ENCINITAS--Panic and fear and gripped the small coastal community of Encinitas after an hour long morning rampage by a surfboard wielding giant Nipple Man.
In what appeared to be an unprovoked attack, the giant Nipple Man laid waste to several local business by shooting a heat ray from his oversized nipple.
"I don't know what his problem was," said stunned eyewitness, Bob Johnson. "The giant Nipple Man has always been peaceful in the past."
"He totally just freaked out for no reason." said another area man, Tyler Hanel. "He stepped on my car and then laughed about it. That's not cool."
Critics say that giant Nipple Man has transformed historic Encinitas in a negative way but Peder Norby of the Downtown Encinitas MainStreet Association commented that giant Nipple Man was a logical step in evolution.
"That represented a huge change for downtown," Norby said. "This does represent an evolution, but it's not that it's something that hasn't happened before."
Officials said that after running amok for nearly an hour the giant Nipple Man got into a giant yellow H2 and returned to his man cave deep below the earth's crust under San Elijo Hills.
Locals fear that another attack is imminent.
Gary Tucker contracted nippleman to clear the way for lots and lots of 3 story buildings.
ReplyDeleteI like the proposed project for downtown Encinitas. They need a local market.
ReplyDeleteA. No one has ever been against a local market.
ReplyDelete1. We had a local market.
2. Nothing is stopping a local market from coming in downtown right now.
3. There is no contract that requires a local market to ever go in or for it to stay.
4. We NEED a local market?
5. How about just putting a local market with out exceeding the city's maximum hieght?
6. What happened to the store at the city hall site? What happened to the store at the PetCo (Big Bear) site? What happened to the whole foods store, right down the block from Pacific Station? A local market won't last, especially if the parking sucks.
Pacific Station is the first domino in the march toward vertical densification. Some are against this because of the "character" issue. I am against it until I know that we have the infrastructure for all the new people. Roads, parks, water, sewer, electricity, parking, surf spots...
ReplyDeleteLa Jolla Recently fought back three stories see http://
nothirdstory.org/
The developers think getting community buy in, by creating partners in the community is helpful. They are right. If they did do this here it makes sense that these guys have been so active on the developer's political action teams.
Also, Danny Dalager made this a big deal in the election about not wanting to have planning commissioners with "agendas." What a fucking crock of shit. Doug Avis is numero uno man with an agenda to open the flood
gates and have Encinitas go way up and to densify this city. (he and
Jerome Stocks were the chairs of the housing element rewrite that is looking worse and worse as we look closer at it).
It sounds massive but has some good traits. The grocery store is needed downtown and the pharmacy will be good. I'm a little concerned about the traffic flow and the amount of condos it's proposing. I don't know if the coast highway can handle all of that.
ReplyDeleteA. No one has ever been against a local market or a pharmacy.
ReplyDelete1. There is no enforcable promise that a local market or pharmacy will ever go in or for it to stay.
We had a local market.
2. Nothing is stopping a local market of pharmacy from coming in downtown right now.
3. How about just putting in a local market and pharmacy without all the other added density? This is either a bait and switch or a distraction tactic.
It sounds massive because it is.
ReplyDeleteSome of the draft housing element discussion centers on specific plans and the ability of the city to meet the low income housing numbers by building in the mixed-use commercial corridor of 101. This developer is offering condos from a half million to a million dollars. Why isn't the city requiring the developer to sell at least 50% of the condos at the low income level?
ReplyDeleteevolution or mutation?
ReplyDeletePacific Station fits the specific plan for downtown and they are asking for no exceptions, no variances, no density bonus, and the project is fully parked.
ReplyDeleteThe school district came out with their first plan a few years ago at Pacific View that sought a 50% increase over what the specific plan allowed. That was not supported by residents or DEMA or the city and went bye bye.
I think it is cool that folks want to locate their stores and live in a downtown.
No one is against a market.... For better or worse the reason their is no market downtown is because there is no building or space large enough for one with enough parking.
Think of seaside market center with residential units above it but with ample parking.
Downtown needs a market and it's cool people want to live downtown.
When the lumberyard came in 1980 folks came unclued that it would ruin downtown and did not fit in downtown it was hugely contraversial. Today it's our favorite place to spend a few hours in front of St. Tropez with a chicken salad. Everyone digs the lumberyard
The lumberyard could have been much better and anyone with a vision realizes that the lumberyard was a missed opportunity.
ReplyDeleteMaybe pacific station is the place to turn things around, but not because people will live above their shops, because they won't.
The people who support this project are friends and workers for the developer. The average person does NOT want increased traffic and parking problems.
ReplyDeletePeople who live here think this will destroy the charm of our historic downtown Encinitas.
Change is not always for the betterment of the community. This would "transform" downtown into a nightmare. We had "Community Market" at the Lumberyard, before, and now it's gone. People don't mind driving to Albertson's or Seaside Market for groceries. We should keep the dense projects to El Camino Real.
This idea is poorly conceived and will be poorly received, in my opinion.
I'm glad the Encinitas Planning Commission postponed the 1/11/07 meeting because the traffic study is still not completed. Many development projects in Encinitas are affected by overcrowding and traffic. A public project of this size should also have to go to the Coastal Commission.
ReplyDeleteSometimes "evolution" works to make species extinct. I agree, this project is cramming too many shops and condos, too many people into our historic downtown area.
Yes, the Lumberyard was a big change, although I was here in 1980 and don't recall hearing any protests against it. And we already have developments going in along Second St. and A St. We do not need to change the zoning rules by again raising the height limit.
Ocean Beach still has a quaint historic area along Newport. We will lose the charm of Encinitas if this goes through; people will become more frustrated with traffic and parking downtown. This is a proposed construct to status and ego, profiting the few at the expense of the greater common good.
I respect your opinion about the lumberyard being a missed opportunity, but do not agree with it.
ReplyDeleteI think the Lumberyard is a jewel in Encinitas and is the best center on all of of the coast from Del Mar up to Oceanside.
The center courtyard is an epic public space.
Help me understand what the missed opportunity was.
way to dense imho.
ReplyDeleteI don't think any height issues have been change via the specific plan for this project though.
It's lower than the old lumberyard building.
I'd like to see more of a mix of heights rather than it all at the top height.
I like the Lumberyard, and that is one story with off street parking, that does maintain community charm, including the fountain.
ReplyDeleteThe Moonlight Plaza is pretty nice, too. I don't appreciate these new height limitations, but maybe they are allowed because it's "mixed use," that is biz and residential?
This new complex proposal is too much, would make for a much more congested downtown. Parking is already a big problem; this would make it worse.
The Lumberyard suffers from vacancies. Whether the rent is too high or there's not enough patrons, businesses go in and out in some of the larger storefronts.
ReplyDeleteWill the Pacific Station have a view of the ocean from the third story? The building will be almost sitting on the railroad tracks. Why would anyone pay $900,000 for a condo next to the tracks? There's also a major pipeline that runs along the tracks.
What happens to the building when the railroad gets double tracked in downtown Encinitas?
Speaking of the Second St. developments, parking is a problem there, too.
ReplyDeleteEncinitas Chamber of Commerce should have stayed over by Smart & Final, because parking is better there; it's near Cottonwood Creek, off a main freeway exit.
Why should we taxpayers have to support a move that is not in our interests, or in the best interests of visitors?
The volunteers who work at the Chamber didn't want it to move. Council went over their head, to move it to the high rent district at our expense.
BOO! Again, people wanting to get info will have a more difficult time finding it, and parking, as it is.
The visitors center is now part of a car repair building (garage). The building is oversized out to the sidewalk. The owners did contribute to some of the council members campaigns.
ReplyDeleteOn the view question, I really doubt that any of them will have views nor will they block anyones views. 101 sits in a bowl and its 40 ft or so up hill to the bluffs on the west and more uphill on the east side.
ReplyDeleteThat's why music is so difficult because its sort of a megaphone effect.
totally agree on the chamber move. Its a bad move in a bad location.
I don't think it's a matter of blocking views. It's more a matter of changing from a lower profile, to high density condo and business development crammed into a small area that already has traffic and parking challenges galore.
ReplyDeleteAnd how can our infrastructure support this in terms of water and sewer, etc? Our rates will continue to climb, as well as our taxes and fees thanks to this kind of short sighted profit for a few, and face it, political ambition and GREED.
If the Lumberyard has a problem keeping tenents -- how could this project be any different? Why build more retail space when we already have some many that are vacant?
ReplyDeleteYou really have to study the Pacific Station project to understand how dense it truly is. In the area of the proposed market, there will be two stories above, all within the 33' height limit. That alone tells me the retail space set aside for a "possible" market is far too shallow, maybe rendering 9' of actual ceiling height. When was the last time you saw a market like that? No one, not Whole Foods, not Henry's, certainly not a major will lease that space. Add to that the inadequate truck space, the smelly trash and poor identity from the street...it just won't happen.
ReplyDeleteNext have a look at the residential units (short term units, sorry). Very few of them actually front on an edge. Most of them are internal, like bad apartments. There is no "yard", only a concrete slab. How do you fight that fire? I guess you have to wait till it gets to the perimeter. Anyway, not the most desireable or liveable.
Also, it's just too packed together. If the bar/restaraunt has a band (I hope they do), the noise will be unreal for the nearly adjacent residential units.
Last, are we really ready to park in parking garages to shop for groceries or other items in Encinitas? Underground parking will spell an end to the Encinitas we all know. Unless you like Santa Monica.
it certainly looks liked we have the scales of price tipped where it is now cheaper to go underground rather than buy more surface space.
ReplyDeletePros and cons to both, I hate big exposed parking lots and would hate to see that downtown, on the otherhand underground parking while preferrable creats greater density.
looks like its going to happen in all parts of the coast. Cardiff just got a two story underground parking structure.
I'm surprised you still have nog left.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see some reasonable limitation to underground parking so that the amount of building above ground does not completely cover the site.
ReplyDeleteAnother way to accomplish the same objective is to introduce a reasonable F.A.R (Floor Area Ratio) into all zoning catagories of our Specific Plans (most have none).
We all hate big exposed parking lots. There are possible solutions.
ReplyDeleteThere is a popular urban planning book, "City Comforts", written by David Sucher. He suggests 3 simple rules for successful urban retail streetscapes. #1 - Build to the sidewalk, #2 - Make the building front permeable (see into, no blank walls, and #3 - Prohibit parking lots in front of the building.
Very simple, like some parts of the Lumberyard, place the surface parking behind the building to create more friendly walkable urban streetscapes.
Problem with the Lumberyard is you can't "windowshop" from the sidewalk. It's off the sidewalk up all those stairs.
ReplyDeleteOne of our favorite place to spend a few hours should be in front of St. Tropez with a chicken salad.
ReplyDeleteToo bad so many jackasses break the law and take the mufflers out harley's and blast the crap out of my ear drums. Then the leather wearing wantabees, flick their Cig butts on our streets and roar back to San Marcos. I have never seen a straightpipe motorcyle stopped by a sheriff, EVER
Why don't our Sheriffs give the rude lawbreakers tickets?
Why don't the citizens vote out our rude lawbreaker Council Members?
ReplyDeleteThe cops are too busy watching red light camera tapes, eating donuts, having pizza at Moonlight Plaza to catch the loud piped bikers.
Council gives itself a raise, increases the firemen's pension benefits. This is becoming a class society. Those who have good benefits, head of corporations, and government workers, and those who don't, who pay the bill, all of the rest of us.
Yeah, Council doesn't follow it's own laws, on the books, already.
ReplyDeleteThey change the rules, at will, without giving the affected parties any notice. When anyone calls them on anything, they just roll their eyes and accept more donations, kickbacks, like lunches, parties, trips to Japan, presents, dinners, "charity events."
Well, we seem stuck with this crew until 2008. Maybe James Bond will have some kind of epiphany and go back to being a fiscal conservative? Is it possible?
This is a bad idea for Encinitas. If they want to build a project let it fit within the exisiting streets. No traffic lights or left turn lanes to change parking in our beautiful city. This project reminds me of Dana Point. If any of you remember the old Dana Point it changed completely when they started building these type projects.
ReplyDeleteto left coast,
ReplyDeletePacific station is the perfect explaination of those three principles.
It removes what is now a blank wall in the grey tin building that creats a no-mans land deviding downtown into two sections, and puts store fronts on the sidewalk.
On the comment about reasonable limits to underground parking, I totally agree.
I prefer underground to surface parking but I do not want to see every inch of the lot up to three stories high because they can fully park the project underground.
Low income housing for firemen? I thought we decided they wouldn't qualify because the city has been so generous?
ReplyDeleteLa Jolla has plenty of underground parking. I like underground parking. It leaves more room for openspace for trees. Plant more trees!
ReplyDeleteLa Jolla is terrible example for parking. Try to go to lunch in La Jolla and you might be lucky to get a early dinner if you don't valet.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the missed opportunity at the Lumberyard? Thanks for asking.
ReplyDeleteWe could have had Pacific Station times five. Pacific Station is great and more of it would have been better.
When the Lumberyard added the fountain it was greatly improved (I love public fountains). There are a couple of nice places but overall the theme is hokey. It is very 80's and could use a major facelift in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't call Pacific Station great but it has potential. Study that overview drawing closely. There are some major flaws that need to be changed.
The Lumberyard or any other piece of commercial real estate in Encinitas are not lost opportunities. As the real estate market goes, so go the possibilities.
ReplyDeleteThe Lumberyard or any other project could be scraped to build a new Pacific Station. It's simply a matter of the proforma. If it pencils out according to the market, it's doable. All real estate is fluid.
A developer never looks at what's on a site, only the property cost and what he might be able to do with it.
In this town and every other in the country, Planning Commissions and Councils make instant multimillionaires out of those that have the balls to ask. A property is only as valuable as the rights to improve it. Get those rights, and your gold, baby.
People living above their shops, what a quaint and impossible idea, unless you own the land to begin with.
ReplyDeleteNot one of these mixed-use projects proposed would allow ownership of the retail or office spaces. That is one primary area that offers the developer a revenue stream for as long as he owns the project. He won't give that up.
Pure fantasy.