Oceanside Transit Oriented Smart Growth
From the In Box:
There are a number of important items for them to know about but the most important two are 'raising the height limit on buildings' and 'not having limits on how bad traffic can be at an intersection'.
The new General Plan will be allowing 'Mixed Use', i.e. businesses downstairs and apartments upstairs, at the intersections of I-5 and Santa Fe, I-5 and Encinitas Blvd and along the El Camino corridor. One of the big questions is how tall should the buildings be allowed to be? Currently, nothing can be built over 30', which is 3 stories, unless they get special permission, i.e. Scripps Hospital and the performing arts building on the Academy campus. If they have an extremely good reason, the City will allow 3 or 4 feet.
At least one of the property holders that will be allowed to add 'residential' to their existing 'commercial' zoning is asking to build up to 5 or 6 stories! The only specific name I know is the Henry's shopping center but there are others. Four floors of apartments (10' each) plus one floor of commercial (they require at least 12') would be 52'! The whole 'Mixed-use' idea presumes that people with cars will be at work while the shops are open (what about Sat & Sun?) and will also use public transportation. There is no guarantee that there will ever be any more public transportation than we have currently. It is one of those 'build it and they will come' situations.
The current General Plan does not allow any up-zoning if any of the street intersections will be pushed beyond an 'D' rating for traffic. 'F' is as bad as it gets. It is being proposed that we scrap that limitation. The only place this is an issue is along the El Camino corridor, specifically at the Encinitas Blvd/El Camino Real intersection. The situation is, they want to add 'Mixed Use' to the zoning along the corridor but the Encinitas Blvd/El Camino Real intersection is as big as it can get without moving into private property and they don't want to do that. The solution they have come up with is to say it's okay to have a really horrible traffic situation there.
Allowing some of the projects to go from 2 or 3 stories max to 5 or 6 stories would add even more traffic to that corridor and all our other streets. It will also change the entire feel of Encinitas. The people living in those apartments will be looking right down into other peoples, previously private, back yards.
What say you? Attend the meeting and let the City know. They are getting lots of feedback from the people who will gain by this so if they don't hear from the people who don't like this idea, they don't have any arguments to stop it.
I hope you will come to the meeting and look at the plans for yourself. MONDAY SEPT 19TH 6 TO 8:30 PM AT COMMUNITY & SENIOR CENTER, 1140 Oakcrest Park Drive (Encinitas Blvd & Balour)
The new General Plan will be allowing 'Mixed Use', i.e. businesses downstairs and apartments upstairs, at the intersections of I-5 and Santa Fe, I-5 and Encinitas Blvd and along the El Camino corridor. One of the big questions is how tall should the buildings be allowed to be? Currently, nothing can be built over 30', which is 3 stories, unless they get special permission, i.e. Scripps Hospital and the performing arts building on the Academy campus. If they have an extremely good reason, the City will allow 3 or 4 feet.
At least one of the property holders that will be allowed to add 'residential' to their existing 'commercial' zoning is asking to build up to 5 or 6 stories! The only specific name I know is the Henry's shopping center but there are others. Four floors of apartments (10' each) plus one floor of commercial (they require at least 12') would be 52'! The whole 'Mixed-use' idea presumes that people with cars will be at work while the shops are open (what about Sat & Sun?) and will also use public transportation. There is no guarantee that there will ever be any more public transportation than we have currently. It is one of those 'build it and they will come' situations.
The current General Plan does not allow any up-zoning if any of the street intersections will be pushed beyond an 'D' rating for traffic. 'F' is as bad as it gets. It is being proposed that we scrap that limitation. The only place this is an issue is along the El Camino corridor, specifically at the Encinitas Blvd/El Camino Real intersection. The situation is, they want to add 'Mixed Use' to the zoning along the corridor but the Encinitas Blvd/El Camino Real intersection is as big as it can get without moving into private property and they don't want to do that. The solution they have come up with is to say it's okay to have a really horrible traffic situation there.
Allowing some of the projects to go from 2 or 3 stories max to 5 or 6 stories would add even more traffic to that corridor and all our other streets. It will also change the entire feel of Encinitas. The people living in those apartments will be looking right down into other peoples, previously private, back yards.
What say you? Attend the meeting and let the City know. They are getting lots of feedback from the people who will gain by this so if they don't hear from the people who don't like this idea, they don't have any arguments to stop it.
I hope you will come to the meeting and look at the plans for yourself. MONDAY SEPT 19TH 6 TO 8:30 PM AT COMMUNITY & SENIOR CENTER, 1140 Oakcrest Park Drive (Encinitas Blvd & Balour)
I know this is off topic, but I wanted to see what people thought of putting a plan together for our City that could help people if another power outage occurred? It seems to me that last night was interesting in many ways. As related to this post, do we really want to add more buildings and people to use electricity, when it seems to be getting harder to get it, and to get safe drinking water? However, the plan I am thinking of has to do with food. A lot of people, as well as businesses had to throw food away at some point last night. Not all of these businesses have back up generators, and perishables can only go so long before they cannot be sold to the public. I would imagine many of the restaurants and grocery stores all over the City would rather give the perishable food to people, free of charge, than to throw it away as many had to do last night. What do you all think of this as an idea? The details could be worked out by a group of business owners that have food service of any kind, as well as perhaps the sheriff, and other official type people to keep it coordinated and safe from looting etc. Just a thought to throw out there. Anyone have anything to say about this idea?
ReplyDeleteLorri, I was pretty bummed that the only ice cream shop in town had a generator.
ReplyDelete