Archive for the 'Carlsbad Beaches' Category
Carlsbad desalination plant gets coastal commission approval
August 6th, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad Beaches, Carlsbad Business Community, Carlsbad City
CARLSBAD– After a 10+ hour meeting today held at Oceanside city hall, the California coastal commission gave final approval to the desalination plant that was proposed to be built on the Encinas power plant site.
The plant will produce approximately 50 million gallons of freshwater a day from 100 million gallons of seawater. The plant will actually pump in excess of 300 million, what is is not sent through the reverse osmosis process is used to dilute the brine left over from the 
process.
To offset damage to marine life from the plant operation there will be 55.4 acre habitat restoration site to be built in two phases. One the size of Poseidon’s proposed 37 acres in the first two years and then an additional 18.4 acres added within the next five years.
With regard to a carbon offsets requirement, Poseidon stated that they will use as much solar power as possible. Also, there may be an actual energy usage reduction if you take in to account that pumps, theoretically, will no longer be necessary to bring 50 million gallons of water to San Diego daily from northern Caliornia.
The project will now go to theCalifornia State Lands commission which meets August 22nd in Los Angeles. If approved there, construction on the project should begin in mid 2009.
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Affordable 3 bedroom Carlsbad home with pool under 500K
August 5th, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad Beaches, Carlsbad Outdoor Events, Carlsbad Real Estate, Carlsbad Village
CARLSBAD– Okay, for all of you who have been sitting on the fence waiting for your opportunity to buy in Carlsbad, here it 
is!! This is not a short sale or a bank owned home.
Located just off the lagoon near Laguna Riviera park and Kelly elementary school, while great for anyone, this would make a wonderful family home where the kids could grow. Additionally, the master bedroom is located downstairs with its own backyard access just off the patio with spa.
To see this home call me at 760–415–3329
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2008 Carlsbad triathlon swim condition preview
July 12th, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad Beaches, Carlsbad Community Events, Carlsbad Outdoor Events
CARLSBAD– Here is a quick little video clip of what we should expect for the swim start tomorrow: flat and perfect water temperature. If you look at the bottom of the sidebar you will see the wavewatch.com surf report.
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Carlsbad involved in two lawsuits over parking and golf course
July 11th, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad Beaches, Carlsbad Business Community, Carlsbad City, Carlsbad Community Events, Carlsbad Outdoor Events
CARLSBAD– Well it has been a busy week of instigating litigation for the city. Earlier this week it was announced that the city is suing a resident for trademark infringement with the use of the city’s golf course name and logo. Now the city is suing to block the installation of an ‘iron ranger’ that would convert the Tamarack state beach parking lot from a free lot to a 
paid lot.
The Crossings at Carlsbad
Carlsbad’s new golf course is reported to be the most expensive public golf course ever constructed, $70,000,000, by almost double.
“I can’t think of anything that comes close, other than the one in Pleasanton,”($40 million) said Jeff Shelley, who tracks 4,000 to 5,000 golf course construction projects around the country for golfconstructionnews.com. -North County Times, 2/10/2007
The city’s lawsuit is against Prince Reza Shah and acusses Shah “ of numerous improper acts and (an) overall scheme to effectively hijack and unlawfully profit upon the name ‘The Crossings at Carlsbad.’ ” – San Diego Union, 7/10/2008. Shah filed trademark paperwork shortly after the city announced the name of its new course. In a quote from the city’s outside attorney, it apppears that Shah did in fact file prior to the city and he feels 
that they are infringing on his trademark.
“We’re a first-to-use country, not first-to-file,” when it comes to trademarks, Reinbolt said. “The theory is, once one starts using a trademark and building up good will, they should be able to trade off that.
“(Shah) was able to quickly get something on file,” but that doesn’t mean he owns the name, said Reinbolt, an attorney with Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch.
Reinbolt said the city established its right to the name by building and operating a golf course.
“Did he intend to operate a golf course?” Reinbolt said.– San Diego Union, 7/10/2008
Should be interesting.
Tamarack State beach parking lot lawsuit
Earlier I wrote about the state’s decision to change the Tamarack state beach parking lot to a paid lot, $8 a day. Obliviously with the lack of parking at Carlsbad beaches, other than residential streets, the city opposes this step. However the city needs to take additional responsibility here.
See the city had an agreement in place with state and was paying $40,000 a year to keep the lot free. This was initiated the first time the state pulled permits to install an ‘iron ranger’ in 1994. Those permits expired in 2000 and so did the city’s payments. Had they kept up, we may not be here now.
So now with the state coffers in need of money the state is looking for additional revenues. They have predicted that the change at the parking lot could increase revenues $340,000–$500,000. The city and state have been in negotiations to try to restart the payments but they are far apart. With the slab and base for the pay station having been installed, the city obliviously felt backed in to a corner and filed a lawsuit against the California Coastal Commission.
In its request for a court injunction, Carlsbad argues that the state Coastal Commission acted inappropriately when it approved the proposal in May. Among other things, the city believes that state commission failed to give enough weight to environmental issues related to the project, Assistant City Attorney Jane Mobaldi said Thursday.
The city asserts that if the state starts collecting $8 to park at Tamarack Beach, beachgoers will look for free parking on surrounding
neighborhood streets and cause horrendous traffic troubles, Mobaldi said. Carlsbad is also arguing that these beachgoers will then use unofficial pathways down to the ocean from their vehicles, damaging sensitive coastal bluff areas.– North County Times, 7/11/2008
Now if you have ever been to the beach in Carlsbad you know the concern about the bluffs is a joke. The change in the parking at Tamarack will have zero impact on accessing the beach. There are numerous trails that exist and are being used in the TerraMar area that the city has never expressed concern about or offered to put in stair cases. 
After all the city is on record as stating the beaches belong to the states park and therefore all the responsibilities and maintenance.
The state has agreed to halt the installation process until the hearing on the suit in the beginning of October. However I imagine an agreement on a payment plan would cause this lawsuit to be dropped.
Either way, I believe the state is going to see six figures in income and Vigiluccis will lose their overflow parking.
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3 of 4 areas of Carlsbad see home price increases
July 10th, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad Beaches, Carlsbad Real Estate, Carlsbad South, Carlsbad Village
CARLSBAD– 92009,92011 and 92010 all saw home price increases from May to June with 92010 remaining the most affordable area of the city for detached homes while 92009 stays on top for attached. For May’s numbers you can go here.
Here are Junes attached homes numbers.
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Carlsbad triathlon course preview
July 8th, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad 'best of', Carlsbad Beaches, Carlsbad City, Carlsbad Community Events, Carlsbad Outdoor Events, Carlsbad Real Estate
CARLSBAD– The 27th annual Carlsbad Triathlon will be taking place this weekend on July 13th. This race is in the top 3 of the longest consecutive running triathlons in the country.
I went out yesterday and shot a few clips identifying some key points of the bike course and run course. The swim course is pretty self explanatory and offers no real surprises. The surf and tides forecast for the weekend call for light surf and the tide will be high at the start of the race. The main thing to remember with the swim for athletes new to the ocean is to TRY to relax. The ocean is a great medium to swim in so make it your friend!!!
The first thing you are going to face coming out of the swim and leaving T1 is the hill that will take you out of the Tamarack state beach parking lot to the coast highway. You need to make sure you have selected a proper gear prior to the race as mounting at the base you will not have time to build any speed. I have seem people almost crash struggling to get up this hill.
Next out on the bike course, you will find a pretty flat nice road. Just south of Palomar Airport Road you will find the only ‘hill’ on the course. It is at the Encinas creek crossing just before the campground. While it is short, it will put a hamper on your effort so be prepared to hit this hill twice. Once on the way out and then on your second lap. One nice thing through this stretch is the city has 
repaved what used to be a very bad road.
Remember this is a two lap bike course. Your first turn around comes at La Costa Avenue just after crossing the Aqua Hedionda lagoon jetty. Remember to use caution as you move over from the right lane to the center divide to make your ‘U’ turn. There will definitely be some fast riders coming up and diving into that turn. Once you have made your turn try to get over to the right as soon as you can to allow others to pass.
The second ‘U’ turn comes at Solamar Drive which comes about 2/3 of the way back to the transition. It is just south of Palomar Airport road. If you were to look at the course on a map, it is a paper clip. When you approach this turn you will need to move in to the left traffic lane, again carefully, as the right traffic lane is reserved for the cyclists heading back for T2.
The run course is also pretty flat with a turnaround almost even with the smokestack of the power plant. The biggest thing to keep in mind with the run course is you leave T2 on the flat boardwalk. At the end of the boardwalk the course goes up a 
short steep rise at Pine Avenue. While this is short it will certainly spike your heart rate as you are already coming out of T2 with some anxiety, urgency, anticipation and an elevated heart rate as it is. If you have spectators coming to the race, the best place to spectate for the run is at the top of this little rise as you will be going pretty slow and they can identify you coming up the hill. From there they can easily get to the finish to see you cross.
Have a great race!!!
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The shortsightedness of California offshore oil drilling
June 19th, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad Beaches, Carlsbad Business Community, Carlsbad Outdoor Events
“We are in this situation because of our dependence on traditional petroleum based oil”– Govenor Schwarenegger, North County Times,6/19/2008
SAN DIEGO–The best thing to come out of the rapid rise in cost of crude oil prices is the increased focus it has cast on alternative energy. But now, President Bush is trying to turn California offshore oil drilling in to a solution to the current situation. What I appreciate about our Govenor is his strength of resolve to call himself a Republican, yet not tow the party line when he knows it is bad for California.
Offshore, California is reported to sit on a reserve of approximately 11 billion barrels of oil. According to a 2005 report from the California Energy Commission California’s current oil production reached its peak of 72 million barrels 
in 1995. Now with new technology it should be safe to assume that production could be increased from this number, but we’ll stick with the 72 million figure. Using this number it would take less than 16 years to pump all of the esimated reserve.
Now, let’s pretend we will be opening this NEW supply as well as areas of the Atlantic and the Gulf Coast region not in production to help our current crisis. When could we expect these regions to come online and what would be the impact?
According, to a 2007 report by the Energy Information Administration using official US government data, we should not expect these resources to come online until sometime around the year 2017 and the impact of these new resource through 2030 would be ‘insignificant’ with only an increase of production near 7%.
The cost of offshore drilling in California
Local congressional Representative Darrell Issa(Vista) has weighed in as, in favor of opening the coast to drilling. His reasoning according to todays North County Times is twofold. 
First he feels we are “running out of options” and there is a “greater likelihood of spills from ships than from platforms” that are now needed to bring oil into California. While the first comment made from the congressman shows either his ignorance to the importance of developing new energy alternatives or his desire to tow the party line, the second comment is not based on fact.
Californian, in 2005 burned 44 million gallons of gas and 10 million gallons of diesel EVERYDAY. Our oil consumption is so great that in 2005 we could only produce 37% of the oil needs of the state. The only way to turn back those ships Congressman Issa is so worried about is to stop using so much oil. In order to do this we need to invest in alternative energy strategy and look at new ways of developing biodegradable non petroleum based ‘plastics’.
Besides the occasional oil spill, which we are all keenly aware of, a not so apparent impact on the coastal environment would be the removal of the old offshore oil platforms themselves.
They have already started to decommission old oil platforms and many more will be running dry. There are a couple schools of thought going and a state assembly bill about this problem.
The oil companies would prefer to remove the above sea structure while leaving the submerged legs in place. This process is termed ‘rigs to reefs’. The idea being that these legs become artificial reefs. In fact in 1996, 2,700 tons of mussels, scallops sponges and other sea creatures were left 
rotting on the docks in Long Beach when Chevron removed four platforms off Carpinteria. This tactic could save the oil companies approximately 600 million dollars. But this is not just favorable to the oil companies. The blasting necessary and other heavy work required to remove these legs from the sea floor would be very detrimental to sea life.
It seems the environmentalist most opposed to this have teamed up with an adversary, the fishing industry. See the fishing industry is opposed to this solution as it would prevent them from using trawlers to fish for fear of snagging their nets. This method of fishing in and of itself is not environmentally friendly.
The beginning of the end.
Ultimately, there seems to be nothing gained from opening offshore oil reserves to drilling. Instead of having the government and energy companies 
investing hundreds of millions to extract this finite energy source many years down the road, our citizens deserve this money to be used in developing alternative energy sources and other alternatives to petroleum based products. More is learned in the time of crisis than during periods of abundance. That is when complacency sets in.
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How do you move a lifeguard tower
May 12th, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad Beaches, Carlsbad Outdoor Events
CARLSBAD– Today as I was on my way to Encinitas we 
hit some trafflc as the Encinitas lifeguards were moving a tower down the coast highway. The tractor is actually going backwards.
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Aqua Hedionda Lagoon fishing tournament Saturday
May 11th, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad 'best of', Carlsbad Beaches, Carlsbad City, Carlsbad Community Events, Carlsbad Outdoor Events, Carlsbad Village
CARLSBAD-This Saturday, May 17th, is the First Annual Aqua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation celebrity fishing tournament.
The purpose of the tournament is to raise money to manage the invasive seaweed, Caulerpa taxifolia, that first threatened the lagoon in 2000. There will be prize money and gear awarded, trophies for kids, for largest bass, halibut and spotfin croaker. Entry fee to fish off a boat with the celebrities is $100, while shore fishing entry is $35.
Who’s going to be there? How about Chrsitopher Knight and his new wife Adrianne Curry or season five “The Amazing Race” winners Chip and Kim McCallister? Into soap operas? There will be stars from “Bold and the Beautiful” as well as “Days of Our Lifes”. Like kickin some serious butt? Throw down a casting side bet with Justice of “American Gladiator”.Old skool? You could be baiting the hook for Erin Moran while singing the Beastie Boys Get It Together:
Listen To The Sh** Because Both Of Them Is Boney
Got To Do It Like This Like Chachi And Joanie
Because She’s The Cheese And I’m The Macaroni
For all the information, go here.
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Tamarack beach parking fees approved by Coastal Commission
May 9th, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad 'best of', Carlsbad Beaches, Carlsbad Business Community, Carlsbad City, Carlsbad Community Events, Carlsbad Outdoor Events, Carlsbad South
CARLSBAD– The California Coastal commission voted 11–1 approving converting the Tamarack State Beach parking lot from a free lot to a pay to park. The proposed fee is $8 for the day or one could buy an annual pass for $125. With the state budget deficit, it was a no brainer that this would pass. However the approval does not mean the change is happening right away. See in the past the state had approval to do this but the city paid an annual fee to keep the machine from going up. So while the public perception was that it was a free lot, it was not. That situation ended when the states conditional use permit expired and here lies the surprise.
When the latest proposal first surfaced, the state said converting the lot would generate about $200,000 in fees. The city, surprised that the state was looking into this again, mentioned the possibility of picking up the tab again. The state was amiable to this and during yesterday’s hearing attended by Carlsbad council members, stated the expected revenue to 
be… $350,000 to $560,000. Huh?
A topic of discussion as to why the city SHOULD pay the fee to keep the lot open was apparently not that it served a better public good, but that Carlsbad could afford it.
Commission Chairman Patrick Kruer of La Jolla called Carlsbad a financial “success story” and quizzed city officials on their reluctance to pay.
“I was surprised to hear you don’t subsidize (parking) anymore,” Kruer said. “If there’s any city in the state of California or county of San Diego that could help out, it would be the city of Carlsbad.”
And Commissioner Ben Hueso, a San Diego councilman, said nearly all of Carlsbad’s beaches are in the state parks system, thereby relieving the city of the burden of paying lifeguards.
“That’s a big contribution to the city of Carlsbad,” Hueso said. “I agree with (Kruer) that the city could do a lot to solve this problem.” – San Diego Union Tribune, 5/9/2008
Mayor was quoted later as saying that, “it was the first time I’ve been bashed for being economically sound”. North County Times 5/9/2008
Now the topic of lifeguards is not new to Carlsbad either. Mayor Bud Lewis has always held that they are the state’s beaches making them the state’s responsibility. This has prompted other cities to complain that Carlsbad, like Encinitas, should pay to patrol them because even though they are the property of the state, the city benefits from the tourism appeal. I tend to agree with the Mayor as the state charges the city an access fee for events such as the Carlsbad Triathlon sponsored by yours truly. If you want the city to fund the 
services, turn over control.
Will the state implement the pay to park? Yes. Will parking on the residential streets get worse? Yes. Will the city take this in to account and cough up the money? Most likely. Will Vigiluccis lose their overflow parking?
Lastly, a phone call to new Carlsbad city manager’s office Lisa Hildabrand revealed an inaccuracy in the Union’s article. The city and state have not yet scheduled a meeting. I will try to find out when this happens and will post it here.
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