By Richard Riehl / The Riehl World
While paid signature gatherers raced through neighborhoods representing themselves as concerned citizens on a mission to save the Strawberry Fields, a glossy mailer appeared in my mailbox titled, A Bird’s Eye View of the Agua Hedionda 85/15 Plan, with a full color sketch of an aerial view of the site.
Birds apparently can’t see shopping centers. The verdant landscape is littered with thumbnail photos of a family at a picnic table, a man picking strawberries, a couple strolling down a path and a guy inexplicably carrying a surfboard, as he walks away from the waveless lagoon behind him. A small amphitheater is nestled amid the lush greenery.
Read the fine print to discover what’s missing from the sketch, the “outdoor retail, shopping, dining…promenade.” After the Carlsbad city council unanimously approved the plan, despite the promise of its title in the document filed with the city clerk on May 12, “INITIATIVE MEASURE TO BE SUBMITTED DIRECTLY TO THE VOTERS” (my emphasis), it’s become clear that birds were not the only ones who failed to see the entire developer’s plan.
A promenade sounds far more attractive than a shopping center. To discover what Caruso has in mind, check out the Specific Plan’s Visitor- Serving Commercial Development Standards. The 26.7 acres will include 13 acres of building floor space, twice that of the Carlsbad Premium Outlets. The maximum height of buildings will be 35 feet, or three stories high. Protrusions from the tops of those buildings will be allowed, up to 55 feet, to accommodate flagpoles, steeples, elevator housing, architectural towers and wireless masts. A cluster of multi-level parking garages will be included. I could find no limit to the number of three-story buildings permitted on the site.
In addition to Nordstrom and a collection of upscale shopping boutiques and dining facilities, Caruso’s promenade will be open to banks and financial services, management and leasing offices, limited office spaces for lease, barber shops/salons, electric car charging stations and travel agencies. The site will rival the city’s downtown in shopping and civic amenities.
It makes you wonder how the plan will affect the Carlsbad Village Master Plan, intended to rejuvenate the downtown, since, “competition from modern shopping centers had sucked away much of the area’s commercial vitality.” Will we see empty shop windows in the Village when downtown customers are drawn to the lagoon’s shops, and downtown owners go out of business because they can’t afford the rent to move there?
The best way to picture Carlsbad’s Strawberry Fields Mall is to take a look at the L.A. developer’s last creation.
In my last posting here I suggested going to the city’s website to find the most accurate description of the plan. I should have directed you only to the official documents found there, with a warning not to stop at the page titled Fast Facts. Be as wary of fast facts as you are of fast talkers.
Here’s the preamble to the page: “Chances are, some of what you have heard is not true. The city’s goal is to ensure the community has access to accurate, unbiased information.” What follows is a series of answers to hypothetical questions. Here’s the answer to the question that gave rise to the Citizens for North County’s volunteer-led petition for a vote of the people.
Question: Were voters tricked into signing the petition (to save the strawberry fields)?
Answer: The city attorney’s impartial title and summary appeared on every signature page. The summary clearly described what was being proposed under the plan.
Click on the link and you will find a description of the plan all right, but no commitment to save the strawberry fields, and no warning that five city council members could approve it without a vote of the people. The integrity of city officials can be questioned when they claim signers of the petition were fully-informed when confronted with signature gatherers paid by a developer hell bent on bypassing city voters.
Whether you were tricked into signing the petition, or fully support the developer’s plan, I hope you will agree a project of this importance to the community should be able to gain voter support. The petition for a vote must gather enough signatures by September 24 to be put on the ballot in a special election this year, or in next year’s general election. If you are a registered voter in Carlsbad and have not already done so, click here to find the locations of volunteer signature gatherers before the deadline.
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I have a confession to make. I AM an OUTSIDE interest. I am OUTSIDE every day, walking the streets OUTSIDE, speaking to people OUTSIDE their front doors, getting them to sign our petition OUTSIDE (though a few have invited me inside).
Well said, Don. You’re the kind of OUTSIDER that makes democracy work.
The 85/15 story out of Carlsbad needs Dan Ackroyd or Jon Lovitz doing the Fast Talker who wants to sell you your own private lane to the beach. Caruso’s got a story and he’s stickin’ to it. Good luck to the residents up there who are up against the most audacious money monster I’ve seen in my lifetime. Y’all should recall your council members and mayor after this is over, no matter what the outcome.
Tricky petitions paid by corporate interests nullify the petition process somehow…and maybe that is their goal.
NO signature gatherers for any petition should be paid.
We get the Caruso propaganda junk-mails every day telling us NOT to vote. Are we still living in the USA? Nobody tells us not to vote, it’s not American. What exactly is the mayor and the town council hiding? We were on the fence about 85/15, before big business and city government took away our rights.
Does anyone in San Diego County remember the “Captain Nemo’s Secret Lagoon” of the early ’70’? Briefly, a Canada based corporation planned to build a theme park in and above Batiquitos Lagoon with promise of jobs etc. In reality, it was a scheme to build high end private homes, high end retail center, and, lastly, the theme park only when and if the retail homes and retail center proved profitable. Profitable being the key word.
Fortunately, the California Coasta Commission stepped in after much politicking by local “surfers, hippies, and blue haired old ladies” (as they were called by a corporate spokesperson), and put a stop to the project.
I suppose I could be listed as one of those surfers who opposed the plan having grown up in Oceanside, and one who studied the estuaries professionally.
I refer any one interested to http://www.d2holdings.net for a “summary” of the project.
How much more of San Diego County’s natural beauty can the citizens allow their elected officials to sell – and profit from.
Fresno Luckett – ex-patriot at large.
Please respect the process & do not sign the petition for the best of Carlsbad. I urge those to respect the process. It was 3 years ago that Caruso and his staff learned, listened to the community of Carlsbad, and developed an outstanding comprehensive plan. Mayor Matt Hall and the Carlsbad city council, who we elect to make these kind of decisions, voted unanimously to support the 85/15 plan after hearing from a multitude of Carlsbad residents and thoroughly reviewed it. SDG&E owns the land that the strawberry farms are on and that this land has been in danger of being sold to developers for years. Many members of the City Council can testify to the efforts they have made to keep the fields in the city. If this deal is overturned it is very likely that Carlsbad will lose its iconic strawberry fields. If this deal is overturned something eventually will be built on the land. This deal also includes many protections and reforms that are needed. In addition, the land has been set aside for commercial use, so without the 85/15 plan we are very likely to see a 100% plan where we lose a lot more of the natural habitat then we will be today. The 85/15 plan includes water protections for the Agua Hedionda lagoon that would actually enhance the quality of the water that is there today.
Speaking as a Carlsbad resident, who wants to see future generations be able to embrace the strawberry fields, the 85/15 Plan means Jimmy Ukegawa’s beloved small family business is safe and Carlsbad’s strawberry farming is ensured for generations to come. Signing the petition discounts the positions, duties, and unanimous vote by Mayor Matt Hall and the Carlsbad city council, including a thorough review of the plan.
The 85/15 Plan means 176 acres of new access to open space for Carlsbad families at no cost to taxpayers and this can all be lost if the petition is signed
Respect the process, respect the unanimous decision by Mayor Matt Hall and the city council of Carlsbad, who we elect to make these decisions, and respect Jimmy Ukegawa’s beloved strawberry business.
Please support the unanimous vote of our trusted Carlsbad city council members, and respect the process. I am a proud Carlsbad resident who graduated from Carlsbad High (’11), recent college graduate with honors from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and came back to Carlsbad to be a proud resident of this wonderful city. This process and plan must continue as is, for what it provides to Carlsbad, and how thoroughly reviewed it has been. And a unanimous vote by a trusted mayor and city council, who were voted in, should stand for something and be respected.
Dane,
Are you a human being or a spambot? What did they teach you up there at LMU? Obviously the only thing you learned was how to cut and paste something that someone else told you to write. You should have stuck with Sage and skipped college. A waste of your parents’ money if you ask me.
Congrats Dane. You’ve now joined the ranks of those of us that have been personally attacked and demeaned by Don Burton. Wear it as a badge of honor!!!!
Arnie,
My pleasure. Any time. I’m still indebted to you for motivating me to gather HUNDREDS of signatures. If you had kept your big, fat mouth shut, you’d only have had to get one phony withdrawal card sent in. And if Dane can’t stand the heat, then he shouldn’t keep reposting the same garbage over and over. Why do you feel the need to defend him? And whatever I have to say is like rose petals compared to the swill being issued forth from the foul mouths of Caruso supporters such as you. At least we don’t physically assault people, make false and baseless accusations and try to undermine the democratic process. Oh, and Shanah tovah to you and your family.
“This process and plan must continue as it is”
Or what? Caruso and his lying, deceitful marketing machine won’t get to rape Carlsbad and the lagoon?
Seems like letting the citizens vote on a project of this scope is very reasonable. What are the Caruso-bots afraid of if there is a vote?
Dane,
You have copied and pasted the exact same words hundreds of times…can’t you write a post by yourself? You and the other couple Caruso shills should be ashamed to keep on fighting for NO VOTING. The true democratic form of expressing one’s views and beliefs. Shame on all of you who try to suppress our most treasured right.
Caruso you should be ashamed! You are being found out… slippery seems like a good description.
Dane is Not real! This comment is on a lot of Web pages. This appears just minutes after I shared this blog on the Carlsbad site against this mockery of local politics.
Arnie,
You are a hypocrite. Here’s proof. This is from one of YOUR comments in the Seaside Courier:
Also, I agree with a previous writer who identified Diane Nygaard as a malicious outsider who is creating ill-will in our community. I blame her and her shrill manner for turning our civic discussion into a circus sideshow with her as the lead barker.
Please pass by their tables and motor through their drive-by attempts to harm our city.
Is that not a personal attack? Is that not inciting people to harass and create a disturbance? You have no credibility. You have no ethics. You have no rational argument as to why people should not be allowed to vote on this issue. You just think that saying something over and over again loudly makes it true. It doesn’t. And that “alleged” assault. It did happen. That is a fact. There were witnesses. A police report was filed. So please spare us any more of your conspiracy theories. The only conspiracy being conducted here is orchestrated by your Lord and Master Caruso. So now go fast and atone for your sins. You definitely have some to atone for. I’ll be fasting as well because I don’t pretend that I have done nothing wrong all year.
Don, I have never seen that quote and I had nothing to do with it. I have never said a single negative thing about Diane Nygaard in anything I have posted. The tone of that remark does not reflect who I am or how I speak about people. I have been nothing but respectful online and in person to any opponent of the 85/15 Plan. I see no benefit in espousing the kind of raging vitriol that you have used over and over again. I am happy to let readers of this commentary judge for themselves which of us is being civil and respectful.
Arnie,
I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. But if you can identify “AK” who posts on the Seaside Courier, then we’ll know who it was. My apologies for assuming it was you. I still think you are dead wrong on this and I know I get carried away. Would you please admit that some of your buddies do as well and, in fact, take it to a whole new level of animosity by engaging in physical confrontations (or are you still going to defend Lund’s actions and deny what he did?)
“Please respect the process”? Are you fin kidding me? THE process was subverted when our OUTGOING mayor decided against allowing people to vote, nice job buying them off Mr Slick Developer! Damn you you greedy dick! What is the problem with people actually having the chance and the right to put this to the vote? NONE! Except it may nullify Caruso’s super slick, ruthless, 3 year plus campaign! My mailbox is as full of crap TELLING US NOT TO VOTE as is Caruso’s greedy ass! Enough! Get outta town Mr.Slick developer! And Carlsbad polititions? Vote to buy this property and protect it forever by turning it into a city park that everyone can enjoy! A mall on this precious lagoon? STUPID AND ELITIST and a monumental disgrace!
Don,
Arnie, Wong and Dane are for sure Caruso shills and paid by them. It is a waste of time to address them. It is ironic that all these people can go anywhere to express their opinion however the AGua Hedionda 85/15 Plan social media site has banned anyone posting opposing views. That should not come as a surprise since Caruso has championed the idea that Carlsbad residents should not have the right to vote for something as important as this.
Dane,
Why do you keep cutting and pasting the same verbiage in all your posts on multiple website? I kind of feel sorry for you that you are being used as a puppet. Great job in graduating from college. But use that education and go out there and listen to what REAL citizens are concerned about. You seem to be in denial of what is really happening here. As for the other person, Arnie? You have said so many mean things about people. I don’t know you but based on your posts your character doesn’t say much the cause you are fighting for.
I’m glad San Diego Free Press is posting this info. The Agua Hedionda 85/15 face book page has blocked so many people so, again, they can keep lying to people and hijacking our City. And shame on our entire City Council for not only turning a blind eye to our voices, but siding with an apparently very sleazy developer. He’s lying to all of Carlsbad, do you think you are immune? You have him the green light. Wait till he turns on you. And he will.
Hard to believe they sent out a mailer without photos of a sad-looking Jimmy Ukegawa or a beaming Matt Hall. Maybe they’re on the back.
If people like Dane love this project so much, why don’t they ever mention things like “shopping mall” or “parking garage’? That’s what this project is all about, building a 26-acre shopping mall along the highway between Tamarack and Cannon. Everything else is just misdirection.
No doubt someone is going to come along and develop that area but at this point, Caruso has poisoned the well for himself. If this project does go to a vote, all the slick mailers in the world won’t save it. And I’m sure the Caruso camp knows that.
Dane, you keep posting the same long-winded, canned speech which you were probably handed by one of the coaches at the spin propaganda mill of the developer. It sounds like mommy is gung ho for the project, maybe since you’re now an adult you should think for yourself. The way you post the same info over and over it is embarrassing to know that you were on the world-class speech and debate team because that is not what any of the excellent people on that team would ever do.