96k Cardiff Plan unpopular

By JP(JP)

Residents blasted a long-awaited plan for Cardiff’s commercial district Wednesday, telling the Encinitas City Council that

the document ignored what they had asked for at community workshops six years ago. No one seemed to support the …

Residents blasted a long-awaited plan for Cardiff’s commercial district Wednesday, telling the Encinitas City Council that the document ignored what they had asked for at community workshops six years ago. No one seemed to support the plan, for which the city paid a San Diego-based consultancy $96,000.

Cardiff plan takes a thrashing

From the story:

No one seemed to support the plan, for which the city paid a San Diego-based consultancy $96,000.

“The Cardiff specific plan missed its target,” said Bob Bonde, a longtime resident. “We do not want the business district converted into expensive, street-hugging stores, yuppie time-share accommodations or high-density housing complexes. We would like you to repair the infrastructure and clean up the six-block business district, but keep it basically the same.”

Along the one-block-long Aberdeen Drive, the plan calls for structures built right to the sidewalk.

“After six years, we are still requesting a mini specific plan —- alley improvements, sidewalks where there are none and zoning corrections to reflect what is on the ground in this six-block area,” said Barbara Cobb, Cardiff Town Council president.

Council members also found little to like about the plan.

Councilwoman Maggie Houlihan said the plan wasn’t what she expected to emerge from heavily attended workshops in the summer of 2001.

Among other issues, proposed landscaping includes “invasive” non-native plants and trees that could threaten views, she said.

It also lacked any analysis of historical preservation, according to Houlihan.

“There’s a lot of troubling elements to this specific plan,” said Councilman Jerome Stocks. “Maybe (the consultant) tried a little too hard.”

Mayor James Bond said, “I’m OK with just making some improvements to the alley and the pavement and the drainage and moving on.”

Even though Teresa Barth probably did the right thing by staying out of it because she lives in the area, it’s kind of too bad. One of the reasons you elect a person from your neighborhood is because you hope they will watch out for it. Of course, it’s a slippery slope because then you can come off as self serving.

Speaking of slippery slopes, raising height limits in an old neighborhood like Cardiff is dicey. You are really opening up a Pandora’s box of potential lawsuits and view wars like in Del Mar. I don’t think our city needs that kind of drama.

I have to disagree about the hating of the storefronts pushed forward towards the street, I’ve always hated the big parking lot in the front. Parking lots are ugly. Parking lots should located in the rear of a property most of the time. It really depends on the location itself, but for the most part I’d rather be able to see the storefront windows than look at a parking lot.

You can view the Cardiff-by-the-sea Specific Plan on the city of Encinitas website here.

Here are the lyrics to the song Cardiff-by-the-sea by the alternative rock band The Ataris:

The sea has become profoundly red as wine
The skies they bleed with fleeting passion tonight

Come sweet euphoria
Your light is blinding to thee
You feel as comforting as a mother’s warm embrace
But still you’re just as lonely as the sea

We gaze out upon the crashing waves
From this hillside graveyard masquerade

Sweet terrible angel
Embrace my soul with light
There’s an honesty inside my lungs and its dying to get out
But still I’m helpless as an orphaned child

Can you cure this loneliness in my heart
In my heart
Can you cure this loneliness in my heart
In my heart

Euphoria, euphoria
Euphoria, euphoria
Euphoria, euphoria

See also Cardiff Town Council