Encinitas sets goals for 2007: Hall property park, highway …
ENCINITAS — Building the first phase of a park on the so-called “Hall property
and beautifying North Coast Highway 101 top the City Council’s priority list for 2007.

ENCINITAS — Building the first phase of a park on the so-called “Hall property” and beautifying North Coast Highway 101 top the City Council’s priority list for 2007.

At a Monday goal-setting workshop, council members assigned rankings to more than 20 capital projects. No votes were taken, but the rankings offer a preview of which projects will receive funding when the city releases its budget this spring.

The annual goal-setting session also revealed the issues that will appear on the council’s agenda during the year ahead.

Launching construction of the park on the 43-acre Hall property, south of Santa Fe Drive and west of Interstate 5, is certain to be one of them. The property is named for Robert Hall, the flower grower who sold the former nursery to the city in 2001.

Since then, litigation and a prolonged environmental review — which remains incomplete — have stalled construction of a park that would include ball fields, a skate park, off-leash dog area and walking path.

Bowing to pressure from skaters, Councilwoman Maggie Houlihan told her colleagues that the first phase of park construction should include a skateboard park, especially if a private sponsor were to pay for it.

Plans for the park property include a teen center and pool, but the council has agreed to delay construction of those facilities because of cost.

Construction of the park was the council’s No. 1 priority one year ago.

City Manager Phil Cotton warned the council that even a first phase of construction — which includes fields, parking, a landscaped buffer, trails and the dog park — could cost more than the $19 million budgeted for it.

“That $19 million estimate is over a year old,” Cotton said, “and we all know what construction prices have done.”

Council members did not receive a cost estimate Monday for a second project that they ranked as a top priority: beautifying the highway corridor through Leucadia with landscaping, sidewalks and other improvements.

Leucadia emerged as a leading community under the council’s exercise of ranking capital projects.

Toward the top of the list was improving the access to Beacon’s Beach at the foot of Leucadia Boulevard. City staffers told the council last week that the Beacon’s project, which calls for a new trail, sea wall and parking lot, was the highest-priority project to meet public safety and infrastructure goals of the city.

Improvements to Leucadia Boulevard’s intersection with Vulcan Avenue received a high ranking, although no funds are budgeted to pay for the project, estimated to cost $5 million.

Equally ranked was a project to improve Leucadia Boulevard west of Interstate 5 with sidewalks, landscaping and two roundabouts. To date, $1.8 million is budgeted for that project.

City Engineer Peter Cota-Robles told the council he is preparing to advertise for bids for the Leucadia Boulevard job shortly. Officials have said they expect construction on the project to begin this spring.