Leucadia Blvd northbound to La Costa Ave. There is no other stretch of coast highway like this in California. It is truly a special place. Notice the major gaps in the tree canopy, this is only going to get worse.
JP-just an idea... it might be nice if you showed this at Oral Comunications. If for nothing else it would be on video and maybe it'll shame staff and council a little.
JP- It used to be a special place. The current trend is to make it look like LA HW101. Its starting to SUCK! Fricken Speeding cars from CARLSBAD thats all I see.
Is the goal of our traffic plan to speed traffic through our city making it quicker to get anywhere OR is it to make traffic safer?
Personally, I vote for slower, safer, more pedestrian friendly. Some of our Council members complain about having to wait at stop signs. They want roads faster and wider to get people point A to point B in minimum time.
we should put stop signs at every intersection. It won't cost very much to do that and it would induce much more walking and riding bikes because it wouldn't take that much longer to get around. People wouldn't drive as much and people would stop cutting through our hometown.
I like the classic feel of mainstreets of Del Mar (with more trees), the new slower Birdrock (with many more trees), Santa Barbara, many towns in North CA, Oregon and Washington, and colonial east coast pre-world war two planned towns.
Concept Vision:
Safe feeling pedestrian and bike facilities with not overly wide speeding vehicle traffic lanes. Encourage walking and biking. Create more parking so that people can park and walk to their favorite Leucadian stores and eat along the way. Encourage slow driving through our main street. Cruise the beach, don’t race through it. Chill a bit and enjoy the ocean smells. Smile and wave to the pedestrian and let a bicyclist cross the road. Stop for awhile grab a coffee or a bite to eat and check out the groovy shops.
Currently 95% of the traffic on HW101 is commuter traffic that should be using I5. That was the purpose of building I5. To make our local Mainstreet support local traffic.
Instead of using I5, the commuters are cutting through our town and are ruining Encinitas, Leucadia and Cardiff’s business environment and the resident‘s quality of life.
REMOVE the straight wide travel lanes that encourage people to speed. Put in parking, pedestrian walkways away from the travel lanes, and wide bikelanes. Keep a reasonably efficient vehicular travel lane that encourages people to travel to the business with in the businiess districts and park, but is not a speedy short cut for I5 commuters. Neck it down at intersection and install some horizontal deflections like bulbouts or a slight road alignment changes – something other than a wide fast dangerous treesless roadway.
Most important- plant trees between the curbline and the walkways to establish a nice big canopy that will bridge over our Coastal mainstreet and create the classic living tunnel affect.
How is that for some vision?
In my opinion, those that oppose this vision either don’t live in Encinitas or don't care about Encinitas, or they have ulterior motives which make them more money by having I5 commuters cut through our town without stopping at any of the businesses beside gas stations.
That my vision of a nice mainstreet for Leucadia, what’s yours?
URBANIZING and going three stories and super dense is NOT SMALL TOWN.
Someone wasn't watching the fort when Encinitas, Carlsbad, and Oceanside put in more housing AND commercial than I5 can handle. More if we elect leaders like Jerome Stocks.
Small town is lost forever but you can still avoid becoming an urban badlands. You must fight for it.
"Currently 95% of the traffic on HW101 is commuter traffic that should be using I5. That was the purpose of building I5. To make our local Mainstreet support local traffic."
101 has been and will continue to be a regional artery. That is a very different situation for state street and bird rock.
Wrong. Its the same Jerome. Both Del Mar and Birdrock routes are the old HW101 PCH. Check it out. HW101 is a mainstreet local road just ask your City Manager or Leucadia Mainstreet Association. Its our mainstreet Jerome- Not Carlsbads Expressway!
Since we urbanize the area with dense 3 story buildings (thanks Jerome),we need plenty of pedestrian walkways and bikeway to make it livable. Otherwise it will become an OC nightmare. Lets make it like a cool European style pedestrian freindly downtown area -except surf town style.
Just because the dumbshits of the last 50 years thought everything revolved around overwhelming areas by cars, doesn't me we need to have the same thing for the next 50 years. Catch a clue and lets change it for the better.
Just because something is crappy today doesn't mean it will be crappy in the future. Its just needs some love and elbow greasy. Leucadia is a diamond in the rough. Its time to shrub about the rough which is excess I5 traffic.
Del Mar thought they could push cars back onto I5 by narrowing CDM to one lane in areas and putting stop signs at most streets. It didn't work. Now they have as many cars sitting and idling at stop signs and narrowed streets as they had before their illogical changes.
I agree we should do something but narrowing and stop signs will just make a bad situation worse.
Wrong. Del Mar solution is working. There downtown and beach areas of HW101 are much more pedestrian friendly and cars travel much slower. The speeds and volume are way down from what it would be like if they have our freeway type of road through it.
If it didn’t work, Del Mar and Olivenhain would be screaming to remove the stop signs. They’re NOT. They love them.
Birdrock along HW101 had very similar problems that we have with speeding commuter cars, and dangerous roads making the business community near blight. Scott Peters was smart enough to listen to the community and through workshops they came up with an excellent plan. They took area of the roadway that was used for speeding commuters and used it for business parking, pedestrian improvements and bikelane improvements, and landscaping. They are currently under construction for the final phase of the project.
When its done, it will have converted a previously dangerous road causing blight in the community, into walkable community roadway with vehicular, pedestrian, bike, and parking needs all balanced and addressed. The whole community benefits.
Sounds and looks good to me. Let’s see if we have a council member or two to spearhead a similar effort.
mfleener has a good idea the slide show should be shown at Oral Communications as well as a call to all bloggers to show up in support. Something needs to be done soon a stop sign at least at Grandview and the trees need to be replanted now. The bashing of Jerome isn't going to do anything what will work is a constant push by all concerned at council meetings. Lets rally.
I thought we were all concerned about the environment, global warming, pollution, etc... Stop signs that back up traffic, waste gas and release carbon emmissions into Leucadia are not the solution. There has got to be a better idea. Go out to the stop sign at Juanitas on 101 and breathe in real deep when traffic is backed up. Makes me feel I'm in Riverside.
I walk by Marchetta all the time and it smells no different than any other part of the Leucadia raceway.
The stop signs are effective at reducing cut through I5 traffic on HW101 and keeping cars moving at a constant speed on I5. The net reduction in emissions is better because of the stop signs. The more cars that stay on I5, the better for carbon emissions overall. Plus the stop signs encourage people to get out of their cars and walk or bike. Plus when cars are stopped or move slow they notice the adjacent businesses. Plus they are safer, better looking, and much cheaper than a signal.
Encinitas should not be paying for Caltrans and SANDAG mismanagement of growth and transportation policies, planning and programs. Put in more stop signs. Make the road safer and reduce cut through I5 traffic. It’s better for Encinitas.
The North 101 Corridor Specific Plan was adopted in 1997. It was amended in 2005. Stocks was on the council for the amendments.
The Downtown Encinitas Specific Plan was adopted in 1995. It was amended in 2003 and 2005. Stocks was on the council for both amendments.
The stuff that everybody hates is in the amendments. Have you noticed that mixed-use has only been approved in the last couple of years?
The Cardiff Specific Plan hasn't been adopted yet. A citizen's group is rewriting it and removing most of the stuff people hate. Will Stocks vote to approve the citizen's recommendations? He was on the council that hired the consultant that wrote into the plan all the stuff people hate. Let's all watch Stocks carefully to see how he votes when the plan comes up for adoption in 2008. Will he vote with the citizens or with his developer friends?
Anon 6:18, read your original Specific Plans. The dye was cast by the original authors of each plan. Mixed-use and the present densitys were a part of the plans from the start. I have said many times on this blog that much of what we dislike about present development was a product of those plans, and the original zonings established at cityhood.
Actually, the Leucadia Specific Plan is very good, but it is not being adhered to by the Planning Commssion. For example, yes, 3 story buildings are permitted, however they cannot be right next to a one story building. Rule #1 broken next to me. They should have adequate parking; Rule #2 broken next to me. Rule #2 was also broken by Arnie's SB1818 which allows "density bonuses" for low cost housing, i.e. the more you build the less parking that's required for your project. Rule #3 "the structure shall not exceed 33' in height" was broken when Rick Engineering alleged to the city that a 100 year storm would bring 3' of water to N. Coast Hwy 101 - so the pad to the project next to me was raised 4' before the 33' was added. Why our currnent Planning Commission thinks all these trimmings were good ideas is beyond me.
The only concession that was made (thankfully) is that the exterior of that project no longer resembles their original design of white four white shoe boxes stood on end.
To Leftcoast: Do you have copies of the original, unamended specific plans for downtown Encinitas and the North 101 Corridor? I don't. What is on the city website are the updated versions with no indication of where the plan was amended. The original versions are no longer available at city hall, as they have been deep-sixed along with all other "unessential" documents. My memory is that mixed use and 3 story buildings were added later.
I know that 10-15 years ago, when these plans were written, business development was focused on the El Camino Real corridor. The 101 corridor was ignored. That is why it declined so much. Now the city is talking about upgrading the El Camino Real corridor. This means mixed use and higher storied buildings. It will be done through a specific plan. The aim is always to increase density with little or no improvements in infrastructure. That is why a specific plan can be so insidious.
To Fred: Bless your heart. It is in the right place. Perhaps we are more cynical in Cardiff, but every line is being carefully watched in the Cardiff Specific Plan undergoing revision at the present time. One citizen is actually paying to have the meetings taped on video. This really changed the tone of the discussion. Everything is on the record. There will be no rewriting of history afterwards.
Any specific plan does not work in isolation, but interacts with the municipal code and other relevant laws such as density bonus. It sounds like the building next to you is in compliance with the laws and regulations. Some decisions are discretionary, like measuring the building height from a raised pad. The city did this on the Sheridan/Andrew project. The Leucadia Cares group brought a lawsuit, still in the courts on appeal. I don't remember most of Leucadia supporting this group. Except for the immediate neighbors, I think they got more support from Cardiff. We all pay the penalty when we sit on the sidelines of important issues.
JP-just an idea... it might be nice if you showed this at Oral Comunications. If for nothing else it would be on video and maybe it'll shame staff and council a little.
ReplyDeleteA surf statue or two might lessen the blow.
ReplyDeleteJP- It used to be a special place. The current trend is to make it look like LA HW101. Its starting to SUCK! Fricken Speeding cars from CARLSBAD thats all I see.
ReplyDeleteSpeeding cars.
ReplyDeleteIs the goal of our traffic plan to speed traffic through our city making it quicker to get anywhere OR is it to make traffic safer?
Personally, I vote for slower, safer, more pedestrian friendly. Some of our Council members complain about having to wait at stop signs. They want roads faster and wider to get people point A to point B in minimum time.
What are your thoughts?
we should put stop signs at every intersection. It won't cost very much to do that and it would induce much more walking and riding bikes because it wouldn't take that much longer to get around. People wouldn't drive as much and people would stop cutting through our hometown.
ReplyDeleteanon 1:01,
ReplyDeleteWhat do you have in mind? Can you provide any example cities/locations?
I am not anon 101 but I’ll jump in.
ReplyDeleteI like the classic feel of mainstreets of Del Mar (with more trees), the new slower Birdrock (with many more trees), Santa Barbara, many towns in North CA, Oregon and Washington, and colonial east coast pre-world war two planned towns.
Concept Vision:
Safe feeling pedestrian and bike facilities with not overly wide speeding vehicle traffic lanes. Encourage walking and biking. Create more parking so that people can park and walk to their favorite Leucadian stores and eat along the way. Encourage slow driving through our main street. Cruise the beach, don’t race through it. Chill a bit and enjoy the ocean smells. Smile and wave to the pedestrian and let a bicyclist cross the road. Stop for awhile grab a coffee or a bite to eat and check out the groovy shops.
Currently 95% of the traffic on HW101 is commuter traffic that should be using I5. That was the purpose of building I5. To make our local Mainstreet support local traffic.
Instead of using I5, the commuters are cutting through our town and are ruining Encinitas, Leucadia and Cardiff’s business environment and the resident‘s quality of life.
REMOVE the straight wide travel lanes that encourage people to speed. Put in parking, pedestrian walkways away from the travel lanes, and wide bikelanes. Keep a reasonably efficient vehicular travel lane that encourages people to travel to the business with in the businiess districts and park, but is not a speedy short cut for I5 commuters. Neck it down at intersection and install some horizontal deflections like bulbouts or a slight road alignment changes – something other than a wide fast dangerous treesless roadway.
Most important- plant trees between the curbline and the walkways to establish a nice big canopy that will bridge over our Coastal mainstreet and create the classic living tunnel affect.
How is that for some vision?
In my opinion, those that oppose this vision either don’t live in Encinitas or don't care about Encinitas, or they have ulterior motives which make them more money by having I5 commuters cut through our town without stopping at any of the businesses beside gas stations.
That my vision of a nice mainstreet for Leucadia, what’s yours?
Wake up. If you want a small town feel...
ReplyDeleteYOU NEED A SMALL TOWN!!!
URBANIZING and going three stories and super dense is NOT SMALL TOWN.
Someone wasn't watching the fort when Encinitas, Carlsbad, and Oceanside put in more housing AND commercial than I5 can handle. More if we elect leaders like Jerome Stocks.
Small town is lost forever but you can still avoid becoming an urban badlands. You must fight for it.
"Currently 95% of the traffic on HW101 is commuter traffic that should be using I5. That was the purpose of building I5. To make our local Mainstreet support local traffic."
ReplyDelete101 has been and will continue to be a regional artery. That is a very different situation for state street and bird rock.
Wrong. Its the same Jerome. Both Del Mar and Birdrock routes are the old HW101 PCH. Check it out. HW101 is a mainstreet local road just ask your City Manager or Leucadia Mainstreet Association. Its our mainstreet Jerome- Not Carlsbads Expressway!
ReplyDeleteSince we urbanize the area with dense 3 story buildings (thanks Jerome),we need plenty of pedestrian walkways and bikeway to make it livable. Otherwise it will become an OC nightmare. Lets make it like a cool European style pedestrian freindly downtown area -except surf town style.
ReplyDeleteJust because the dumbshits of the last 50 years thought everything revolved around overwhelming areas by cars, doesn't me we need to have the same thing for the next 50 years. Catch a clue and lets change it for the better.
Just because something is crappy today doesn't mean it will be crappy in the future. Its just needs some love and elbow greasy. Leucadia is a diamond in the rough. Its time to shrub about the rough which is excess I5 traffic.
Hate to burst your bubble but the north 101 specific plan which allows mixed use and 3 stories predates Jerome's seat on the Council.
ReplyDeleteDel Mar thought they could push cars back onto I5 by narrowing CDM to one lane in areas and putting stop signs at most streets. It didn't work. Now they have as many cars sitting and idling at stop signs and narrowed streets as they had before their illogical changes.
ReplyDeleteI agree we should do something but narrowing and stop signs will just make a bad situation worse.
I loved the slide show. I also think it would be nice for it to be shown at a council meeting. thanks
ReplyDeleteWrong. Del Mar solution is working. There downtown and beach areas of HW101 are much more pedestrian friendly and cars travel much slower. The speeds and volume are way down from what it would be like if they have our freeway type of road through it.
ReplyDeleteIf it didn’t work, Del Mar and Olivenhain would be screaming to remove the stop signs. They’re NOT. They love them.
Birdrock along HW101 had very similar problems that we have with speeding commuter cars, and dangerous roads making the business community near blight. Scott Peters was smart enough to listen to the community and through workshops they came up with an excellent plan. They took area of the roadway that was used for speeding commuters and used it for business parking, pedestrian improvements and bikelane improvements, and landscaping. They are currently under construction for the final phase of the project.
When its done, it will have converted a previously dangerous road causing blight in the community, into walkable community roadway with vehicular, pedestrian, bike, and parking needs all balanced and addressed. The whole community benefits.
Sounds and looks good to me. Let’s see if we have a council member or two to spearhead a similar effort.
mfleener has a good idea the slide show should be shown at Oral Communications as well as a call to all bloggers to show up in support. Something needs to be done soon a stop sign at least at Grandview and the trees need to be replanted now.
ReplyDeleteThe bashing of Jerome isn't going to do anything what will work is a constant push by all concerned at council meetings. Lets rally.
It's never too late for a good old fashioned building moratorium...
ReplyDeleteI thought we were all concerned about the environment, global warming, pollution, etc... Stop signs that back up traffic, waste gas and release carbon emmissions into Leucadia are not the solution. There has got to be a better idea. Go out to the stop sign at Juanitas on 101 and breathe in real deep when traffic is backed up. Makes me feel I'm in Riverside.
ReplyDeleteI walk by Marchetta all the time and it smells no different than any other part of the Leucadia raceway.
ReplyDeleteThe stop signs are effective at reducing cut through I5 traffic on HW101 and keeping cars moving at a constant speed on I5. The net reduction in emissions is better because of the stop signs. The more cars that stay on I5, the better for carbon emissions overall. Plus the stop signs encourage people to get out of their cars and walk or bike. Plus when cars are stopped or move slow they notice the adjacent businesses. Plus they are safer, better looking, and much cheaper than a signal.
Encinitas should not be paying for Caltrans and SANDAG mismanagement of growth and transportation policies, planning and programs. Put in more stop signs. Make the road safer and reduce cut through I5 traffic. It’s better for Encinitas.
Anonymous at 11:08 pm on Nov.29
ReplyDeleteSounds like Jerome Stocks is posting again.
The North 101 Corridor Specific Plan was adopted in 1997. It was amended in 2005. Stocks was on the council for the amendments.
The Downtown Encinitas Specific Plan was adopted in 1995. It was amended in 2003 and 2005. Stocks was on the council for both amendments.
The stuff that everybody hates is in the amendments. Have you noticed that mixed-use has only been approved in the last couple of years?
The Cardiff Specific Plan hasn't been adopted yet. A citizen's group is rewriting it and removing most of the stuff people hate. Will Stocks vote to approve the citizen's recommendations? He was on the council that hired the consultant that wrote into the plan all the stuff people hate. Let's all watch Stocks carefully to see how he votes when the plan comes up for adoption in 2008. Will he vote with the citizens or with his developer friends?
Anon 6:18, read your original Specific Plans. The dye was cast by the original authors of each plan. Mixed-use and the present densitys were a part of the plans from the start. I have said many times on this blog that much of what we dislike about present development was a product of those plans, and the original zonings established at cityhood.
ReplyDeleteActually, the Leucadia Specific Plan is very good, but it is not being adhered to by the Planning Commssion. For example, yes, 3 story buildings are permitted, however they cannot be right next to a one story building. Rule #1 broken next to me.
ReplyDeleteThey should have adequate parking; Rule #2 broken next to me. Rule #2 was also broken by Arnie's SB1818 which allows "density bonuses" for low cost housing, i.e. the more you build the less parking that's required for your project.
Rule #3 "the structure shall not exceed 33' in height" was broken when Rick Engineering alleged to the city that a 100 year storm would bring 3' of water to N. Coast Hwy 101 - so the pad to the project next to me was raised 4' before the 33' was added.
Why our currnent Planning Commission thinks all these trimmings were good ideas is beyond me.
The only concession that was made (thankfully) is that the exterior of that project no longer resembles their original design of white four white shoe boxes stood on end.
To Leftcoast: Do you have copies of the original, unamended specific plans for downtown Encinitas and the North 101 Corridor? I don't. What is on the city website are the updated versions with no indication of where the plan was amended. The original versions are no longer available at city hall, as they have been deep-sixed along with all other "unessential" documents. My memory is that mixed use and 3 story buildings were added later.
ReplyDeleteI know that 10-15 years ago, when these plans were written, business development was focused on the El Camino Real corridor. The 101 corridor was ignored. That is why it declined so much. Now the city is talking about upgrading the El Camino Real corridor. This means mixed use and higher storied buildings. It will be done through a specific plan. The aim is always to increase density with little or no improvements in infrastructure. That is why a specific plan can be so insidious.
To Fred: Bless your heart. It is in the right place. Perhaps we are more cynical in Cardiff, but every line is being carefully watched in the Cardiff Specific Plan undergoing revision at the present time. One citizen is actually paying to have the meetings taped on video. This really changed the tone of the discussion. Everything is on the record. There will be no rewriting of history afterwards.
Any specific plan does not work in isolation, but interacts with the municipal code and other relevant laws such as density bonus. It sounds like the building next to you is in compliance with the laws and regulations. Some decisions are discretionary, like measuring the building height from a raised pad. The city did this on the Sheridan/Andrew project. The Leucadia Cares group brought a lawsuit, still in the courts on appeal. I don't remember most of Leucadia supporting this group. Except for the immediate neighbors, I think they got more support from Cardiff. We all pay the penalty when we sit on the sidelines of important issues.