{"id":180,"date":"2015-03-10T16:10:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-10T16:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esconeighbors.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=180"},"modified":"2015-03-10T16:10:00","modified_gmt":"2015-03-10T16:10:00","slug":"oak-creek-passes-city-council-4-1-a-blue-view-blog-tells-the-tale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/?p=180","title":{"rendered":"Oak Creek passes City Council 4-1- A Blue View Blog tells the tale"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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\nOak Creek was approved by Council at the Wednesday meeting.  The blog below pretty much tells the story.  We encourage you to join the blog A Blue View for Escondido.  Here’s the link   A Blue View Blog on the Oak Creek Hearing<\/a>   There are many discussions going on right now about next steps.  More soon.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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Oak Creek\u2013Unhealthy for Oaks and Creeks<\/a><\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

\nby mmliles<\/span><\/a><\/span> <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nWednesday\u2019s City Council meeting pretty much transpired as
\nexpected, well, except that Mayor Sam Abed went off the rails more than usual.
\nEven the usually non-committal reporter for the San Diego UT<\/em> noticed: \u201cMayor Sam Abed
\nthanked everyone in the chambers for their civility during the hearing.
\nHowever, he also strongly criticized local environmental lawyer Everett DeLano
\nfor a letter he sent this week that Abed said was filled with untruths and was
\nan \u2018embarrassment.\u2019 \u201d http:\/\/www.utsandiego.com\/news\/2015\/mar\/04\/escondido-oak-creek-council-approved\/<\/span><\/a><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n\u201cStrongly criticized\u201d is an understatement\u2014Abed was rude, very
\nuncivil, and an embarrassment to the City.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\nThe main item on the agenda was #10 OAK CREEK PROJECT
\nANNEXATION, TENTATIVE SUBDIVISION MAP, PRELIMINARY, MASTER AND PRECISE
\nDEVELOPMENT PLAN, PRE-ZONE, GRADING EXEMPTIONS, SPECIFIC ALIGNMENT PLAN AND
\nFINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT. The project, already approved by the
\nPlanning Commission, will build 65 homes on some 37.6 acres. One home per over
\nhalf an acre\u2014that doesn\u2019t sound too dense, a considerable decrease from what
\nthe County\u2019s or even the City\u2019s General Plan would allow\u2014as the developer, New
\nUrban West\u2019s spokesman, Jason Han, and, later, Councilmen Ed Gallo, John
\nMasson, and Abed pointed out. But, considering that any home built in the
\nCounty would have to have a septic system, which would usually require at least
\nan acre, maybe not. To even build 65 homes would require a sewer system. These
\nproposed new \u201cmulti-generational\u201d homes ranging from a mere 3,300 square feet
\nto 4,617 square feet, with four to six bedrooms, and corresponding number of
\nbathrooms will be built on lots of around 10,000 to 12,000 sq. feet. It will be
\na gated community. It will build a public sidewalk along Felicita Road, and put
\nin a \u201ctraffic calming\u201d traffic circle on Felicity Road. It will save the
\nseasonal Duck Pond, and allow public access to the pond\u2014even install a bench to
\nview the pond. Sounds delightful.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\nBut wait\u2014the project will also remove some 238 mature trees,
\nincluding over 100 native Coastal Live Oaks. The developer has promised to
\nreplace these with 400 native trees and 1500 seedlings. All well and good, but
\na mature tree can nest many more birds than many immature trees. There will be
\na disturbance to the bird populations.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\nThere were, by my count, about as many speakers against the
\ndevelopment as for the development, but there were also about twice as many
\nsupporters as opponents in the audience. Both sides made some good arguments.
\nEscondido Neighbors United (ENU) objected to the removal of mature oak trees,
\nthe presence of toxic chemicals under a part of the development\u2019s land caused
\nby a toxic plume that had originated from the Chatham Waste site. J. Harry
\nJones sums up the history of this site well: http:\/\/www.utsandiego.com\/news\/2014\/sep\/30\/escondido-chatham-pbrothers-plume-toxic\/2\/?#article-copy<\/span><\/a>
\n. ENU members argue that the state\u2019s Department of Toxic Substances Control
\n(DTSC) was much too optimistic in their assurances that the problem was not
\nsignificant. http:\/\/escondidoneighborsunited.blogspot.com<\/span><\/a>\/
\n. They also argue that the buffer zones between the project and the seasonal
\ncreeks on the property was not consistent with Escondido\u2019s General Plan, and
\nthat the gated community would present a major barrier to wildlife. ENU
\npresented an alternate plan for a development, a non-gated project with 41
\nhomes.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\nThose neighbors for the development cited their belief that this
\ndevelopment would slow down the traffic on Felicity. The sidewalk would make it
\nsafer for their children. The development\u2019s site had been allowed to become a
\ndumping ground and homeless camp, and the proponents were glad that would not
\nhappen again. I found it curious that neither these neighbors, the Council, nor
\nthe developer questioned why the owner of the land, Arie de Jong, was never
\ncriticized for allowing his land to become so blighted. The neighbors favoring
\nthe development really got to speak twice, since many had appeared in a video
\npresented by Han during his time before the Council. New Urban West does do an
\nexcellent job of convincing the neighbors that their developments are just what
\ntheir neighborhood needs. Their development in Harmony Grove is a classic case
\nof their smarts in the public relations department. But, that\u2019s another blog or
\ntwo, or three, or five.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\nCouncilman Mike Morasco led the parade of praise for New Urban
\nWest by the Council majority. He complemented those who had spoken on both
\nsides for being so civil, then proceeded to claim that the opponents had stated
\nas facts things that were not factual\u2014without actually iterating what those
\nnon-facts were. He could not understand why a bridge over a creek would be a
\nproblem for wildlife.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\nGallo heaped more compliments onto the pile begun by Morasco,
\nadmitting that as long as the duck pond was saved, he would be happy. He made
\nhis usual, somewhat incoherent, description of the real estate domino effect.
\nHe was absolutely certain that any project with a 3,600 page EIR had to meet
\nall environmental requirements.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\nCouncilwoman Olga Diaz questioned why the project had narrower
\nwildlife buffer zones than required by the General Plan. She questioned why the
\nland had been allowed to fall into a decline. She expressed her concern that
\nthe Council had never been presented with complete information about the
\nChatham Superfund Site. She was told that it was the responsibility of the DTSC
\nto inform neighbors about the status of the toxic plumes, but she suggested that
\nonce the property was in the City, the City would bear some responsibility for
\nsuch notification. She too complimented New Urban West, but felt there were too
\nmany uncertainties to vote for the project.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\nMasson chimed in with the New Urban West chorus of praise,
\nclaiming the project would actually reduce the risk of downstream flooding,
\nconcluding, that New Urban West knew the market, and the Council should not
\ndictate to New Urban West what size of houses to build, or whether or not to
\nbuild a gated community.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\nAbed started his comments calmly\u2014observing that this may have
\nbeen the most civil meeting he had ever had. He was very proud of his long
\nassociation with New Urban West, noting that New Urban West set the example of
\nwhat developers should do. Then Abed became a bit unglued. He said that the
\nletter from attorney Everett DeLano was so full of inaccuracies as to be an
\nembarrassment, then went so far as to advise people to avoid the Delano law
\nfirm. He went on to criticize an Op Ed by two members of ENU, Fred Progner
\n& Ron Forster: http:\/\/www.utsandiego.com\/news\/2015\/feb\/28\/tp-residents-seek-action-to-address-water\/#comments-module<\/span><\/a>
\n, as being 50 to 60 % false. About this point in time, the opponents began to
\nleave the chambers. Abed went on to beat the conservative mantra about property
\nrights, and noting that ENU member Laura Hunter was against any development as
\nfar as he could tell. He preferred to ignore the fact that ENU had proposed an
\nalternative development.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nOf course the project was approved four to one. The good ole
\nboys on the Council lived up to their commitments to the Building Industry
\nAssociation. The last item on the agenda was the appointment of a white, male,
\ngeneral contractor to the Planning Commission. Business as usual.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oak Creek was approved by Council at the Wednesday meeting.  The blog below pretty much tells the story.  We encourage you to join the blog A Blue View for Escondido.  Here’s the link   A Blue View Blog on the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Escondido Neighbors United","author_link":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/?author=1"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}