By Socrates Kanetakis

Carlsbad finds itself amidst a commercial rebirth; from the Barrio to Bressi, the sight of new mini-towns, condominiums, clothing stores and eateries is hard to miss. Aside from what these developments mean for traffic, sales taxes and for the daily “wow they are building everywhere” exclamations, they mostly affect two commodities: Land and energy.

Along the narrow stretch of the I5—between Canon and Tamarack—lie two examples of those commodities; the Encina power plant on one side and the vacant south shore of Agua Hedionda on the other. Although these parcels differ in terms of utility, they both face a similar future. One is being decommissioned and the other faces imminent “commission” of some—yet—undecided sort.

Seeing how the city will need both land and energy to accommodate its rising population and blooming commercial establishments, these two properties can and will need to be effectively utilized very soon; It’s all a matter of “how”?   

A brief overview of Carlsbad’s overall state of development.

Our population is on the rise. Available land, zoned for residential usage, is being exhausted, with the last two developments in the city’s master plan—Robertson Ranch and Quarry Creek—currently under construction. More are very likely to follow, just check out the zoning map. The city’s current Growth Management Plan also dictates what the population cap for the city is going to be for the near future.

“135.000 people is the build-out number and we are currently at 115.000,” said Carlsbad City Councilwoman and Mayoral candidate, Cori Schumacher.

Although most of those so-called “brown fields” are being built-out, that does not signal the gates of the city closing on prospective Carlsbad residents. Schumacher adds that “The Growth Management Plan that we had in place imagines development just in a sprawl format while the type of development we are currently moving towards is a vertical growth.”

This literally means building upward instead of building across. It’s the best option next to building underground.

The South Shore: a Quick Q&A

Development hasn’t always had it easy in Carlsbad. More than two years after the defeat of Measure A, many Carlsbadians still insist a fourth mall in our city would have been a positive addition to our economy and to our city as a whole. But in typical SoCal fashion, we become so fixated with what we could have that we forget what we have but that’s beside the point…

Let’s answer some basic questions and state some crucial facts regarding those 48.3 acres by demonstrating a dumbed down Q&A:

Q: So…. What are we talking about again?
A: The land currently in discussion is the south shore of Agua Hedionda—basically the strawberry fields.

Q: Wait, aren’t those fields, like, protected?
A: Well, they are protected until their landowner decides that they’re not.

Q: So, can stuff be built there?
A: Under current Carlsbad zoning, that land is currently listed as Public Utility—which allows for utility production, storage, waste treatment, agricultural and recreational facilities but not retail facilities (e.g Malls, hotels, restaurants).

Q: But then how were they going to build that mall there?
A: By changing the property’s underlying zoning, that’s what Measure A was all about.

Q: Alright, so who owns that land?
A: SDG&E has owned that land since the 50’s, they lease it to third parties for agricultural and public access purposes BUT…Caruso Acquisition LLC purchased the option to purchase 48.3 acres in—

Q: Hold up, “purchase the option to purchase”? Explain.
A: Pretty much they committed to the option of purchasing the land at the northern tip of the south shore—the site of the doomed mall. They can always return it to SDG&E if they deem any future projects as not possible, you can also check out this lease agreement between Caruso Acquisition LLC and SDG&E.

Q: Ok, but wait, if Caruso technically owns that land doesn’t that mean that he can try building that mall again?
A: Absolutely. What Caruso decides to do with that land will be determined by the city’s political makeup after the November elections.

Q: Oh…So I should probably go vote, huh?
A: Yes, yes you should.

Aside from malls and strawberry fields, a pretty dirt-patch like Hedionda’s south shore could have a couple more potential uses. As previously mentioned, its current zoning is “Public Utility” (PU) but its land designation is “Tourist/Recreational” (TR) and although “zoning” and “land designation” sound basically the same, they are technically not.

Zoning spells out the governing rules of what is specifically allowed on the property for now and for the near future—including design and development guidelines—whereas land use designations are a city’s general plans for a parcel’s future.

I know what you’re thinking, “If they know that they will allow something in the future then why don’t they just allow it for the present?” Well, for the same reason why most of you who are parents don’t let your kids drink alcohol until they’re 21; it’s just not legal yet.

But with imminent commercial development on the horizon, it is crucial for us Carlsbadians to start discussing amongst ourselves and informing our elected officials of what we would like to see built on that land. Preferably it would be something that wouldn’t have to go through a special election, bypass environmental review and make fools out of our political leadership.

“What can actually become there is a really interesting question, it can be related to arts and culture, {…} it can be something that is a regional attractor for residents and tourists alike,” Schumacher said.  “It can be something that is conducive to our quality of life {…} I personally would love to see an entertainment space, something where we can have concerts, a park plus amphitheater, a centralized place to celebrate arts and culture.”

Such is an amenity that our neighboring cities like Oceanside and Solana Beach already enjoy having.

But that doesn’t sound like a money-maker. So why not build something more profitable instead? Well, let’s put it like this: Carlsbad’s three main sources of revenue are property taxes, sales taxes, and hotel taxes. Since the goal of every city is to sustain and grow their economies, there are some basic ways to do that.

“As any good business person knows, you can either cut your labor to try to save costs, you can go in a direction which is just the same thing but just doing it more…” basically more hotels and stores along the beach that nobody wants, “…or you can creatively approach a solution that will be sustainable and innovative over time; a fourth source of revenue,” Schumacher said. And this brings us to the tale of the second property.

Encina: A Cleaner Future

The 64-year-old Encina power plant, a building no one will miss when it is demolished.

On one hand, its imposing ugliness is a Carlsbad landmark that can be seen all the way from La Jolla and on the other hand, it is—again—an imposing ugly landmark that can be seen all the way from La Jolla.

This 400-foot middle finger also marks the site of the Western Hemisphere’s most technologically advanced desalination plant—the Claude “Bud” Lewis desalination plant. Although “Bud” uses the Encina Power Plant’s water-cooling intake pipeline, it is otherwise not connected to the power plant. With the 800MW Encina soon being toppled, that leaves part of the property empty and Bud all lonely. So, what could the future of that site be?

Batteries. Lithium-ion batteries to be exact. Perhaps one of the most useful inventions of the 20th-century power the devices that we use the most in our everyday life; smartphones, laptops and electric vehicles (we’re not all on the last one).

The two things that make L.I.B’s so widespread and effective are their high energy density and low maintenance. In plain English: They can store lots of power and are easy to look after. Aside from everyday uses, L.I.B’s can take a much larger scale –football-field-sized-scale, to be frank. Tesla constructed the world’s largest lithium-ion battery in South Australia within just 63 days with a storage capacity of 100MW; capable of powering more than 30.000 homes.

Time for another dumbed down Q&A:

Q: What are you getting at?
A: The Encina power plant is beginning its decommissioning process this year which will last till 2021. In its place, we have the Carlsbad Energy Center, most likely the last natural-gas power plant built in California.

Q: So what?
A: Well, it’s a smaller, “peaker” plant that will be turned on only when necessary to support grid needs with a power output of around 600MW compared to the previous’ 800MW.

Q: So, you’re saying that a battery could fit that location?
A: An energy storage center but yes, councilwoman and mayoral candidate Cori Schumacher is saying that.

Q: How big would this “energy storage” be?
A: It takes up a very limited amount of space and the land available will most certainly not be taken up completely by the energy storage facility.

Q: So, there’s room for more stuff to build there?
A:  Potentially yes, Cori has proposed a research, development, and engineering campus/facility with lots of public open space on the site. Academic institutions and previous Councils have already expressed an interest in this kind of campus/facility in Carlsbad.

Q: That’s cool.
A: Yeah, but there are two sides to this project; energy storage and the Community Choice Energy agency, I’ll let Cori explain both better.

“The distributed energy system that I’m suggesting through ‘Community Choice Energy’ will eventually lead to the large-scale energy storage facility on the Encina power plant property.” From there, Schumacher says that the facility will accumulate all the energy that we will be producing as individual energy-generators with rooftop solar and hydroelectric stations throughout North County and pump it into—and hold it—in the energy storage facility.

In addition, we will be able to pump that energy into the desalination plant for 100% renewable desalinated water for the county for the first time ever in the world. Then, anything over and above what we need for the energy system gets sold on the open market; and that’s our fourth source of revenue.

In contrast to previous power plants on the Encina property, which are a centralized energy system, the new energy system would be a decentralized energy system that continues to use SDG&E power lines to keep the grid connected. It would essentially be a power grid that can generate and store power from local, renewable energy sources that are hooked to it.

What’s even better is that its potential energy capacity is secondary to the fact that it would be hooked up to tens of thousands of solar panels, thus increasing its energy generating capacity to a number even bigger than 600MW. Just consider that the 100MW battery in South Australia—which is hooked to 50.000 solar panels—has the energy equivalent of our new Carlsbad Energy Center power plant; 600MW.

Carlsbad, Oceanside, Encinitas and Del Mar have a total of over 130,000 homes—plenty of which have solar panels—in addition to all the corporations and businesses in those cities who also have solar. Hook those up to, say, a 300MW battery and the numbers get much bigger than what they have down under.

Schumacher cautiously adds that “This is not just a Carlsbad-centric project. We need to consider economies of scale. In order for us to actually reach low-cost rates for our residents and to effectively deploy this size of a system, we need buy-in; we need participation from neighboring cities.” And luckily, there is interest.

In the feasibility study which Carlsbad just completed with Oceanside, Encinitas, and Del Mar, it was projected that ratepayers would save at least 2% immediately, with that percentage increasing over time. “Marin County has had a CCA for the longest time and their rates are 7% below PG&E” Schumacher added. Additionally, hooking up the desalination plant with local renewable energy will also drive costs of water down; it’s a two-birds-with-one-stone kind of deal.

More studies are underway regarding the cost of such project—especially since LIB energy centers are relatively new to the market—but based on the 18 CCA programs in California, including five California counties, the initial investment for establishing these new agencies is recouped within two years.

What Comes Next

A city’s image is judged both by its content and its potential. Undeveloped land might not be a frequent sight in L.A but it is in Carlsbad. The question is, what will the future of that undeveloped land be? Is it going to be something to be proud of for generations to come, or will we fall victims to shortsighted ambition and quick profit?

Carlsbad is a young city with the potential of a teenager; it can learn from its mistakes and it still has room to grow. Within that—both literal and metaphorical room—it can choose between temporary need, or long-term benefits; between making more of something it already has or making something that it has never had.

What Schumacher is proposing is a potentially 300MW battery to store and power energy that is sourced from renewable energy sources in North County. In addition, by joining the Community Choice Energy plan, Carlsbad and its neighbors would be able to sell any excess of produced energy on the open market (Be it SDG&E, CCE, or any other energy procuring entity); thus, establishing energy independence, reducing our utility bills, creating a fourth source of revenue for the city and setting another world record.

All for the price of a vote on November 6th.

Socrates Kanetakis is currently a sophomore in UCSC pursuing an undergraduate degree in legal studies. He was born and raised in Greece, having moved to Carlsbad in 2012 and attended Carlsbad High School where he was heavily involved in The Lancer Link, the school’s online newspaper