Women’s Club; Vick Navarro, Pop Warner; Tom Linley, Parade; Flo Griffis, Parade; Shawneen Burdick, Announcers/Judges; Chelsea Good, Press Relations; Carol Timm, Main Bank.
The Chamber’s executive secretary Sue Richmond, was also recognized.
“Past Citizens of the Year” were mentioned, starting with those who wanted to attend but couldn’t: 1971–Marion Lee, 1986 –Ruth Parsons, 1992–Georgine Thomas, 1998–Ed Phillips and (2000 Citizen of the Year) Penny Phillips.
Those past Citizens who were able to make it included: 1969– William Hutchings, 1990–Pat and Nancy Barrett, 1993–Marge and Hank Weldon, 1994–Fran De Wilde, 1997–Donna Jorgensen Weldon, 1999– Nicky Lovejoy, 2001–Don Martin, 2003–Tom Bumgardner, 2006–Marcia Townsend.
The new officers and board of directors were as follows: President, Verle Yoder; Vice-President, Shawneen Burdick; Secretary, Chelsea Good; Treasurer, Bob Payne and Past President, John Yeager. Directors: John Smylie, Bill Lewis, Carla Miller, Paul LeFevre, Vince Sedio, Rick Restivo, Charlie Smith and Carol Mohrbacher.
The new corps of Ambassadors, the Chamber’s “worker bees,” include: Chairman, LaVonne Johnson; Scribe, Jennifer Lavine; Keith DeTellem, Mary Burdick, Kathleen Patton, Melody Hawthorne and Shawneen Burdick.
Harrah’s Casino and the Rincon Tribe held a party Friday afternoon to celebrate the opening of the $18 million Garden Tower redesign.
VIPs included members of the Rincon Tribal Council, including Bo Mazzetti, Gil Parada, Stephanie Spencer and Charlie Kolb.
There was also a full delegation of the VC Chamber of Commerce, including outgoing president John Yeager, incoming president Verle Yoder, board members Shawneen Burdick and outgoing director Tom Bumgardner.
Also on hand were representatives of the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, San Diego North Convention & Visitors Bureau, Escondido Chamber of Commerce, State Sen. Jim Battin, San Pasqual Tribal Chairman Allen Lawson.
Mistress of ceremonies was casino general manager Janet Beronio, who introduced Senator Battin, a Republican senator who has been a longtime friend of gaming in the state.
He characterized Rincon’s story as “a great success story in what tribal gaming can do for California.” He pointed out that most jobs provided by casinos are well-paying and provide good benefits.
Beronio made a few comments about the redesign, which began last September. “We feel that we have taken the best and made it better!” she said.
The work included transforming a smaller hotel lobby and other space into more hotel rooms. So now the total is 662 rooms, including 104 suites.
The rooms were completely redesigned.
The redesign was carried out in spite of the challenges presented by the October wildfires. “It takes scores of people working around the clock to make it come together,” said Beronio.
The architects for the project was the Friedmutter Group, an award-winning design, architecture, and master planning firm specializing in large multi-use.
Beronio thanked the casino and hotel’s 1,600 team members, “for continuing to provide the best of service in spite of all the challenges.”
After the brief ceremony guests were given tours of some of the new rooms and the new 7,500 sq ft. junior ballroom, on the second floor of the Spa Tower.
They were also served a luncheon in the Cabana Cove restaurant.
The first meeting of the Valley Center Fire Safe Council attracted 26 attendees, according to James Courter, the organizer.
They included outgoing Fire Chief (now Cal Fire Northern Operations Chief) Kevin O'Leary, new VC Fire Chief John Kremensky, VC Fire Marshal George Lucia, Cal Fire Captain Saul Villagomez and several fire fighters.
Christine Meyers from the Fire Safe Council of San Diego County gave a presentation to the group on what Fire Safe Councils are and how they are formed.
Lucia told the group about how well the FSC’s have worked in other communities such as Palomar Mountain and encouraged the assembled group to proceed rapidly with forming the local Council.
After some discussion, some members decided to get together and have a second meeting to select officers and discuss future projects.
That meeting will be on Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. at the Lower Elementary School, 28751 Cole Grade Rd.
Anyone interested is invited to come. A representative of the Fire Safe Council of San Diego County will be there to assist as needed.
For further information, contact Courter at (760) 715-7523, or by email at vcfsc@earthlink.net.
Heavy rains over the weekend finally brought some debris flows that county and tribal officials had prepared for in the last few storms since the wildfires of October stripped vegetation bare over a wide area.
Rains ranged in intensity between about an inch and a half on Sunday in Valley Center and Pauma Valley to nearly 4 inches on Palomar Mountain.
Sunday night a rock slide closed the South Grade on Palomar Mountain about three quarters of the way up, near the 45 mile marker. Most of the grade up to that point was treacherous going and nearly impassable with rocks and gravel barely distinguishable from road in the fog.
The rock broke through a metal retainer intended to protect the roadway from such a slide at this particular curve.
The metal mesh-type retainer is still intact and full of rock, but apparently much of the rock broke loose and subverted it onto the roadway. Although this is in the burn area, it is not clear if this rock slide occurred as a result of the burn, or would have occurred anyway.
It was cleared by Monday about 9:30 a.m.
Hwy 76 was closed intermittently, mainly because of flooding near the intersection with South Grade.
Flooding occurred a few times at the intersection of Pauma Reservation Road and Hwy 76, which apparently caused a collision Monday morning.
According to Sheriff Lt. Sean Gerrity at least four watersheds in the burn area visibly had debris flows crossing and/or traveling down local roadways.
At the intersection of Adams Road & Pauma Reservation Road, where there is a burn area watershed, several thousand cubic meters of debris broke loose.
On Monday Gerrity reported: “The unnamed creek at the base of this watershed apparently feeds through a culvert, which appears to be buried, now. It nearly aligns perfectly with the straight portion of Adams Road that leads directly to Pauma Reservation Road. This creek intersects with Adams road on Thomas Brothers Map Page 1031 A7.
“The deep debris and mud flow went over Adam Road (or possibly broke through Adams road, but I could not tell), down the creek, and also easterly around the small curve on Adams Road, then straight down Adams Road onto Pauma Reservation Road. It continued down Pauma Reservation Road onto Hwy 76. Pauma Reservation Road/Hwy 76 was cleared and opened last night, but apparently had more flow back onto Hwy 76 later this morning, apparently causing a non-injury collision after sunrise this morning.”
Adams Road from the creek's intersection to Pauma Reservation Road was so deep with debris and mud that it was not passable, not even with four-wheel drive.
Anyone in that area who didn’t evacuate when asked to several days earlier was probably stranded for a time.
The creek itself also had debris flow over Adams Road, which crossed Citricado Road, also.
This was probably the same watershed that released debris onto Adams Road during the weekend of Nov. 30, according to Gerrity.
Road crews from the county Dept. of Public Works and Cal Trans worked overtime to clear the debris and water flow that flowed across and westbound along Hwy 76 from Pauma Reservation Road, at the site of the collision.
Two smaller watersheds next to and directly west of this watershed, also had flows that crossed Adams Road. Both also had mud slide activity crossing Adams Road, with the one furthest west causing about 12 feet of steep mud across Adams Road, only passable with a four-wheel drive vehicle.
Authorities found an abandoned car stuck there.
The water on Hwy 76 west of South Grade was the same location of the mud slide that occurred during the weekend of January 4.
This flow came from the watershed west of South Grade Road.
On Tuesday Cal Trans was still directing traffic on one lane around the deeper water flow on the westbound side, while trying to clear the clogged culverts.
The Valley Center Community Planning Group at its January meeting accepted a report from the VC Trails Subcommittee.
The nearly unanimous vote was to 1) accept the subcommittee’s report, 2) approve the modifications to the trails map and 3) approve the proposed modifications to the existing Master Plan Text for Valley Center.
Rich Rudolf, vice chairman of the VC Trails Assn., made the presentation.
The VCCPG asked the VCTA to obtain this input and present it to the VCCPG with its recommendations for changes.
About a dozen people in the audience said that they were attending in support of the trails.
Rudolf noted that a previous trails map was adopted in 2001.
The trails element is a document adopted by the Board of Supervisors separate from the County General Plan.
This allows the Supervisors to amend it as many times as they want without having to redo the general plan or amendments.
When the VC Road improvement contract was let the County included a one-mile “Heritage Trail,” that will run from Woods Valley Road along a 13-foot right of way to Parks & Rec. property at the corner of Lilac & VC Road.
The County plans to pay for and build this trail, said Rudolf. It is also talking with the VC Municipal Water District about carrying the trail the water district’s property across the street from VC Community Center.
Carrying the revised trail plan to fruition will require buying or acquiring by donation lands that lie within a quarter mile of the line designated on the map.
No land will be acquired by eminent domain, says Rudolf.
“The Parks and Rec District has been very helpful. There has been lots of public input from people who saw the map at the library and viewed it at www.vc trails.org,” said Rudolf.
He noted that County has passed an ordinance that says that if you donate an easement the county will indemnify you if someone is injured while using the trail on your property.
Most of this will be pathways instead of an actual trail.
The difference is this: Trails are real trails away from public owned property. A pathway is a trail along a road and within public right of way.
This pathway/trail will be owned and maintained by the County. Water pipes and conduits will serve the trees along the trails.
Some of the changes to the previous trails map included:
1.Removal of the “Demonstration Trail” around the Parks and Recreation District land at the VC/Lilac Roads intersection, substituted with a minor realignment of Heritage Trail through its VC Road frontage.
2. Add a real “trail” through Keys Creek Canyon connecting the village centers with the future Lilac Ranch Project as a branch off “Heritage Trail.”
According to the report: “Construction of the Heritage Trail by the County as part of the road improvement project provides a huge jump-start for our trail system. It also sets up the realistic possibility of a trail (not a pathway adjacent to a major road) spur off Heritage Trail near the bridge over Keys Creek through either Water District or Mary McMann Family Trust property to connect to Gerry Gaughan’s canyon parcels he purchased to accommodate his Miller/VC Road proposed project. The trail would then generally follow the creek until the creek turns west around Dermid Road. It would continue north to connect to the end of current Hilldale Road. There it would meet the 2020 Circulation Element’s proposed extension of Hilldale Road west to Keyes Creek Road.”
3. Add pathways from Cole Grade Road west along Hilldale Road to its current end, and continuing northwest along the creek in the alignment of the proposed road to connect Hilldale to Keys Creek Road and the Lilac Ranch Project.
4. Add a trail/pathway through Gaughan Project and shopping center to Cole Grade Road with northern spur to Library.
5. Add Orchard Vista Road as a potential alternate access to Daley Ranch.
6. Add a new Priority 1 Trail/Pathway between Bets-worth and Mirar de Valle along the East side of Frace Lane, and upgrade Betsworth, from The Ranch to Frace Lane, from Priority 3 to Priority 1.
7. Add to the existing pathway on Miller Road from Cole Grade to Wilhite Lane, north along Wilhite to Sturnella Way, East to Coyote Run, north to Rabbit Run and along Rabbit Run to the end, where Rabbit Run stubs into the Sundance Ranch Project. Then continuing to make connections to Paso Robles, Villa Sierra and to the water district reservoir land at the end of Miller, and making the loop back to Wilhite.
8. Add a pathway south on Paso Robles, east on Hawksbury Lane from Paso Robles Road connecting to Viking Grove Lane, and Severino Lane to MacTan Road and Yellow Brick Road.
9. Add a pathway continuing south on Paso Robles from Hawksbury Lane to Fruitvale.
10. Add a pathway on Yellow Brick Road north of Fruitvale to south of Wizard Way where the trail comes out of Rincon Reservation, and east to the planning area boundary
11. Add a pathway from Cool Valley Road East of Villa Sierra to Calle Feliz to Yellow Brick Road to Fruitvale Road.
12. Add a trail/pathway from the Hellhole Canyon Preserve staging area west through the preserve along Santee Lane and Sunset Vista Lane, north onto Canal Road at the San Pasqual Indian Reservation, north to the west entrance to Hellhole Canyon Preserve.
Having these map lines enable the Trails Assn. to ask for grants to buy land that would someday connect to the network.
The biggest changes since the planning group last considered the Trails Master Plan in 2001 are the VC Road Improvements Project and a companion Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Program Project.
The road project includes a 2-mile “Heritage Trail” from Woods Valley Road to Cole Grade Road, mostly a “pathway” along the road, but including a one-mile “enhanced” portion from Old Road to Miller Road.
That part of the Heritage Trail will be built by the County as a trail/pathway, eight feet wide on a four-in decomposed granite base, with lodge pole pine railings on both sides. It will meander away from the edge of the road down into an easement through the Parks and Recreation District’s nine-acres at the VC & Lilac Road corner oaks and boulders, and some portion north of the Lilac intersection before the Keyes Creek bridge.
Because of the late Brendan McNabb of the county’s Dept. of Public Works and VC’s Lael Montgomery and others, the County obtained a $387,000 environmental mitigation grant to replace trees destroyed by the road widening project and install landscaping, benches and signs on the pathway, after its expected completion this November.
The remainder of the two and one-half mile pathway along VC Road will also have lodge pole pine railings installed and trees planted wherever possible with funding from this same grant.
Along with the VCTA, the County has applied to the state for a second EEMP grant to enhance the pathway beyond the currently funded one mile portion, including benches, historical and nature signage, and improved pathway bedding.
According to the report, “This will provide a very visible, and beautiful, beginning to the long-desired Valley Center trail system set forth in the County Trails Master Plan, adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 2005.”
The VC Municipal Water District’s purchase of 32 acres abutting VC Road, a proposed project purchasing 147 acres in Keyes Creek Canyon, positive feedback from the Mary McMann Family Trust, and the revival of planning for the Lilac Ranch Project, have combined to make a real trail opportunity away from traffic in the Keyes Creek Canyon viable.
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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