HomeMy WebLinkAboutLCPA 93-06; Green Valley; Local Coastal Program Amendment (LCPA) (13)April 18, 1996
Lee McEachern
California Coastal Commission
Suite 200
31 11 Camino del Rio North
SanDiego CA 92108
SUBJECT: MP 92-01 - GREEN VALLEY-LEVANTE STREET CROSSING
Dear Lee:
In response to your request for the City's position and supporting information regarding
the Levante Street crossing, the City of Carlsbad offers the following comments:
POLICY ISSUES
The East Batiquitos Lagoon/Hunt properties Segment LCP states (C.3.a.):
"A maximum of two (2) crossings shall be permitted to provide access to the
developable portions of Green valley."
This statement is not conditional. It says that two crossings will be allowed to access
the interior of the property.
"The access crossings shall be designed to minimize adverse impacts to the habitat value of the riparian corridor and shall be mitigated by the creation of and maintenance of new riparian habitat at a ratio of 3 square feet of new riparian area for each one square foot of disturbance associated with
construction of the accessways."
This statement indicates that there will be more than one crossing and that there will be
disturbance requiring mitigation at a ratio of 3 to I.
"All mitigation shall be located on site and contiguous with the existing
riparian corridor."
This statement indicates that the mitigation will be onsite, and since it is at a 3:l ratio,
will widen the subject riparian habitat corridor.
The Green Valley Master Plan was designed to implement these policies. Bridge like
structures will have a minimal impact on the riparian corridor and impacts will be
mitigated onsite adjacent to the riparian corridor at a ratio of greater than 3: I.
TRAFFIC ISSUES
A single access to the Green Valley at Calle Barcelona will further burden the Calle
Barcelona/El Camino Real intersection. This intersection has been identified as one of
two, the other being La Costa Avenue/El Camino Real, which will fail at buildout without
mitigating intersection improvements.
SAFETY ISSUES
Sufficient emergency access to the residential portion of the project is provided through
the Levante Street crossing, which will not be provided if Levante Street is eliminated.
Because a 5 minute emergency response time has been established as acceptable for
fire services, any delay is critical to the ability of the Fire Department to perform their
given duties. Elimination of the Levante Street crossing will require emergency services
to navigate an additional distance of nearly one mile and pass through the increased
congestion at the Calle Barcelona/El Camino Real intersection. Both of these obstacles
could increase response times above the accepted 5 minutes.
Without the Levante Street crossing, the only access to the Green Valley is to the south
at Calle Barcelona. This creates the potential during a catastrophic event, such as a
hillside or building fire, for residents and patrons to be trapped without an evacuation
route. The City would not allow this situation to happen anywhere in the City.
Eliminating the Levante Street crossing would not allow the City to meet its
responsibility to protect the safety and welfare of its residents.
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
The value of the riparian habitat through Green Valley as a wildlife corridor was greatly
diminished through the approvals granted to the Encinitas Ranch project directly to the
south which effectively cuts off the eastern extension of Encinitas Creek to wildlife
movement. However, in the Green Valley project, the impacts to wildlife movements
are minimized through the proposed construction of bridge like structures for both
crossings, for which preliminary design has been reviewed by the Department of Fish
and Game and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The City concludes that the
benefit to the human environment by retaining the Levante Street crossing outweighs
the benefit to wildlife movement through deletion of the Levante Street crossing. This
position is supported by the conclusions reached in the Green Valley EIR.
As stated in previous correspondence, the City's analysis for support or rejection of this
development proposal has been a balance of competing goals. In this case, it is the
MP 92-01 - GREEN VALLEY-LEVANTE STREET CROSSING
APRIL 18, 1996
PAGE 3
City's firm position that any small environmental benefit to wildlife movement through
the riparian corridor that could result from the elimination of the Levante Street crossing
are far outweighed by the safety benefits provided by the retention of the crossing.
Please contact me if you would like to further discuss the matter.
Sincerely,
CHRISTER WESTMAN
Associate Planner
CWbk