{"id":181,"date":"2015-03-04T21:21:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T21:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esconeighbors.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=181"},"modified":"2015-03-04T21:21:00","modified_gmt":"2015-03-04T21:21:00","slug":"final-reminder-council-meeting-today-430","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/?p=181","title":{"rendered":"Final Reminder: Council Meeting today 4:30."},"content":{"rendered":"

Just a quick reminder that the final Council vote will be today at 4:30<\/b> at Escondido City Hall.<\/p>\n

\nHere are some of the excellent letters that have been filed on this project<\/p>\n
\nSan Diego Audubon Society<\/a>   and from our counsel Everett DeLano  DeLano for ENU<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nThanks to all the people who have written and supported our efforts.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nOur Media Release <\/div>\n
\n
\nEscondido Neighbors United<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\nAn alliance of engaged
\nresidents working for the benefit of rural, urban, and natural communities in
\nthe Escondido Area.   <\/span>    <\/span><\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nFor Immediate
\nRelease:<\/u>                                                      Contact:<\/u>  Laura Hunter,
\n619-997-9983<\/o:p><\/u><\/b><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\nCommunity to Oppose Oak
\nCreek <\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\nHousing Development in
\nEscondido<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\nOn March 4,
\n2015, members of Escondido Neighbors
\nUnited<\/i> (ENU) will join other residents and organizations to present their
\nopposition to the proposed Oak Creek Housing Development at the final City
\nCouncil hearing on the project.   They
\nwill urge the City Council, instead, to consider a less dense option called,
\nCommunity Creek or defer decision until more is known about the environmental
\ncondition of the site.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nOak Creek is a 65-home, gated housing development
\nproposed on farmland adjacent to Felicita Park and annexed from the County to
\nthe City.  The proposal will cause the
\ndestruction of hundreds of native oak trees and the dense development footprint
\nadds to threats of erosion and runoff downstream where impacts are already
\nsevere.  County Parks Department\u2019s concerns about potential impacts to
\nFelicita Park have yet to be addressed.   <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nEscondido Neighbors United
\nhas been engaged on the Oak Creek housing proposal for many months.   ENU members have commented extensively on
\nthe project about impacts and concerns related to wildlife, oak trees, traffic,
\ncommunity character, waste contamination, air quality, water quality in the
\nstreams, water supply, and cultural resources, but improvements have not been
\nmade.  In fact, the project was changed
\nto worsen the impacts  <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAlso troubling is that past sampling shows the
\nChatham plumes are under about a third of the Oak Creek site.  However,
\nconditions cannot be fully known because the property owner refused access to
\ntechnical consultants for scheduled testing of wells on-site.  One of the wells has measured multiple contaminants in the past so
\nneeds to be tested.  Soil vapors and groundwater pollution were found
\nwithin the property lines and some of the new homes are proposed over plume
\nareas.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nENU member and neighbor of the site Eva Salazar stated,
\n<\/span>“I request that no homes are built
\nover the plume.  If this project is approved I don’t want my future
\nneighbors to be in the same situation I am in, living on a plume of
\ncontaminated ground water wondering what toll this will take on my health”.<\/i><\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAlthough the State Department of Toxic Substances
\nControl said the pollution is adequately characterized and will degrade given
\nenough time, this contradicts facts on the ground.  The most recent
\nmonitoring shows pollution entering Felicita Creek at the highest levels to
\ndate, contamination has spread to new wells, and wells on the Oak Creek site
\nwere prevented from being tested.   A sister agency, the Regional Water
\nQuality Control Board, disagrees that the contamination strategy is
\nworking.   <\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nOak Creek is also heavily reliant on constructed
\nstorm water features to address increases in runoff.  The City has stated
\nthat compliance with the storm water permit will ensure no downstream
\nerosion.  However, on February 10, 2015 the Regional Water Board filed an
\nofficial Notice of Violation against the city of Escondido for many failures to
\nenforce the storm water rules. <\/span>More information can be found here, <\/span>http:\/\/escondidoneighborsunited.blogspot.com\/2015\/02\/escondido-receives-official-notice-of.html<\/span><\/a><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nEscondido Neighbors United, will ask the City of
\nEscondido to deny Oak Creek, require a less dense alternative, get serious
\nabout enforcing water runoff rules, and require remediation of pollution before
\nannexation.<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nENU
\nmembers will also be advocating instead for consideration of Community
\nCreek\u2014A Balanced Option.  <\/b>Community
\nCreek proposes a <\/b>reduced footprint and density alternative and
\nappropriate conditions for consideration. 
\n<\/span>Community Creek <\/span><\/i><\/b>achieves many <\/span>benefits:<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n\u00b7        
\n<\/span><\/span>Protects
\nmore wetlands but allows development to occur, <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n\u00b7        
\n<\/span><\/span>Reduces
\nnegative impacts to the streams and avoids disruption of creek, <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n\u00b7        
\n<\/span><\/span>Reduces
\nloss of native oak trees, <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n\u00b7        
\n<\/span><\/span>Better
\nsupports wildlife, <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n\u00b7        
\n<\/span><\/span>Protects
\nclean water and prevents downstream erosion and impacts , <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n\u00b7        
\n<\/span><\/span>Reduces
\ntraffic and needed infrastructure,<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n\u00b7        
\n<\/span><\/span>Enhances
\nand integrates with existing neighbors, not isolates from them <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nEscondido Neighbors United
\n(ENU) is a local community group active in the SW Escondido area working to
\nprotect the environment and local communities. 
\nENU is committed with preserving our community, environmental, cultural resources, Felicita Park, and quality of life of the neighborhoods in
\nour area.   More information is at <\/span>www.escondidoneighbors.org<\/span><\/a>
\n   <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just a quick reminder that the final Council vote will be today at 4:30 at Escondido City Hall. Here are some of the excellent letters that have been filed on this project San Diego Audubon Society   and from our counsel … 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-181","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\/181","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=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}