Revitalization meeting highlights community’s concerns with roads



Roads, roads, roads seemed to be the community’s main concern at the first of 5th  District Supervisor Jim Desmond’s series of Revitalization committee meetings August 8. How to make them less deadly. How to create a viable evacuation route out of town. And how traffic from new developments will impact them. 

The meeting was held in the spacious Middle School multipurpose room. About 75 residents attended.

After the meeting Desmond commented,  “It was great to see the community out to talk about issues and improvements we can work on in Valley Center. We will now work with the residents and County staff to make those improvements.”

Desmond opened the meeting, telling the crowd that the goal was to “bring the resources of the County” to address local concerns.  He noted that several months ago the level of interest in the new VC Community Plan Update was so high that a couple of hundred people attended, and they had to rescheduled for another, larger venue.

The purpose was not to cover that ground again, or to “usurp” the Valley Center Community Planning Group’s land use functions, he said. “We’re not here to get in their way, or in the way of the update,” he said. “We are here to hopefully bring County resources to address some of your concerns.” He added, “We are here to hear your priorities. Not from us, but from you.”

County staffers and other public resources included Marcus Lubich, Department of Parks and Recreation; Jake Enriquez, Department of Parks and Recreation; Brian Albright, Department of Parks and Recreation;  Mark Latulippe, California Highway Patrol;  Joe Napier, Valley Center Fire Protection District; Danyte Mockus-Valenzuela, Behavioral Health Services; Stephen Maduli-Williams, Housing and Community Development Services; David Estrella,  Housing and Community Development Services;  Chuck Matthews, Regional Administration; Mark Slovick,  Planning & Development Services;  Darin Neufeld, Planning & Development Services; Robert Efird, Planning & Development Services; James Bolz, Department of Public Works; Thomas Herzberger, Department of Public Works, Road; Anthony Ariosta, Department of Public Works, Road.

Desmond also brought several aides, including his chief of staff, public relations aide, land use advisor, executive assistant and neighborhood reinvestment funding aide, who were all taking notes on the requests and comments from the audience. 

Audience members received hand-outs that asked them to volunteer for committees that would address their pet issues. “This first meeting is to gather information and organize small subcommittees,” said Desmond. They would be asking people to take on leadership roles.  

“Today we are here to get your input, and then we want you to sign up,” he said.

Desmond said he heard complaints about the time of day the meeting was held. The time was in part dictated by the need for county staffers to attend. He said there would be opportunities for those who missed the first meeting to sign up for subcommittees.

“You can have committees for whatever you want to set them up. ‘It’s a living thing,” and not set in stone, he said.

The first speaker, John Richards, asked if the County could offer teleconferencing so that locals could interact with their elected officials without having to actually travel down the Pacific Highway to attend a Board of Supervisors meeting. “When one lives in a rural community, the representation is not equal to those who live in the city,” he said. In Santa Barbara County the Board of Supervisors allows residents of far-flung communities to speak directly to their representatives via teleconferencing. 

Desmond said this was a good idea and added that it might be possible for residents to testify to the board using YouTube. 

Richards added, “We had this Rite Aid project that went through. The planning group voted against it. My understanding is that one person with the County made the decision to not pay attention to that. It seems like there is disrespect on someone’s  parts not paying attention to what our community is saying. A lot of issues that were bypassed and overlooked. One person was disrespectful to our community.” 

Judy Kooyers of Paradise Mountain talked about the inadequacy of roads in that part of town. “Some of North Lake Wohlford Road is in the city and some is in the county. In the rain, the yellow lines are not visible,” she said. “They need to be more visible with curbs during the rainy season. In Paradise Mountain you can’t see the yellow line past Canal Street,” she said. Although the yellow lines are repainted annually, “It is something that needs to be addressed more frequently because of the traffic,” she said.

Desmond advised that people with specific road concerns set up committees to deal with those issues. “We have people to deal directly with you.”

A representative of the road department said, “We do restripe the roads on a regular basis,” but took notes on the location of the worst problems. “We will take a look at those,” he said. 

John Yeager, treasurer of the Valley Center Community Aide Group, said his group raises money for scholarships and to help people in distress. “Another thing we can use is resources. Where can we point people in the right direction and be a liaison?”

“Call my office,” replied Desmond. “We have an office of people wanting to hook you up!” 

A woman in the audience said she would like to see more funds allocated to the fire department and remarked that many people who have moved to VC have never experienced a major wildfire.

A “longtime resident,” asked who is in charge of environmental issues [the answer is the Department of Planning & Development Services] and said, “I’d like to see more effort devoted to protecting the biosphere,” and to see more planning to deal with extreme heat events.  She said she has studied  SANDAG (San Diego Association of Governments) “Big Five Moves” for dealing with transportation. “I have seen their presentation. They are not taking money away from roads. I would encourage you to attend their events,” she said.

Local architect Will Rogers quipped, “I came for the revitalization part!” He said that he has been involved with trying to obtain  Community Development Block Grant funds. “I echo what everyone else says about the roads.”  He added, “Because of the growth that is coming, traffic is going to get worse on Lake Wohlford Road. The condition of that road has to be paid attention to. Roads are really important, as well as maintaining them.”

Gina Roberts suggested that SANDAG help coordinate the city and county to improve Lake Wolhford Road. “The worst part is in the city of Escondido,” she said.

Roberts, who is president of the Valley Center Western Days Committee, talked about the changes county staff has proposed to special events regulations. Changes which largely add fees that organizers must pay to the County. “To get money from the County in order to pay the county seems kind of silly,” said Roberts. 

Currently, she said, “I have to pay the CHP huge amounts for traffic control, about $11,000. And that’s with the extraordinary cooperation of our first responders.”

She added her dislike of traffic circles that have been proposed for Valley Center Road. “I almost got creamed at a traffic circle because if you build them you can’t see across them.” Roberts added, “People come flying around them . I realize there are some design standards but in some cases, they are not being followed correctly.”

Another audience member worries about evacuation routes. “We are characterized as a high danger area. “She said she was experiencing problems getting insurance.  “Who is going to insure us, when we have no way in some cases for getting out? You have to pay some attention to the roads.”

Local real estate agent Carmen Cifuentes of RE/MAX said, “We have a great amount of businesspeople who work from home. It would be great for us to get support for small businesses, such as ways to encourage co-working space. We need to  support small businesses in Valley Center, especially home-based businesses.”

Desmond interjected. “The intent is for you to give us your priorities and we’ll get you hooked up with whoever. We are not going to fix everything. At least we can get to having a better understanding to maybe why we can’t fix something, and where can we put our money.” Then when the budget comes up for a vote, at least they will be aware of those needs, he said.  “I’m  hearing a lot of roads. Give me the top of the list. I want to hear your priorities.”

One man, who complained about the fact that the high school had been located at the end of a two-lane road, declared, “What in the world were you thinking. He added, “The problem is the County is not interested in building more damned roads.  I would like to meet some people who are actually interested in building roads. We need to be able to get in and out.”

Resident Jim Neilsen said that several times a week he walks from Cole Grade to Lilac and back along VC Road. “The curves where the coffee truck is a death trap,” he said. “I’ve seen four accidents. That has got to be addressed; immediately in my opinion, because cars go over the walking trail. What happens is they have wooden poles up there and cars go right through the wood.” Neilsen suggested that a stop sign at Miller Road “could save some lives.”

Another speaker was concerned that no one was talking about the local education system and how it was “going to be overloaded with six hundred people coming into the the community. Did we take that into consideration before we issued the permits to build these homes?”

She added that after  6 p.m. “There are only two deputies to patrol from Lake Henshaw to Fallbrook. Did we take that into consideration? With more people coming into the community, with more crime, the more resources will be tapped into.” She suggested that “the developers” be forced to provide the money for road and other improvements. 

Desmond said the County doesn’t site the schools and that the school district says whether it can accept new students or not.

VCPUSD Supt. Ron McCowan told the group that Park Circle developer Kerry Garza had worked well with the district. “Right now, the houses will get two hundred and fifty students over five years” said McCowan. “As more and more developments come in, we will get more.”

Facilities are already in place because the district has been in negative enrollment for several years. “The hard part will be keeping our existing buildings maintained because developer money is for new facilities,” he said. The superintendent noted that new students increase the district’s income as well. 

Another man told Desmond, “I’d like to see help in the creation of new jobs. I’d like to expand my business. It’s hard to find a space to do it legally.” 

Steve Hutchison, who serves on both the VC Community Planning Group and the VC Protection District board, said that a lot of the concerns people had expressed, “Have a lot to do with the General Plan.” He asked, “Will there be a committee that deals with enforce of the intents and policies of the General Plan? A lot of times they seem to be ignored or dismissed. I know it’s open to interpretation and the legal folks can say whatever they want. I think you need more input of the community in interpreting the General plan.”

Desmond responded, “If you have people who want to form a committee to give us input on the General Plan, go ahead.” 

Hutchison added, “It’s interpreting what we have, which I think is pretty good. In my opinion it [The General Plan] is being ignored. It’s being glossed over.”

VC Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Marian Walters said she attended a meeting of SANDAG and found it “eye-opening.” She said, “They don’t care anything about the Backcountry. While the Big Five may be a great idea, it won’t work in the Backcountry, in Valley Center or for the people that live and work in Valley Center and commute locally.”

She added,  “Something needs to be done there so we all have a voice.” She had three opportunities to interact with the County in the last few weeks. “Right away, somebody got back to me. Within 24 to 48 hours. I highly appreciate that. I got questions answered and I got action.”

Desmond agreed that more Backcountry voices are needed at SANDAG meetings. “You won’t see Valley Center on that map for the Big 5, nor most of the 15.  Which is unfortunate.”

Another resident said many people can’t afford housing. “I have a lot of neighbors that own acreage and put some trailers on their land. Could they combine the two? I wonder if something can be streamlined to get some housing relief now? This is an immediate situation. It’s a big problem.”

Desmond said the Board of Supervisors eliminated the $15,000 fees for building a granny flat. “If you want to put in a granny flat, you can rent it out. No prohibition.” He said California is requiring the County to build 171,000 units in the next decade.

“We want to put them where transit exists, but the state is coming down with a hammer,” said Desmond. “If we don’t allow it, THEY will allow it by right. It’s a balance that we have. Nobody wants new housing; nobody wants new roads, nobody wants cell towers, but we have to provide all of those things.”

The last public speaker was Dee Chavez Harmes, who declared, “In order to attract the best and the brightest to San Diego County, we have to provide housing for them. Just like the supervisor said, we want to have a say in what kind of housing is coming in. It’s a difficult path to walk, but we can do it in Valley Center.”

Harmes, who also chairs the planning group’s subcommittee on evacuation, added. “One of the things we discussed is shelter in place and requiring developers to provide non-potable water in the event of a fire. We don’t have all the answers yet, but we are going a lot faster than we had anticipated.”

She said a key to preventing another Rite Aid debacle is proper notification from the County when something will be coming to the Board of Supervisors. “That is one of the caveats that allowed Rite Aid to slip through. The planning group did not receive notification soon enough. Although the responsibility is partly on the planning group, not entirely on the County. But if we were able to have notification sooner, we could have a greater force at SANDAG or at the Board of Supervisors to provide the pros and cons of whatever will be coming before the board.”

One response to “Revitalization meeting highlights community’s concerns with roads”

  1. Marian L Sedio says:

    Thank you to Supervisor Desmond and the county staff members who made the trip to Valley Center to engage our local residents. As reported in the article there are different views concerning SANDAG and the proposed new transportation system for San Diego. It is important for people to get the facts for themselves and not rely solely on the opinions of a few people. I would like to ask the Roadrunner to host a full presentation here in Valley Center by SANDAG so that our local residents can get the information firsthand for themselves and have the opportunity to ask questions. SANDAG is willing to hold these presentations in the evenings so that the many people who work during the day (and most likely commute on the 15 and 78) can attend.

    Another issue that was brought up briefly but not mentioned in the article is Community Choice Energy. This is another topic that the general public should look at for themselves and not rely solely on the opinions of a few. Perhaps this could be the topic for another presentation?

    I would be happy to help with the organization of these events.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *