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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCT 98-14; Thompson/Tabata; Tentative Map (CT) (67)SUNDAY, MAY 6,2001 JAMIE SCOn LYTLE / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Joe Hull of Carlsbad is a leader in the Spinnaker Hill neighborhood's protest against a proposed development near his neighborhood, which would extend Rose Drive, making it a central thoroughfare. Opposition grows to development • Petition from Spinnaker Hill is latest challenge to 262-home project MICHAEL J. WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER CARLSBAD — Standard Pa- cific Homes' proposal to build 262 homes on 82 acres in south Carlsbad is provoking prolific op- position from the proposed devel- opment's neighbors, protest peti- tions filed widi City Hall show. Last year, a petition signed by about 300 residents from the Vista Pacifica subdivision west of the project site was submit- ted to the city to express con- cerns about traffic entering their community from the new development. Most recently, the city in April received a peti- tion opposing the project that was signed by more than 360 residents, predominantly from the 300-home Spinnaker Hill subdivision south of the Stan- dard Pacific project, which would be built at Poinsettia Lane west of Aviara Parkway. "Our fear is that die addition- al traffic would be detrimental to > GROWS, B 7 Lagoon group to start monthly talk series • First speaker set for Saturday at Batiquitos Nature Center JVMCHAEL J. WILLIAMS resentatives announced. The series launches Saturday with a presentation at 10 a.m. by Kay Stewart of the California Native Plant Society, and it will continue indefinitely at the same time on each second Sat- urday of the ensuing months. The talkc w.-ill r^L-o r,l~~~ •- -i GROWS Continued {torn B-l City planner says vehicle volume in development won't violate standards our residents," said Don Connors, a Spinnaker Hill resident and pe- tition signer. "We don't think an- other development should dump traffic on our streets." City planners and engineers concluded in a preliminary envi- ronmental report that any nega- tive effects resulting from the project can be offset. Senior plan- ner Mike Grim said the project's traffic study shows the develop- ment would not generate vehicle volumes violating city standards. A 30-day public review and comment period ended Friday on the preliminary report for the project. City analysts will re- view and respond to the com- ments in a final environmental report, which will accompany the project plan documents when they are submitted to the Planning Commission and sub- sequently to the City Council. Grim said the project would go before the Planning Commis- sion on June 20 at the earliest. Phone calls to Standard Pa- cific Homes' project manager were not returned Thursday and Friday. Grim, however, said the developer as well as the city staff are heeding the comments from residents. He said a work- shop was held last year to give the public a chance to examine the plans and offer feedback. The property is a roughly rec- tangular lot, which extends to Aviara Parkway just north of its intersection with Poinsetria. The Vista Pacific petition protests the extension of Alyssum, which now dead-ends at the Stan- dard Pacific property line. Many Vista Pacifica residents fear the extension of Alyssum Drive will divert traffic from the new project onto their streets. In their petition, Spinnaker Hill residents express concern over the project's effect on Daisy Lane, one of their main residential streets and a connec- tion to Batiquitos Drive. Batiqui- tos intersects Poinsettia Lane, an Interstate 5 connection, and Aviara Parkway, which carries traffic to El Camino Real. The Standard Pacific plan proposes to connect Rose Drive between Poinsettia and the southern edge of the property so that it serves as a central thor- oughfare for the new develop- ment. Like Alyssum, Rose Drive now stops at the project proper- ty line, but on the south side in Spinnaker Hills. Connors and other residents of both Vista Pacifica and Spinnaker Hills say they want Standard Pa- cific to put another entrance road on Poinsettia rather than hooking up with their streets. "Daisy right now is a safety problem because people, includ- ing our own residents ... tend to speed down Daisy," Connors said. "Daisy is not a collector street, ifs a residential street. We're all in favor of their project, but don't put your problems in our back yard, and they don't have to if they redesigned it and put their entrances on Poinsettia." Spinnaker Hill resident Joseph Hull, a traffic engineer with the state Department of Transportation, is taking a lead role in battling the street designs now shown on Standard Pacific's blueprints. He concedes that Standard Pacific representatives have been cooperative and in fact have made some changes in response to the residents' con- cerns. "We realize overall that certainly there is a need for hous- ing in the area, but on the other hand it shouldn't be done at the expense of the communities that already exist," Hull said. The traffic analysis indicates an average of 1,920 vehicle trips a day now occur on the stretch of Daisy between Rose Drive and Batiquitos. The Standard Pacific project would add 760 cars a day, which is 30 percent of the total traffic generated by the pro- posed homes, according to the analysis. "There's currently about 2,000 trips a day on Daisy and to me, that's about as much as a street like Daisy should handle," Hull said. "This (project) will put about 800 more cars a day there and that's just too much. With all that traffic, I wouldn't let my son walk down there. It really bifur- cates Spinnaker Hill." The city's analysis, however, concludes that even with the addi- tional cars from the new project, the total trips on Daisy wouldn't be much over 2,000. Grim said the new streets will provide addition- al outlets for traffic from Spin- naker Hill and Vista Pacifica that balance the impacts to some ex- tent. "According to (the project) analysis, there has been no viola- tion of the traffic standards," Grim said. "When we connect new development, people will drive from old development using new development's streets, so it works both ways." Grim stressed that the city will carefully consid- er the criticisms to date as well as comments aimed at the project in future public hearings. Contact staff writer Michael J. Williams at (760) 901-4082 or mwilliams@nctimes.com. PROJECT Continued from B-l busy, and we think the project will move along more quickly now," Maturo said. Maturo wouldn't speculate on when the project will be finished. The $10 million project will be funded entirely from dona- tions, he said, but the society has only received enough dona- tions to pay for one of the 14 statues, he said. "The timeline will really de- pend on donors," he said. One of the four completed (CO) NORTH COUNTY i IMES statues now stands in front of Mission San Luis Rey. The rest are located at Mary, Star of the Sea Church in La Jol- la, St. Paul's Episcopal Church in North Park and Mission San Juan Capistrano in Orange County. The new artist has just com- pleted a bron2e sculpture for St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church in Fallbrook. That sculpture will be in- stalled and dedicated this sum- mer. Contact staff writer Erin Walsh at (760) 9014090 or ewalsh@nctimes.com.