WaveBlog

Q1: Who cares about something called the General Plan 2035; and ‘How’ does it affect me?

A: The City of Encinitas is being forced by the State of California, to deliver proof of the ‘opportunity’ for building roughly 2200 multi-family housing units within Encinitas borders between now, 2012 and the Year 2035; hence the City Planners have created the new Comprehensive General Plan Update 2035; in order to fulfill this State-mandated requirement of the Housing and Community Development Department of California.

The STATE MANDATE for Future Growth
“The law acknowledges that in order for the private market to adequately address housing needs and demand, local governments MUST adopt land-use plans which provide opportunities for and do not unduly constrain housing development.” RHNA, Regional Housing Needs Assessment. (The State projects that there will be a large increase in California’s population; and the RHNA number of 2200 is theoretically Encinitas’ ‘fair-share’ of multi-family housing units)

A New General Plan that MOVES BEYOND CARS

Q2: Where in the State Mandate language does it require the City of Encinitas to turn El Camino Real from an eight-lane ‘prime arterial’ into a ‘Walk-able Community’?

A: Nowhere; we repeat, nowhere in the State mandated requirements for an updated ‘housing element’ does it require the City to “move on from the automobile”, locate all the future growth in New Encinitas or the ‘conscious and deliberate creation of gridlock” along El Camino Real to create a ‘walk-able community’ where currently, El Camino Real, an eight-lane ‘prime’ traffic arterial is located that helps generate a quarter of the City’s annual budget?

Q3: Where did the ‘walk-ability over financial stability’ premise and directions in the 1100 page, million-dollar plus ‘Update 2035 ‘Ugly Baby Draft’ comes from then, if not required by the State?

A: The City of Encinitas Planning Staff and their consultant choice of MIG, a social marketing company from Berkeley, California are responsible for the ‘flawed’ plan. At first Planning Staff claimed this idea of valuing walk-ability over financial stability came from the community; now it appears they are claiming there is a State-mandate for it.

An Obvious Question:
Q4: Why did Planning Staff target New Encinitas on Day One, Aug. 19th, 2009? Or, Why Didn’t Planning Staff take the ‘Five Communities’ and evenly (fairly?) divide the 2200 multi-family units between the five of them; Leucadia, Olivenhain, Cardiff, Downtown and New Encinitas?

A: Because a ‘mixed-use’ overlay on top of the two commercial corridors would be faster and easier than evenly dividing the RHNA Units ‘regional housing needs assessment/projected additional growth  projected by SanDag; which would be, roughly, 400 multi-family units per community.

400 multi-family units per community; mixed-use overlays?

Q5: Is it true that the ‘Draft’ General Plan 2035 allows for locating over a thousand new multi-family units along El Camino Real, increasing from 41,000 car trips a day to 51,000 car trips a day?

A) Yes; but the Planning Staff insists that no more than a thousand will be allowed along El Camino Real; (not counting another two hundred plus units projected to be built possibly on county property just above the San Diego Sheriff’s Sub-Station behind CVS and Ralph’s on Via Moleno).

Q6: Why am I just hearing about this now?

A: In answer to this question, Planning Staff responded, “Our outreach to property owners and residents/business owners has been extensive. For the (public) workshops we mailed (post cards) to all property owners within the City, which included commercial property owners.” (Nowhere on the post cards was ‘walk-ability over financial stability’, or ‘locating all future growth solely in New Encinitas’ articulated to the reader.)

Q7: How many people living in or doing business in New Encinitas were involved in developing the Planning Staff’s ‘Draft’ General Plan 2035?

A: Even though the ‘predetermined outcome’ identified as ‘areas of focus’ for future new growth (See Staff Recommendations from City Council Agenda of 8-19-11) are predominantly located in New Encinitas in the ‘Draft’; only 1 person out of the total of 23 residents serving on the General Plan Advisory Committee represented New Encinitas) Note; Planning Staff was repeatedly and formally requested to add more representation on the GPAC for New Encinitas but the Network requests for simple fairness were consistently ignored.

Q8: After 25 months in the process of creating the new General Plan 2035, ‘Why’ did the City Council call a ‘time-out’ on the process on September 14th, 2010?

A: The ‘Draft’ created by and preferred by the Planning Staff was posted on Thursday, September 1, 2011; http://encinitas2035.info/Content/10040/DraftGeneralPlanElements.html
almost immediately the City Council heard from the public that the ‘Draft’ General Plan 2035 favored ‘walk-ability over financial stability’ along the City’s two commercial corridors, was coupled with a complete lack of public hearings before the legally-appointed Planning Commissions, Parks and Recreation, Traffic and Environmental commissions and, in addition, the City Council learned to their surprise that several public hearings/Planning Staff presentations about the ‘Draft’ scheduled before the City Council itself had been arbitrarily cancelled by the Planning Staff, without the notification to the City Manager or City Council; in light of intransigence by the Planning Staff in giving the City Council any control over the continuing ‘process’, the City Council voted unanimously to take a ‘time-out’ and remove primary control of the ‘process’ from of the hands of the Encinitas Planning Staff; by running the ‘Draft’ through the appropriate commissions, with the reading and vetting of the ‘Draft’ by a new set of eyes and ears on the Element Review Advisory Committee, which will answer directly to the City Council without Committee information and submissions being ‘filtered’ by the Planning Staff, the City Council is spending extra time and money on public outreach.

Q9: How has the New Encinitas Business Network kept the residents of New Encinitas informed about this process?

A: The Network published an Community Forum piece in April of 2010 in the North County Times, has posted repeatedly on the Wave Blog on the GPAC, written many blog postings on the Encinitas Patch, wrote a second General Plan opinion piece which was published twice in the North County Times on Oct. 1, 2011; including two citywide e-blast alerts to 1800 recipients on 9-12-11 and 12-10-11; along with having invited the New Encinitas Town Council leadership as early as March of 2011 to attend the first information meeting between the City Planning Staff and the Network members.

Q10: What will happen next in this process?

A: On Dec. 14th, 2011 the City Council approved the creation of the ERAC and a schedule of public hearings to be held over the next few months. The ERAC meetings will be held either at City Hall or the Community Center and promise plenty of time set aside for public input on the ‘Draft’, meetings that unlike heretofore, will be recorded on video. To apply to participate on the Element Review Advisory Committee; deadline, 1-9-12, go here; http://encinitas2035.info/Content/10051/ElementReviewAdvisoryCommittee.html

Bonus Question
Q11: When will this new General Plan 2035 process be finished?

A: The adoption by the City Council must be made by April 27, 2013, 16 months from now.

Encinitas General Plan 2035 Diary: Entry; October 4th, 2011
Monday Evening, the City of Encinitas General Plan 2035

Subject: GPAC Member Sjirk Zijlstra’s’ Bombshell Letter to Planning Staff is revealed to the public.

Encinitas Community Center: One of the twenty-three members of the City of Encinitas’ General Plan 2035 Advisory Committee (GPAC), Sjirk Zijlstra, representing the American Institute of Architecture, is someone I had seen and heard before, but had never met over the two year ‘process’ of ‘updating’ the Encinitas General Plan. After the strained GPAC meeting was closed I approached him while he was speaking with resident Gene Chapo, whom I’d sought out after the meeting to praise for his precision-like autopsy of sophisticated problems in the ‘draft’ General Plan 2035. Sjirk did not know me, nor was I wearing a name badge. I was just a familiar face. As I made to break off the brief three-way conversation, Sjirk mentioned that he was very disappointed in the two-year experiment and that in March 2011 he had sent several e-mails to the Planning Staff to express his deepest frustration that in his opinion the “GPAC was irrelevant” and that Daniel Iacafano “had really made all the decisions” for the GPAC and that he hoped to “send an e-mail to the City Council letting them know that there had never been ‘consensus’ in the GPAC”.

I was not surprised by Mr. Zijlstra’s conclusions; sharing these conclusions and more, after watching the process for dozens of hours myself, nor was I surprised to hear that he had tried to take some action.

Zijlstra confided to me, “I sent two important e-mails to the Staff telling them that this process wasn’t working…but the only response I got from them was that the bylaws clearly stated that we wouldn’t have voting powers and that the consultant would be the one to communicate consensus to the City Council.”

Mr. Zijlstra, originally from the Netherlands, is on the Board of Directors for the American Institute of Architects and he said that he had tried to reach out to the other GPAC Members, but had not been successful in his own outreach.

I asked him if he would feel comfortable forwarding me the e-mails that he sent Staff in March and April of this year. (April 11th, 2011 had been the last meeting of the GPAC prior to 10-3-11)

Mr. Zilijlstra agreed to forward them to me and stated in parting that he had a long letter to send the City Council and City Manager imparting to them about what he perceived as a ‘failed’ exercise; the GPAC. And that it would be in ‘hard-copy’.

As I stated above; Monday evening after the strained and often embarrassing GPAC meeting on 10-3-11, I met Mr. Zijlstra for the first and only time; and directly below following is the unedited e-mail he sent me yesterday, October 4th, 2011.

Note: The “Mike” referred to below is Mike Strong, Associate Planner for the City of Encinitas: Not Mike Andreen.

Unedited E-Mail Memo from Sjirk Zijlstra, AIA

Hi Mike, please forward the following message to my fellow GPAC members.

Dear fellow GPAC members,

In the past few months I have done a lot of thinking about the role of the committee in the General Plan update and I have been trying to find a way to make our efforts more relevant. Because our efforts have been subject to very subjective scrutiny by the consultant, without ever being related to a “consensus” on any topic, the City Council does not know whether or not the GP update, that is presented to them, has the support of the committee.

I believe that the Council created the committee to ensure that the representatives of many different citizen interest groups would not only participate in the preparation of the 2035 Plan, but would also see to it that the final product has the blessing of the majority of the committee, the representatives of the citizens of Encinitas.

I am very concerned that the process to date has not provided for any consensus on any policy or action, especially when it comes to a vision for the size of the population and the GP related consequences of the size increase.

A few days ago the NCT carried an article about “Our greater San Diego Vision from North County”, a group of ± 150 “ambassadors” (website:www.ogsdv.org). Their goal is to get more people involved to deal with the reality that the County grows at an average rate of ± 10% a year.

I believe that the 2035 plan process needs to take time out and that the committee and the consultant should establish a VISION of what the City of Encinitas could look like, based on a realistic population size. Where are the high rises and the mid rises going to be? We, the committee, will have failed in its duty if this subject is not incorporated in the 2035 plan, your thoughts please and regards, Sjirk Zijlstra AIA

(Note to GPAC from Mike Strong)

GPAC members,

A GPAC member requested that the following email thread be forwarded to the GPAC. Committee by-laws are attached.

Thanks

Mike Strong
City of Encinitas

From: Sjirk Zijlstra [mailto:z3beach@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2011 2:43 PM
To: Michael Strong
Subject: Re: Encinitas General Plan Amendments

Thank you for the reminder to review the (committee’s) bylaws, yes of course I should have read the “fine print” before I signed my committee member “contract”. I did review those bylaws and there are several statements in those bylaws that support the notion that the opinion of the committee as a whole matters.

The bylaws are indeed clear that the committee is “not a voting body, that it will operate by consensus”. To date there has not been much need to establish consent (or not) on any subject since we were in the information gathering mode.

When the process of the GP update advances to the establishments of “Goals” & Policies”, I believe that it is important there is a protocol in place to identify the “consensus” of the committee.

How else can the City Council determine if the GP update before them has the support from the committee of Community Representatives or not?

I really appreciate it if you forward this E – Mail to the committee members, please reattach the bylaws, they did not “stick” to the “reply” version, regards, Sjirk
—–Original Message—–(To Mr. Zijlstra from Mike Strong)
From: Michael Strong
To: Sjirk Zijlstra
Cc: Patrick Murphy
Sent: Thu, Mar 31, 2011 8:51 am
Subject: RE: Encinitas General Plan amendments
The City Council initiated the process to form the committee in October 2009. The Advisory Committee by-laws and rules of procedure are enclosed as an attachment to the October 28, 2009 staff report.

The primary function of the GPAC under the by-laws is to build community support for the updated plan the community that is created through public workshops and the outreach process. The City Council would have to ultimately approve any change that you suggest below.

It was understood early in this process that the Advisory Committee’s role is primarily to share information with and seek feedback from their respective constituencies. The group was never intended to be a voting body.

I will be happy to forward this correspondence to the rest of the GPAC. However please take some time first to review the by-laws again. The GPAC does not have the authority to change those rules. In addition, these rules were clear to every member expressing a desire to serve on the GPAC. The primary role of the GPAC is to provide additional “input” into the process, since they represent a variety of constituents.

Think about it and let me know how to proceed.

Mike Strong
City of Encinitas

From: Sjirk Zijlstra [mailto:z3beach@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 4:07 PM
To: Michael Strong
Subject: Fwd: Encinitas General Plan amendments

Dear Mike, below is the draft of a letter that I would like to send to all the GPAC members, are you at liberty to provide me with the E-Mail address list of the GPAC members? If not, are you willing to forward this idea to the committee members? Thanks in advance for your help, regards, Sjirk
Dear fellow committee members,

The next committee meeting (April 11) will be significant in preparation for the draft of the revisions to the General Plan that will be presented to the City Council (tentatively on May 11). Quite frankly I believe that the GPAC is basically being irrelevant in the process so far, we have been just another group of citizens that provided “input”. The consultants and the staff, who, do not get me wrong, have done great job in gathering and processing ideas and information, have also been making all the decisions.
The staff and its consultants are charged by the people’s representatives to update the General Plan.

The role of the GPAC is to make recommendations (for new legislation) based on Staff and it’s consultant’s advice, to the City Council. This should not become a “legislating from the bench” process! I believe that it is time that our committee’s operation becomes structured in such a way that all the proposed goals, maps and policies are voted on by the committee. We need to elect a chair person and ask the City to provide a recording secretary and conduct the meetings in compliance with Robert’s Rules of Order. representation by the City Attorney’s office should also be considered.

Dear fellow committee members,

The next committee meeting (April 11) will be significant in preparation for the draft of the revisions to the General Plan that will be presented to the City Council (tentatively on May 11). I believe that it is time that our committee’s operation becomes structured in such a way that all the proposed goals, maps and policies are voted on by the committee.
We need to elect a chair person and ask the City to provide a recording secretary and conduct the meetings in compliance with Robert’s Rules of Order.
Quite frankly I am getting tired of the GPAC basically being irrelevant in the process so far. The consultants and the staff, who, do not get me wrong, have done great job in gathering and processing ideas and information, have been making all the decisions.
The staff and its consultants are charged by the people’s representatives to update the General Plan. The role of the GPAC is to make recommendations (for new legislation) based on Staff and it’s consultant’s advice, to the City Council. This should not become a “legislating from the bench” process! I’d like to find out if there is support for this position and if so, I suggest that those in support submit a request to the City (Mike Strong) to provide a recording secretary and that the election of a chair is put as the first item on the agenda of the April 11 GPAC meeting.
I realize that this is a short notice, should have proposed this sooner, but, here it is and a prompt response is greatly appreciated, regards, Sjirk Zijlstra AIA

I like to find out if there is support for this position and if so, I suggest that those in support jointly submit a request to the City ( c.o. Mike Strong ) to provide a recording secretary and that the election of a chair is put as the first item on the agenda of the April 11 GPAC meeting. I realize that this is a short notice, should have proposed this sooner, but, here it is and a prompt response is greatly appreciated, regards, Sjirk Zijlstra AIA

———————————————————————————————————–
To Readers from Mike Andreen,

I believe the reason Mr. Zijlstra was looking for support from the GPAC members for a recording secretary and the introduction of Robert’s Rules of Order, is most likely because Mr. Zijlstra recognized that what was being reported to the City Council as ‘consensus’ wasn’t consensus because the GPAC was, for the most part, never asked ‘what’ they thought of the mountains of material that was thrown at them over two years.

Readers can make of Mr. Zijlstra’s letters to Mike Strong what they will, but as the heat on the General Plan process continues to rise, don’t be surprised to discover that more of the GPAC members will break ranks and go directly to the Encinitas City Council as Mr. Zijlstra is and has.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

‘WHY’ an old-fashioned Public Hearing by the Planning Commission benefits the public more than a ‘feel-good’ Public Workshop.

The GPAC experiment appeared to work for two years until the actual document, the ‘draft’ General Plan 2035 was posted for the public to read and absorb.

For myself, the GPAC, unbeknownst to the solid volunteers so generous with their time over two years who have hung in there, I believe they have been used as a ‘reference group’ to assure the Encinitas City Council that the new General Plan, so radically different from the original created in 1989, was being vetted by a diverse group of community interests; but is in realty, and in retrospect, the GPAC appears to have been a kind of semi-structured ruse to allow the City Council to believe that many of the Staff ideas (in what we believe to be predetermined outcome) have come from the public and not clearly the planners.

Just as it has become clear that what appeared to be a way to gather public sentiment and opinion on a variety of subjects; the PUBLIC WORKSHOP which have a ‘feel good’ energy about them in comparison with say, a public hearing of a subject before the Planning Commission; but in reality the Staff is in charge of collecting the ‘comments’ from the public and it is Staff that decides what comments are important and what comments are not; and because, unlike the Planning Commission and City Council Meetings which are videotaped and broadcast to the community; there are no public records of what has transpired at a Public Workshop. Yes, there are carton after carton of ‘data’, but who translates the data and what gets forwarded to Council are two different things.

So, while a ‘Workshop’ might ‘feel’ like a freer expression of community opinion, in reality, in operation for this General Plan update so far; a videotaped Planning Commission public hearing is far more to the benefit of the community.

Because there is a record of it.

Tentatively, there is a Encinitas City Council hearing about the new General Plan to be held on Wednesday, October 12th; please don’t depend on Staff, myself or any third party; please read the ‘land-use’ and ‘public health’ elements of the new ‘Draft’ General Plan 2035.

Trust yourself and read it at: http://www.encinitas2035.info/Content/10040/DraftGeneralPlanElements.html

Members of the General Plan 2035 Advisory Committee; the GPAC

Planning Commission* Jo Ann Shannon
Senior Citizen Commission* Lee Vance
Traffic Commission* Peter Kohl
Parks and Recreation Commission* John Gjata
Alternate: Steve Valois
Youth Commission* Derrik Marow
Alternates: Lauren Barth and Nick Ferreirae
Cultural Tourism Committee* Julian Duval
Commission of the Arts* Erica Heisler
Alternate: Donna diBenedetto
School District Committee* Beth Hergesheimer
Alternates: Sally Foster and Gail Coakley
Environmental Commission* John A. Eldon
Alternates: Carris Rhodes
Cardiff-by-the-Sea Town Council* Rahul Deshpande
Alternate: Kathleen Rooney
Leucadia Town Council* Gene Chapo
Alternate: Kathleen Lees
Olivenhain Town Council* Patricia Klaus
Downtown Encinitas Mainstreet Association* Bart Smith
Leucadia Mainstreet Association* Peter Curry
Alternate: Steve Shackelton
Encinitas Chamber of Commerce* Genevieve Wing
Alternate: Geoff Wing
Cardiff Chamber of Commerce* Morgan Mallory
Agency advocating affordable housing or a non-profit developer Noami Pines, San Diego Housing Federation
Local representative from the real estate industry* Janet McCollough
Local representative from the architectural industry* Sjirk Zijlstra, North County AIA
Alternate: Warren Scott
Representative from a social perspective (service or cultural) Laurin Pause, Community Resource Center
Property Management Company from El Camino Real None
Nursery/Horticultural Business Bob Echter
New Encinitas Representative* Virginia Felker
* Representative required to be a City resident

‘WHY’ the NEW ENCINITAS Network Asked You To Reject the new General Plan 2035 ‘Draft’

Background: August of 2009, the City of Encinitas Staff formally asked the Encinitas City Council for a million dollars to ‘Update’ the City’s General Plan.

On May 11th of this year, the Staff and a hired Berkeley firm, MIG, that specializes in social marketing and outreach, began their ‘update’ to the Encinitas City Council by reminding City Council, “The City of Encinitas began the ‘update of its General Plan’ in early 2010 primarily to strengthen existing policies and to address recent court cases and state law or guideline changes.”

For 25 months the New Encinitas Network has kept close tabs on this process, participating in 90% of the ‘process’ because back in August of 2009, the City Staff had already identified the two commercial corridors for targeting in adding a mixed-use overlay to property heretofore only commercial, meaning to satisfy a State of California Commission for Housing and Community Development, that was determined to force the City to determine ‘where’ 2200 multi-family homes could be located in Encinitas.

The Beginning; On August 19, 2009, at a City Council meeting in the middle of the traditional family vacation time, stated under ‘General Plan Scope of Work’ part of the million dollars was for; “ (The) Focused evaluation of the potential for development of uses such as; multi-family housing and mixed-use (residential/commercial) development (with) renovation and modification of existing older shopping centers as mixed-use developments:”

Therefore, it clearly appears to us there was a predetermined outcome for this new General Plan 2035. As far back as 25 months ago, the commercial corridors of El Camino Real and Encinitas Boulevard were already targeted for ‘redevelopment’ as multi family housing as mixed-use development on existing shopping centers. You can look it up on line.

Yet, when Planning Staff was asked 19 months later by a dozen Network ‘Focus Group’ members, in June 2011 ‘How’ the two commercial corridors were identified/targeted for the 2200 multi-family units, Staff answered (on video) that the ‘idea’ of building low-income housing on shopping centers had been generated by the ‘public’ in a ‘workshop’.

It seems a contradiction?

After the City Council agreed to fund the ‘update’, the ‘process’ was out of their hands and the Encinitas ‘Interim’ City Manager, Phil Cotton, unschooled in Planning or Engineering, was responsible for oversight and making sure that City Council directions were implemented.

This oversight, judging by the final ‘draft’ product of the new General Plan 2035 released on September 1, 2011 (two weeks ago) was negligible at best and at worst virtually non-existent.

This ‘draft’ being, described this past May 11th to the City Council, as an ‘update’ of a documented General Plan created and accepted in 1989,’ the ‘Update’ was touted as the simple, “strengthen(ing) of existing policies and to address recent court cases and state law or guideline changes” turns out to many who are reading the surprising 1100 page document to be beyond a ‘power grab’, some of the informed public and even the three of the Encinitas City Council members are stunned to find a completely new General Plan, that holds very little resemblance to the original of 1989 document and has been described as accurately we believe as a “Nanny-State Magna Carte’ not only targeting the two commercial corridors for much-intensed density, but also calls for allowing traffic levels of service to degrade while reversing the polarity of the two corridors ‘moving on from the automobile’ and calling for El Camino Real to literally be turned into a pedestrian-first social gathering collector, rather than it allowing it to remain the 8 lane ‘prime arterial’ that generates tens of millions of dollars each year, literally funding our public safety, senior and recreation programs among much else.

If you want to celebrate, “Celebrate City Council Caution!”

Playing Keep-Away Finally, the Staff created a ‘calendar’ for the ‘celebration’ of the what they continue to describe as ‘community created’ General Plan 2035 rather than an expedited review by the same City Council that agreed to fund an ‘Update’.

This ‘Calendar’ allowed Staff to release and promote their ‘draft’ to the public for five more months before it would be vetted by the folks actually elected to make decisions on behalf of the citizens of Encinitas, the City Council. Staff’s plan ended on Wednesday night, September 14th, 2011.

Free will, freedom of choice, personal expression, private property rights; reasonable use of taxpayer dollars; much of what makes living in Encinitas so different and so enjoyable are taken away from citizens in this ‘draft’ that has been repeatedly described as ‘totalitarian’ in nature.

What happened?

Over this summer, Staff made the decision to eliminate several planned hearings in their ‘Calendar’; eliminating ‘updating’ of the Encinitas City Council in September. A brand new City Manager wasn’t aware of the change. Only the public prevailing through City Councilperson Kristin Gaspar returned City Council oversight and control of this expensive General Plan 2035 process.

In fact, it was only through the viewing of a video of the May 11th, 2011 ‘Update’ and the verbal and power-point description of the Summer and Fall 2011 process ’Calendar’ demonstrated that the Staff appeared to have arbitrarily decided to eliminate ‘updating’ the City Council without their knowledge.

In fact, the September 14th Encinitas City Council meeting last week only happened at the insistence of the City Council; the Staff ‘Calendar’ called for the almost non-stop ‘celebration’ of an unvetted new General Plan for four to five more months prior to a true legal public hearing; including six ‘information only’ meetings with the Planning Commission in October and November 2011; skeptics wonder at the ‘Calendar’ circumventing the normal public hearings of their General Plan by the Planning Commission this Fall noting that any other private ‘developer’ would, without question, be normally and legally submitted to.

What Now?

Now through public intervention, the Encinitas City Council finally has had a chance to begin evaluating the new ‘draft’ General Plan 2035. The Staff only made it halfway through their presentation Wednesday, September 14, 2011 when the Council finally had had enough and interrupted the presentation and retook control of the ‘process’.

Why?

Twenty-five months and way over a million dollars invested and the Staff was making it clear last Wednesday that they had no intention of allowing a public hearing on the ‘draft’ general plan until January or February 2012.

Mayor Jim Bond, Deputy Mayor Jerome Stocks and the catalyst for revealing just how far the Staff wanted to continue controlling the ‘process’ and document itself, Councilwoman Kristin Gaspar deserves kudos and we are all truly in her debt.

Councilwoman Gaspar in particular did her due diligence and participated in a good dozen extra meetings with Staff and stakeholders and was KEY in forcing the new General Plan into its public release last week.

While there will be a ‘Celebration’ Monday night, September 19th, 2011 ‘honoring the process’ that targeted New Encinitas and excluded so many of the ‘true’ stakeholders, it is clear, that the citizens of Encinitas, as a whole, should be celebrating the City Council, our elected officials, regaining control of this process; otherwise, Staff generated creation of a Public Health Commission to potentially take public control of what food is healthy and what is not, (banning fast food and drive-thru dining?) the creation of mobile health clinics, a citywide tool lending collective; controlling vending machine food offerings and the location of 2200 low income housing units and we quote, “ the conscious and deliberate creation of gridlock during peak AM and PM hours” along the two commercial corridors.

‘Why’ was the level of traffic service projected to be allowed to degrade from level ‘D’ to level ‘E’, ‘gridlocking’ New Encinitas morning and night? The Staff contractor, Daniel Iacafano answered, ” for the particular reason of ‘improving’ pedestrian, bicycle (riding) and transit.” (On video)

The ‘draft’ calls for the altering of the fundamental operations of the two commercial corridors that generate up to one third of the City’s annual income.

Literally, a General Plan improving pedestrian use at the exact expense of the City’s income stream?

And, when cautioned by the very business owners and commercial property owners who were clearly excluded from the ‘process’ of creating this new General Plan 2035, Staff was adamant that there would be no budget for evaluating what the possible damage to the two income streams by fundamentally altering the function the El Camino Real and Encinitas Boulevard. (On video)

One final note: the ‘process’ is built upon public workshop participation; this allows Staff to organize comments and control access to the City Council and Planning Commission. Ten public workshops aren’t equal to even one Planning Commission Public Hearing; in the latter case, Planning Commission Hearings which are broadcast citywide and allow everyone to see and hear the issues for themselves; clearly the public workshop method is partially responsible for this resulting ‘draft’ being so far a field from an actual ‘Update’.

Celebrate City Council caution; they have demanded a large ‘Disclaimer’ be attached to the Staff and MIG’s ‘Draft’ to clarify the fact that neither the City Council nor the Planning Commission; those elected officials representing the public and those legally appointed to advise them, are the ones who vet this process and new General Plan.

In Conclusion:

Over the last two years many people have asked me ‘Why’ I left the old Chamber of Commerce to come over the hill and create the NEW ENCINITAS Business Network.

This ‘Draft’ is an example of ‘Why?’.

I left the old Chamber of Commerce, where I had been a board member on two occasions, 6 years the first time and five years the second, because the Chamber President and Executive Board refused to allow the Chamber to represent paid chamber members I believed were being abused by the City in the introduction of a traffic median that had never been revealed property owners during the public notification process. Henry’s, now Sprouts is still profitable because I left the old Chamber to represent business owners. Though the Median PLan is still alive now three years later and can come before City Council again for the third time soon.

‘Why’ didn’t the old Chamber weigh in on this conflict? Because they received money from the City and were afraid that if they actually represented paid members that they would be ‘cut off’ from City dollars.

When these business owners were abandoned by the very group that they had paid hard earned dollars for representation, I decided I needed to create a group without financial ties to the City of Encinitas that could truly represent New Encinitas business owners, service providers and commercial property owners.

Now, 28 months later, 25 of those month closely monitoring the ‘process’ used in creating this ‘Draft’ General Plan I cannot help but point out that my old friends at the old Chamber of Commerce were appointed to the General Plan 2035 Advisory Committee that ‘signed off’ on this ‘Draft’ and never let the business owners, property owners and residents of New Encinitas that this plan targeted the two commercial corridors for incredible increase in density and a significant potential jump in daily traffic counts from the current 41,000 trips a day up to 63,000 trips a day.

Perhaps because the Network does not seek nor receive money from the City of Encinitas, we were not allowed by Staff to formally represent New Encinitas, though we attempted to; but we do not regret our decision to cut our ties to the old Chamber, nor potential city purse strings, because we have had no conflict in representing not only New Encinitas but we have been able to warn the other four communities about the potential danger to the City’s income stream by this General Plan.

ASK JUST WHO WAS ON THE GENERAL PLAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE? And ask them to explain ‘How’ this dangerous plan got this far?

A special thanks again to Councilwoman Gaspar, who went over and beyond the call of duty and Deputy Mayor Stocks’ actions last Wednesday night to help return this new General Plan process to the control of elected officials.

We hope you will join us in our public oversight.

A TALE OF TWO NETWORKS

The PATCH Cross Polinates with the NEW ENCINITAS Network
Welcome Marlena Medford, new Editor at The Encinitas PATCH (and, she lives in New Encinitas!)

“Finally, an Editor from New Encinitas!” my old friend and neighbor, Lynn Borg exclaimed.

And, as she and her husband, Gary Borg, introduced me to the future of Encinitas Media, I am sure Lynn realized that she was linking two media groups; interconnecting one powerful local network with another; with one phone call, cross-pollination of social media strands of informational DNA in New Encinitas.

The cell phone message I heard was, “Mike its Lynn! I want you to call me back, my ‘new’ neighbor moving in directly across from Gary and I (Me?) is the ‘new’ Editor of The Encinitas PATCH”.

And her name is Marlena Medford. Welcome, Marlena! Marlena rhymes with antennae (an-ten-uh).

Marlena and The PATCH Meets the NEW Encinitas Network, is like an AOL financially supported (800 separate sites) Patch sites across the country; spreading out, network-to-network, mixing and matching the PATCH’s small-town newspaper feel, online, with twenty years of connectivity and local history with the NEW ENCINITAS Network.

WHO is Marlena Medford?

Born in San Diego, she and her mother traveled along with Marlena’s father, Ricardo Chavira, an International ‘World Affairs’ correspondent for the ultimate news gathering source prior to the 1980’s CNN television revolution of the 24 hour news cycle; Marlena’s Dad represented and reported for TIME Magazine! Yeah, Baby!

Plus, for several years, just like your humble narrator, Marlena lived in La Ciudad de Mejico, the most beautiful City in the Western Hemisphere! Extra points!

Marlena is 28 years old, married to J.D. her high school ‘novio’ (sweetheart) has a degree from the University of Oklahoma; (Boomer Sooner) and left the staff of a well respected Magazine in the Dallas Texas area to try her luck in California in the ever shrinking world of journalism. (Bravery?)

“I like to think that I was born with ‘ink’ in my blood.” smiles Marlena.

“ Very soon after reaching Los Angeles to stay with family, I put my search for a job in journalism out into the resume universe, and I was hired quickly to work in Solana Beach for the weekly there. After I was offered Encinitas, and accepted the newspaper position I was also offered the Patch position in Encinitas; but I believed I should keep my promise and we moved to Solana Beach, and while I liked my job and Solana Beach, and spent a year at the Solana Beach desk; it wasn’t long before I fell in love with Encinitas; the back country for horses, the surfing world and downtown Cardiff, the Highway 101 culture, the great shopping district downtown, the best restaurants; and ‘the Golden Corridor’ of El Camino real; moving here and working here is such a dream come true,”

But while Marlena and J.D. are just arriving; Lynn and Gary Borg are pulling up stakes and heading for Arizona; our friends for over 20 years, we will really miss them.

I recently got another phone call from Lynn Borg, “Mike, thanks for making my new neighbor, Marlena feel so welcome at your July Network Sundowner. I am making her and J.D. a cake right now as I leave this message.”

And so the social network theory works again; from newspapers and neighbors, onto an online Network location; website, rather than a physical ‘Visitor Center’ at a physical street corner, where you have get out of the car, get an old fashioned map and be a prisoner of 20th Century approaches; the NEW ENCINITAS Network is interconnecting with the Encinitas PATCH and together, the strongest regional business/media support group will partner with the PATCH (underwritten by a massive financial commitment by AOL) and together, better serve New Encinitas.

Remember, readers, as New Encinitas goes, so goes Encinitas.

Link to the Patch. http://encinitas.patch.com/ or Marlena.Medford@patch.com

Link to Mike’s new Blog on The Patch.

Link to New Encinitas Network.org. http://newencinitasnetwork.org

Link to Patch One Million Story: http://encinitas.patch.com/articles/patch-ranked-one-of-most-important-online-publishers-passes-1-million-articles-published

NOTE: Don’t miss the Next New Network Luncheon with Guest Speaker, Marlena Medford, speaking on ‘How the Patch Can Help Your Business Community:, on Thursday, August, 25th, 11:45 am till 12:45 pm at BRETT’S BBQ.

Sure, its the heart of the summer 2011; but we just want to make sure that you Save-The-Date Saturday, October 1 to come and join all your friends and neighbors at the Official 25th Birthday Celebration for the City of Encinitas; incorporated 25 years ago this October.

The Celebration is being underwritten by the City of Encinitas and Hosted by those generous folks at the SAN DIEGUITO HERITAGE MUSEUM, located by the back entrance of the Ecke Poinsettia Ranch on Quail Garden’s Drive across from Cheryl Konn’s Encinitas Flower Barn.

There will be food and fun at the Museum, which is also celebrating their third annual Lima Bean Fest!!!

More later; just want everyone to watch for more news about this important landmark in local history!

Congratulations to the Encinitas City Council for finding an equitable solution to the ‘Surfing Madonna’ mosaic relocation.

Allowing Cap’n Keno’s Jerry Sova, (who has been operating the home-style restaurant since 1970 and feeding the poor and homeless and exhibiting humanity and altruism for over 40 years) to arrange for the ‘Surfing Madonnna’ mosaic to be moved to the Leucadia location makes the most sense from a public safety standpoint. Folks like to take photos of the mosaic and like to photograph friends and relatives in front of the mosaic and Cap’n Keno’s is set back far enough from Hwy 101 to allow folks to take photos without endangering themselves by standing hip deep in oncoming traffic.

Plus, can anyone deny that this spiritual piece isn’t a little bit funky?

Herman Cook VW Business Review

In 1966, the Herman O. Cook family relocated to Leucadia. Herman had a visionary idea; build a freestanding Volkswagen sales-and-service facility in the middle of an open field in what was then called ‘Green Valley’ at the juncture of San Marcos Road and Encinitas Boulevard. (See photo and Insert below; 1971)

Herman O. Cook, whom has previously owned a Volkswagen dealership in El Centro and a Volvo dealership in Los Angeles County presciently, believed that there was a future in selling Volkswagens across the road from Peterson Ford and Harloff Chevrolet.

With his wife, Jeanne and son, Dennis, the Cooks oversaw the construction of a 7000 square-foot facility that was to cost $200,000 to complete.

Like all start-up businesses, Cook VW required many hours of hard work and sacrifice; but Herman O. Cook had a couple of hunches that paid off handsomely: first, a good percentage of folks from out of town whom had discovered Encinitas made every effort to relocate here; and secondly, Presidential Advisor, Henry Kissinger (then Secretary of State to Richard Nixon) privately advised the OPEC leaders to raise oil by the barrel prices, that sent the nation into a freefall of gas rationing and gas lines.

The Cooks, already strategically located at a crossroads with plenty of traffic north to south, also had a product that was the pinnacle of German engineering AND a group of three car models, the Bug, the Squareback and the Vanagon, that all operated on excellent miles-per-gallon ratios.

The Cook dealership flourished and the hard work and serious financial risk of 1967 paid off both for the Cooks, but likewise the City of Encinitas, in vehicle licensing fees and sales-tax revenues.

In 1980, Dennis Cook purchased his father’s share of the facility and Herman retired. Dennis, a graduate of San Diego State University, had started his own family; married to Susan and soon, sons, Collin and Connor came along. Not long afterward, Volkswagen International honored him, personally; awarding him a prestigious recognition as one of a select few of the world’s top (Over 800) Volkswagen dealerships, the ‘Volkswagen Vanguard’.

In 1987, Herman Cook VW celebrated their 20^th Anniversary with a ‘Van Jam’ at which time local teens from the Ecke YMCA attempted to ‘jam’ over 113 teens into a van to best the national record; plus locals enjoyed an afternoon of hot air balloon rides high over the dealership.

Today, Dennis’ son, Connor works as the ‘F and I’ sales director; and both are backed up by longtime and loyal associates, Dan Belt (21 years at Cook VW) and Phil Walls (19 years) and Dennis is renown throughout Southern California as the local leader that has put “service above self” as an integral member of the Encinitas Rotary’s annual Surf Soccer Tournament that helps so many children and brings so many leave-behind dollars in New Encinitas every year.

Thursday, March 24^th 2011, at 5:30 pm, the local business support group, the New Encinitas Network will be honoring Dennis Cook, his family and team with a ribbon-cutting and Sundowner celebrating the Cook Family’s 44 years of success here in New Encinitas.

The local musical duo, CONtrast will be playing light jazz on the sales floor and the well-known Flavor Chef will create appetizers to enjoy with cold libations.

Ironically, once again gasoline is rising toward $5.00 per gallon and German engineering is still the world’s standard. Looking for new transportation?

One could not seek better sales prices or better service than those found at Herman Cook VW, nearly 44 years later.

The SAGE GRILL in the Heart of Encinitas

An Encinitas Business Review

Rick Campbell, Owner of the Sage Grill and friend to the New Encinitas Network, is formerly of Pacifica Del Mar, and identifies the Sage Grill as a restaurant that “fills the gap between a family place like Chili’s and the upscale Pacifica Grill.”

Says Campbell, “You can come to Sage Grill in shorts and feel casual and comfortable, or dressed for a special occasion.”

The decor is smart: elegant and understated; with art and lighting emanating warmth and élan. The dining room itself is decorated with grace notes such the larger wine glasses set on the tables at all times of the day; where black cloth napkins are folded into silver napkin rings, and the flatware is of an unusual sleek, pleasing modern design. The floors are of polished wood, and the red leather seats complete the warm modern look.

The Bar is also warm and well stocked; the Wine List is one of the more extensive and impressive in all of Encinitas. Lunch or dinner is begun with warm fresh baked bread accompanied by dip/spreads of garlic, wasabi and cilantro.

The SAGE GRILL is approaching their 8th year in business and has continued to grow its clientele with a heady mixture of unspoken romance, customer service, delicious food and satisfying libations.

SAGE GRILL is perfect for birthdays, anniversaries, and business luncheons; plus there is a private room for private dinner parties; as it continues to pleasantly surprise new customers in New Encinitas and from the whole of North County.

Personal Favorites on the Menu:
Santa Ynez tri tip; grilled tri tip, burgundy-pepper marinade, roasted new potatoes, Santa Ynez-spiced demi-glacé. Tiger prawn cocktail, with wasabi cocktail sauce; Hawaiian-style poke with wonton crisps; Cilantro shrimp skewers; Spinach & goat cheese salad, organic baby spinach, cracked black peppered baked Laura Chenel goat cheese, grapes, red onion and warm bacon vinaigrette; Buttermilk onion rings and Pan-fried buttermilk catfish, panko-encrusted catfish filet, garlic smashed potatoes with seasonal vegetables.

The Secret to Campbell’s success? “The Secret is your staff. If you take care of your guests and your employees, in that order, the rest will fall into place.”

A full menu is also available in the bar.

SAGE GRILL
1506 Encinitas Boulevard, Encinitas (760) 943-7243.

http://www.sagegrill.com/index.php

ENCINITAS BUSINESS REVIEW On-Line

by Mike Andreen, NEW ENCINITAS BUSINESS NETWORK

The grade-separated pedestrian / bicycle railroad crossing project that burrows beneath the coastal railway from Vulcan Avenue at the western dead-end of Santa Fe Drive with Highway 101. This public-safety project has been desired for many years now, but has lacked full funding.

A ‘funding exchange’ from one San Diego County project to another did the trick, and as a result our project may break ground as early as this summer.

Friday, February 11, 2011, the Directors of the San Diego Associations of Governments approved this funding exchange making the Encinitas project fully funded and able for construction bids to be sought. A ground breaking of the first ‘new’ legal public railroad right of way crossing should happen in about six months.

Next year, 2012 the Highlands neighborhood (just up-due east of Swami’s, single-family homes settled above the highway and railway where Santa Fe Drive currently dead-ends west of the Vulcan Avenue Three-Way Stop) folks should be able to descend by foot, pedal or skateboard beneath the train tracks at the corner of Vulcan and Santa Fe. (enjoying the pumpkin fields-red bougainvillea sloped-grounds edged above by twenty-five tall standing palms placed there by our friends at SRF, at the spur) and ascend up onto Hwy 101 near the Swami’s parking lot; just south of Hansen’s Surfboards; (And La T.) enabling day trips to the beach without ever crossing the tracks or having to combust a vehicle.

THE VIEW FROM THE CHAIR

Encinitas Councilman Jerome Stocks was recently and unanimously appointed as Chairman of the regional Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) known as SANDAG; the San Diego Association of Governments. He is the first City Council Member from Encinitas to ever have achieved this honor.

Councilman Stocks has achieved some longevity as the primary representative on both the North County Transportation District (NCTD), and was also the first Encinitas representative to serve as that Board’s Chairman as well, and SANDAG. Jerome Stocks’ knowledge, familiarity and yes, position as the Chair of SANDAG gives the City of Encinitas a perfect ‘view’ of all that is available to Encinitas and the rest of North County in the constantly evolving mosaic of public money available for important infrastructure projects.

LOT B

The successful negotiations between the City of Encinitas and the NCTD which allowed the City to finally move forward building the much needed parking lot on NCTD property on Vulcan Avenue, known as LOT B, as well as the funding swap of federal “ARRA” money through SANDAG is what finally allowed this much needed asset to exist in Encinitas. LOT B took over 10 years to get approved and funded and it was finally able to be constructed because of the relationships Stocks has been able to develop at NCTD and SANDAG. That parking lot will serve our local resident’s and businesses for 50 years or more, and should stand as a reminder that regional relationships matter and Encinitas is not an island unto itself. Stocks understands this well.

For the legal details of this ‘good news’; please contact; Deborah Gunn, CPS/CAP

Executive Assistant/Clerk of the Board

San Diego Association of Governments

Tel: 619-699-1912 E-mail: dgu@sandag.org

NEW ENCINITAS:
Thierry “Predator” Sokoudjou Headlines “Predator Versus Editor” Sundowner at Team Quest Xtreme Fitness in New Encinitas.

“We call him ‘Terry’” says Mike Andreen of the New Encinitas Network, while others from around the world call him simply, Sokoudjou, or ‘The Predator’.

Sokoudjou was born in Cameroon as Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou Nkamhoua; and ‘Terry’ is a feared mixed martial artist and Judo practitioner, who came suddenly to prominence in Japan’s PRIDE Fighting Championships, before ultimately signing with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and; while he still fights, the big news is that he has opened a stunningly modern and impressive new fitness factory that is ‘alive’ with so many moving parts and fresh ideas that one really gets both a feeling of community comfort and a worldly international approach to exercise, ambition and philosophy of life.

This coming Thursday, February 17th, NEW ENCINITAS will receive a ‘Live Event’ Valentine, when Terry Sodkoudjou will square off in the boxing/mixed martial arts ring across from crafty journeyman, Mike ‘The Editor’ Andreen in what many longtime observers believe will be a memorable contest of “blows versus prose”*

Sokoudjou’s fiancé and partner in the fitness center, Sarah Simonetti says of the George Foreman emulating competitor, Andreen, “Mike better get up on his bicycle and keep peddling away. He cannot be saved by an Editorial Board this time.”

Team Quest Manager, Suzanne Silver laughed, “Mike keeps talking about slapping Terry with a ‘dangling participle’, but you have to be conscious and upright to unleash something like that.”

Simonetti explains ‘What’ truly makes Team Quest world-class, “Team Quest Encinitas welcomes locals with a hard workout, fast results, access to advanced self-defense regimens and techniques, and succeeds at this while maintaining both a ‘laid back and get sweaty’ atmosphere. You can be part of a family and not a projection for corporate profitability where they are just considered a swipe card or a fingerprint, rather than a person.”

NEITHER ARE AFRAID!
Sodukjou welcomes the competition, he holds up a fist and promises about the bout, “I’ve told Mike that I will teach him a ‘crash course’ in muy thai!”

Andreen answers.
“Muy Thai? Muy Bien! And I am going to introduce Terry to a little thing we called back home in the Gold Key Speech Club; the “transitive verb”! Let’s see Terry try and dodge an ‘independent clause’.”

“Mike is fast with an independent clause,” agrees Dr. Chad Patrick of Discover Chiropractic, who will be in attendance to help the fighters at the exhibition.

“Plus, Terry’s vertical reach out lengths Mike’s reach by 18 inches…per arm,” counseled Reece Jensen, PRN Physical Therapy Director and Headliner of the jazz duo/band CONtrast that is opening the festivities at Team Quest’s Sundowner on Thursday evening.

“We expect Mike to come out of his corner and keep moving away from Terry’s right, remain in the ‘passive voice’, maybe go southpaw with a ‘subjunctive clause’” confesses Andreen’s trainer, Lisa Landers of Swirl Fashion Boutique.

“Of course, this is ‘just’ an exhibition, but Terry and Mike felt that true world-class MMA should be introduced to New Encinitas with a gala Grand Opening and a Ribbon Cutting,” says Simonetti.

“Whip lash syntax” is what Terry promises to deliver in the ring,” and Silver agrees, the manager who fights competitively herself.

“No disrespect to Mike, but none of his ‘old school’ tricks are going to save him this time. You can’t use ‘white-out’ against jujitsu.”

“The last time I saw Mike face off like this was in 1996 and even then he was telegraphing the ‘dependent clause’. I expect him to go all rope-a-dope with the ‘future perfect tense’, offered New Encinitas cogniscento, Tim Grenda. “What else can he do?”

PRE-FIGHT INJURY FOR ANDREEN?
Rumors about a pre-bout injury whirled above the shampoo bowls at Headlines For Hair on Thursday.

”We heard that Mike ‘split an ‘infinitive’ in training camp at Cordova Gardens last week.” observed Gayle Fulbright of Headlines For Hair. “I not sure practicing your ‘moves’ in front of a statue at Joey Cordova’s is enough to rekindle Mike’s familiarity with the subordinate-clause,” worried Headline partner, Letty Skinner, (Headlines is relocating her incredibly successful studio across the parking lot next to Swirl Fashion Boutique).

To learn more, or to train with Team Quest fighter, Terry Sodoukjou, go to;

http://www.tqencinitas.com/

*Loralee Olejnik; San Diego Medical Services

ENCINITAS BUSINESS REVIEW