Ponto is in Carlsbad but whatever happens to Ponto impacts Leucadia.
If you have an opinion about the future development of the Ponto area you have until next week to voice your opinion,
From the city of Carlsbad:
The Draft EIR will be available for public review and comment until May 29, 2007. All comments on the Draft EIR must be submitted in writing to the following City of Carlsbad contact:
Christer Westman, Carlsbad
Planning Department; 1635 Faraday Avenue; Carlsbad, CA 92008
Christer Westman AICP
cwest@ci.carlsbad.ca.us
check out the EIR here
Charger Stadium by the sea. New train stop and close to freeway and coast highway.
ReplyDeleteSuper Super Super Duper Wallmart is what Carlsbad will probably put in... that fits Bud's vision for Carlsbad.
ReplyDeleteWhatever Carlsbad builds will look like shit with their Council lack of positive vision for the future of the coastline.
The good news is Leucadia will look extra nice, being adjacent next to that future box turd haven.
Ponto's progression
ReplyDeletePlan upsets residents; city says it's managing the inevitable
By Michael Burge
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 24, 2007
CARLSBAD – The wood is now for sale in Ponto.
After years of sporting a sign saying, “Wood Not For Sale,” the owners of an enormous pile of cut wood across the coast highway from South Carlsbad State Beach have changed their minds.
But that switch is likely to be nothing compared to the change that will take place in Ponto if landowners turn 50 largely undeveloped acres north of Batiquitos Lagoon into hotels, townhomes, restaurants and shops.
That change is addressed in the Ponto Beachfront Village Vision Plan and a draft environmental impact report that lays out the blueprint for development in the city's southernmost oceanfront community.
The plan covers a strip of land one-eighth of a mile wide and 1½ miles long between Carlsbad Boulevard and the railroad tracks, and between Ponto Drive and Batiquitos Lagoon.
The city decided to spell out what type of development could take place in the area and how to lay out roads, parks and other features when property owners began to inquire about developing their land.
The plan does not assure approval of any specific project.
The environmental impact report is the result of a public outcry that greeted the unveiling of the Ponto vision plan two years ago.
People lined up at Carlsbad Planning Commission and City Council meetings to say how much they hated it, and many called for the land to remain as-is.
The environmental impact report is available online at http://www.carlsbadca.gov/news.html?nid=222. The public has until Tuesday to comment on it.
The Planning Commission and City Council will hold hearings on the report and the vision plan. The date hasn't been determined.
Development of Ponto, one of the few remaining swaths of open beachfront in Southern California, is inevitable, city officials say.
“The reason why the city set out to do the vision plan is the majority of the parcels are privately owned,” Courtney Enriquez, a management analyst in the Housing and Redevelopment Department, said yesterday.
“The idea of the plan is to have a cohesive direction,” and not haphazard development, Enriquez said.
The land consists of 16 lots that include a kennel, storage units, a vehicle-salvage yard, sheet-metal and upholstery shops, an air-conditioning company and the 12-foot-high pile of wood.
The environmental report says that while much of the land is undeveloped, it is not pristine. Besides the homes and businesses in Ponto, agriculture thrived there in the mid-20th century.
The report notes that no threatened or endangered animal species frequent the area, and less than 2 acres of wildlife habitat would be affected.
The vision plan foresees a major resort hotel between Batiquitos Lagoon and Avenida Encinas, a three-story hotel with conference space at Carlsbad Boulevard and Ponto Drive, and a combination hotel/residential at the north end along the railroad tracks.
The plan also envisions townhomes and shops stitched together by pedestrian and bike trails along a realigned Carlsbad Boulevard with more parking and easy beach access.
Todd Cardiff, a member of the advisory board of the San Diego Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, has been an outspoken critic of development in Ponto. Cardiff is calling on the city to acquire the most desirable parcel – 25 acres just north of Batiquitos Lagoon.
He said the land recently went into foreclosure and the bank is likely to seek a buyer.
“The public is screaming for that to be made into a park,” Cardiff said. “This is a perfect opportunity for the city to step up and buy that property.”
Dale Ordas, a member of the board of the San Pacifico Community Association, representing owners of 454 homes just east of the plan area, said, “There is no one in our community that is not attuned to the reality there will be development.
“But three hotels in an area of 50 acres is rather dense development (on) what's now open space.”
Ordas said his community “feels no antipathy to the project, we just want it done responsibly so there's no negative impact,” citing the 15,000 additional car trips predicted by the environmental report.
If the City Council approves the vision plan and environmental report, that does not automatically clear individual projects, city planner Christer Westman said.
“The vision plan is really not a document that grants development rights or approvals for any particular project,” Westman said.
The environmental impact report notes that the city has received an application for a 215-room Hilton hotel at Ponto Drive and Carlsbad Boulevard, and inquiries on three other parcels.
Bill Canepa, managing partner of Wave Crest Resorts II, which submitted the Hilton proposal, said he understood why people were concerned when the plan was unveiled two years ago.
“Just because there's a vision plan doesn't mean it will spring up overnight,” Canepa said. “It may take 20 or 30 years.”
who keeps posting newspaper articles we can or already have read? How about just putting in a link? It makes it very boring to browse the blog with all Angela's articles repeated.
ReplyDeleteThe bad news is the minimum estimate of 15,000 cars cutting through Leucadia each day will further degrade Encinitas by putting even more gridlock along the HW101 corridor throughout Encinitas.
ReplyDeleteEncinitas needs to manage the traffic volume cutting through Encinitas and encourage them to stay on I5!
The development should be conditioned to:
1. Design the access improvements to encourage access from Avenida Encinas- NOT LEUCADIA HW101.
2. Redesigning the La Costa/HW101 intersection to:
a. Reduce the current southbound HW101 through lanes to one at La Costa Avenue for a small segment to manage the cut through traffic in Encinitas. Making this small change would help Encinitas tremendously by moving the morning cut through commuters queue north to Ponto (which is were it belongs) instead of grid locking all of Leucadia and Encinitas every time that I5 gets backed up. The Cut through traffic problem is only going to get worse in the future with I5 currently backed up 50% of the time with projections to get much worse in the near future.
b. Include two left hand turn lanes from southbound HW101 turning east on La Costa Avenue.
3. Improve La Costa Avenue to handle the increased future traffic-including:
a. Rebuilding the existing bridge over the railroad tracks.
b. Rebuilding the intersections of Vulcan Avenue and Sheridan Road to assure no increase in cut through traffic through the Leucadia neighborhood east of HW101.
c. Bike lanes and Walkways, and Landscaping improvements.
Our Encinitas’s Staff and City Council need to get their game on and make sure Encinitas manages its roads and protect our City from the negative impacts of Carlsbad’s development policies.
Time will tell whether staff and City Council are watching our back. What kind of conditions do you think our City Council will suggest being included in the Specific Plans conditions of approval?
Carls BAD for coastal north county.
ReplyDeleteWhen they realigned 101 and redid the bridge over the lagoon, every traffic hinderance kept your from getting back to Encinitas but it was easy to get into carlsbad. They were supposed to build some parking near the campground when they moved the 101 over but never did it. They built all those homes along the coast and they are all gated, you can't cruise your bike through there, you cant' park anywhere, they are lame, with private parks and basketball hoops, you can see them but you can't get in.
I've written the city about the eir and i just asked for free parking, beach access, bike paths, walking trails, limited building near the lagoon and NO GATED communities.
Did I ask for too much?
Convenient how the city chose May 29th as the final day to send in a comment on the EIR. If you didn't get your letter in the mail by the 26th it won't get there on time and thus not be counted. The old Memorial Day US Post office closure trick, oldest one in the book.
ReplyDeleterusted cars, run down homes, what looks like a junkyard, a couch someone dumped - yeah - we should leave Ponto just like it is
ReplyDeleteJust because YOU don't like the Ponto storage area "anonymous" doesn't mean the property owner deserves to have his land forcefully taken away from him to build a big ugly hotel.
ReplyDeleteAmen, Local Land Owner
ReplyDeleteNew Blood in the Area...
ReplyDeleteI've been a new owner in Leucadia for the past 3 years. My house was a former green house that was torn down to build my McMansion and I love it.
I am thrilled that Carlsbad is going to tear down that eyesore in Ponto and put hotels and redevelopment in it's place.
Yes, there are going to be tons more traffic and they will come thru Leucadia 101. But don't you get it??????? THIS IS GOOOD!!!!!!!! This is going to jumpstart development along the 101 and hopefully lead to 101 improvements. We should expect more restaurants, hotels, condos, homes, commercial.
Unlike all of those "Keep it Junky - I mean Funky" crowds, I want this town transformed. It is just the sad reality for you that the "New Money" is moving into Leucadia and will eventually push you K.I.F. people out - (of which your probably renters anyways).
Leucadia is changing. Carlsbad is changing. Embrace. You can have your little fights here and there to reduce developments but you WILL NOT change the momentum that has started. Your little Keep It Junky Leucadia is not a viable option.
I am looking forward to Leucadia becoming Laguna Beach/Del Mar some day in the next 10 years.
"New Blood", you are extremely confused on the whole KLF thing. It's about making intelligent choices about the future. You are excited about the traffic? You won't be if the developers are not forced to pony up the improvements which they ALWAYS fight tooth and nail.
ReplyDeleteSorry, funky and junky may rhyme but that is all they have to do with each other. Funky is about keeping the theme of Leucadia as a cool, eclectic beachtown with small mom&pop business. You want Del Mar/Laguna Beach? We fight for that all the time, but better. If it wasn't for the concerned citizens of Leucadia and Encinitas this place would be Genericville.
The myth that Leucadian taxpayers want to keep Leucadia "junky" is pure propaganda. Just wait, one of these days you will need a pothole fixed on your street and then you will see what the city of Encinitas thinks about Leucadia. Don't drink the kool-aid my friend and welcome to the neighborhood.
You are a propety owner and you want the Ponto property taken away from the rightful owners? I think that's a shame.
Be careful, in 25 years your old run down cheaply built McMansion will be looking good to someone else and they just might declare your yuppie slum "blighted."
Jp,
ReplyDeleteI think you are a little paranoid. We both want a Laguna Beach type atmosphere, but it's not coming with that JUNK along 101. It needs to be revamped or scraped altogether. My point is - that more pressure on Leucadia is coming from the Carlsbad and La Costa blufftop hotels. I think before they declare my new Mcmansion as "blighted" they will go after the "crap" built along the 101. That IS blighted. Boarded up buildings, vacant lots where transients deficate - YES, I support them blighting that.
I have 1 question for you. If you like the way the 101 is, why don't you buy it up and hold onto it? Oh, yeah, because these KEEP IT JUNKY fools in Leucadia all have NO MONEY!!!
THE NEW MONEY IS ARRIVING. GET USED TO IT. I hear Imperial Beach is still affordable.
Get with the times. The empty lots on the coast highway are either sold or under construction and the streetscape program is getting started at the end of the year.
ReplyDelete"I have 1 question for you. If you like the way the 101 is, why don't you buy it up and hold onto it? Oh, yeah, because these KEEP IT JUNKY fools in Leucadia all have NO MONEY!!!"
ReplyDeleteHave you suffered a head injury lately? I joined L101 to be part of the improvements. You support "blighting" private property? Why don't YOU just buy those properties fair and square yourself instead of having the government seize private property and sell it to another private party?
George I mean "New Blood",
ReplyDeleteI love it! You obviously have never lived in an eclectic beach community before and watched developers and yahoos “like you” swallow the uniqueness of the culture. Let me guess, you finally came into some money, most likely an inheritance and you need to feel abdicate for once in your life and thought, “I need to tear down a home that is environmentally friendly.” Smart move!
Anyone that works hard enough to live in the area we do does not want to see an Orange County duplicating factory. Unfortunately, for you, actually all of us, you just DON”T GET IT!
Ponto is special for the mere fact that it is open, I do agree it needs to be cleaned up… However, I guess I am a little confused if you are looking for a Laguna Beach, why don't you make the move (see link) www.lagunabeach-realestate.com and do us all a favor. Look, I just did a win/win for you and I am sure anyone that lives near you.
P.S. I hope you are not in your “McMansion” when is starts to falling apart at the seams with all that faulty construction….
Ha ha. I do own a house in Laguna Beach too. But thank you for the link.
ReplyDeleteI tried to buy a property on the 101 but your wonderful City Council will not do anything to fix the flooding in the area nor will they for maybe decades.
Here's a newsflash for you that you are not aware of.............
My insider is working on a deal for a LARGE section of property North of La Costa Avenue. Word is that a LARGE portion of that area is planned to be scrapped to the bone and maximized with structures, including low income housing for density bonuses. It's going to be a beautiful site.