State of California overturns decision by City of Carlsbad and High School District

California’s Governor announced today that he has taken one more step toward balancing the State’s challenged budget.

As the Governor was passing over Calsbad in a helicopter, he issued the following statement using a specially-designed public address system, “Good people of Carlsbad. Hi! I said I would be back. I want you to know that I care for you little people and will do the best thing I can. I have decided to join you.”

As later explained by an aide, the Governor had been coincidentally scouting for undeloped property for his San Diego area gubernatorial residence. He had made some calls to the City of Carlsbad and discovered that the property was in play. Using his recently-honed political savvy and certain unspecified targeted financial arrangements, he got the City of Carlsbad’s decision overturned on various legal grounds.

The aide added that preliminary investigation revealed that the property would need to be modified somewhat to meet the Governor’s security needs. He hoped that the local residents would embrace the changes.

Security consultants expressed concern that the property must not be lower than surrounding property. So, enough landfill will be brought in to raise the Governor’s mansion to at least 40 feet above any adjacent property. The aide added that having elevated property would only enhance the Valley aspect of La Costa Valley. Also, simply being near the Governor’s mansion would greatly increase property values well beyond anything that might concievably be lost by having an impaired view.

As to the $53.4 million in funds originally to be transferred from the High School District to the FONC group, the Governor’s office will apply part of those funds to a State legal fund. The legal action will seek financial remedy from the original real estate developers of La Costa Valley who had advertised homes with the claim that a middle school would be built in La Costa Valley. The Governer’s special financial analyst has determined that by having the home developers pay to build the school, it would go even further toward balancing California’s budget.

As part of a local stimulus package, the balance of the funds will be awarded to other real estate developers to built the new Governor’s mansion. Additionally, funds will be used to heighten security in the La Costa Valley area, speeding up the upgrade of an antiquated pool security system to a retina-scan/forehead barcode system. Furthermore, for the Governor’s security, suitable fences and gates will be built around La Costa Valley, using a money-saving approach by adopting materials originally designated for the USA-Mexico border near Tijuana.

School District settles middle school issue, will rebate LCV homeowners

[Okay, the following was our little April Fool's day joke. Glad so many of you liked it and have a sense of humor, well most of you. Sorry if you're disappointed that Schwarzenegger won't be moving to La Costa Valley. We know this is a serious issue.]

In a surprising announcement, the High School District today reached settlement with homeowners who have been paying into Mello-Roos CFD 94-2. In addition, a parcel of land within the La Costa Valley (LCV) development which had been pegged for a middle school will be transferred to the LCV Homeowner’s Association.

“We simply made a math error,” said Peg Linch, School District Superintendent, in a prepared statement. She continued, “We had anticipated that middle-school enrollments would increase based on the many young children in La Costa Valley, along with irrational exuberance about continued population increase. Our consultants had assured us that life was so good in that area that families would get busy and have more children than average. Instead, those projections were optimistic.”

An advocacy group, sometimes going under the name FONC-Friends of North County and other times referred to as SOLD-Save Our Lawyers and Developers, claimed credit for the transaction.

A member of FONC/SOLD, who preferred to remain anonymous, disclosed “we were able to reach an agreeable formula which took into account the many hours we have spent on this single issue, in preparing and presenting meetings, creating graphics, keeping up with email, and other vital tasks.”

The total settlement of $55.9 million is made up of $7.6 million for accumulated Mello-Roos payments with interest, plus $48.3 million for the agreed-on value of the middle school property. The amount will be used to fund development of the land, provide rebates to LCV homeowners, and satisfy the financial claims of the FONC/SOLD group.

LCV Homeowners are expected to receive their rebates of approximately $1.3 million before the end of 2008, working out to $1,200 for each household. Another $1.3 million will be transferred to the LCV Homeowners’ Association for maintenance of the property and related reserves. The balance of the settlement, $53.4 million, will be transferred to the FONC/SOLD group for unspecified purposes.

An LCV homeowner who was interviewed shortly following the news release shared his sentiments. “Well, we never expected to get a nickel and everybody knew there would be no middle school, so at least it’s settled and behind us. Plus, now I’m getting $1,200 and won’t need to pay that $800 per year. So, it’s a win-win.”

Although plans for the vacant property have not been formally announced, unspecified sources have estimated that the settlement amount provided to the HOA might be enough to allow development of a mixed-use day and night moto-cross track, dog park, pet kennel, and compost-processing center.

See also: City of Carlsbad challenges settlement and State of California Overturns Decision by City of Carlsbad

Latest email from FONC (Mar 28)

This is the latest email from the Friends of North County.

They’ve admitted they don’t have non-profit status. That’s curious because they said before they formed in 2006 and it doesn’t take so many years to attain that status. In any case, it’s unclear what would happen with whatever contributions they get.

Friends
 
While we are responding as quickly as we can to your emails and questions, we wanted to take this opportunity to share a few points with you and to ask for your help. 
 

• Many of you have asked for details about where you can send your donation.  Please make your checks payable to Friends of North County.  They can be sent to 1042 North El Camino Real P.O. Box 237, Encinitas, CA  92024.  Friends of North County is a non-profit organization.  We have applied for tax deductible status but we are still awaiting that designation.  It may take many months for that to occur (and there are no guarantees that it will).  We will let you know if we are granted that designation but urge you NOT to wait for that to occur before you send in your donation. 

•  Several of you have forwarded your thoughts to us since our presentation earlier this week.  Your input and comments help us to better understand the community’s perspective and the level of support we can count on as we continue this process.  We also request that you share your thoughts with your friends and neighbors as well.  For those of you who have not sent us your comments, we ask that you take a few minutes and send us an email with the information noted below.  Please send your comments to mail@friendsofnorthcounty.org.  To help inform the community, we may post excerpts of your emails on our website (no names, email address, or contact information will be displayed).  Please provide us with your thoughts in general about the issues but also include the following:

•  
  • What you have learned from our recent presentation;

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  • Your thoughts about how the school district has dealt with us;

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  • Why you believe the school district has responded the way they have;
    

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  • Whether or not you believe the school district (their employees and their elected officials) should be held accountable for their actions; and
    

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  • Do you believe you were misled by the school district’s seven year promotion and signage campaign advertising the “future middle school.”

•  We are looking to expand our media relationships.  If any of you have strong ties to the media, we would appreciate a referral.  We are looking for local media contacts, but also for national media contacts focused on investigative reporting (20/20, 60 Minutes, Primetime, etc.).  While we have limited our focus to this particular school district, this particular property, and the specific use of taxpayer funds for which we are all paying $800 per year for thirty-five years, known as CFD 94-2 (Mello Roos), we also are aware of similar issues throughout California (and we believe the nation) where school districts are taking advantage of taxpayers.  We believe our story has national significance and that promoting what we have learned (and will be learning) will benefit our community, as well as taxpayers and government officials across the country. 

Again we restate what we have posted in the past.  The school district has all of our contact information.  We continue to hope that they will decide to work with us in this matter to reach a solution.  Until that happens (or in case it does not) we will not be deterred by the school district’s campaign of misinformation, propaganda, and scare tactics.  The history of the district’s actions can’t be changed.  They can’t erase it, get rid of it, or avoid it.  We have taken the time to learn those facts and are determined to learn more.Thank you again for your input, support and comments.

Sincerely,

Friends of North County

latest email from “Friends of North County” (March 27)

The following email was sent out to many La Costa Valley residents. There was no attached presentation.

The Friends of North County bring up some interesting questions

1. Just how many people attended this meeting?
2. Why can’t they share the documents they mention? If they can send emails, they can certainly attach scanned documents
3. What will happen to property values if LCV gets mired in a legal dispute?
4. How is this letter different from what FoNC says the school district has done: “misinformation, propaganda and scare tactics”?
5. What will happen with any money donated to FoNC? Is it a legally registered foundation?

To all that were able to attend the Community Meeting last night at Coastline Community Church, thank you so much for your participation, interest, questions, and donations to Friends of North County.  We were pleased that so many were motivated to attend the meeting despite the District’s scare tactics and warnings not to attend.  Ironically, many of you mentioned that the District phone call and letter actually inspired you to attend.  After the presentation, I’m sure you have a better understanding of why the District did not want you to hear what we had to say, to see the documents we shared with you, and what the likely uses for the property will be if we were to all stay silent and don’t get more involved.
 
Unfortunately, we recognize that many who would have liked to attend were unable to due to the myriad of conflicts that our busy lives present.  Given the wonderful turnout at the meeting, we expect that you should be able to identify a friend or neighbor that was able to attend the 2+ hour presentation and can share a summary of our findings.  We hope too that you will feel motivated, like so many of your friends and neighbors, to donate to Friends of North County as we will be continuing to pursue our efforts.  Friends of North County, and many in attendance, believe that the Homeowners Association for La Costa Valley should get involved in this issue.  While we are hopeful that they will do so, that will not happen without greater community involvement and letting your voices be heard that you want them involved.  Regardless of their involvement, we also will continue the process we have pursued for the past 31 months.  However, as we expand our investigation efforts we are requesting greater financial participation from the community.  Again, please speak with your friends and neighbors and/or contact Friends of North County via e-mail (mail@friendsofnorthcounty.org) to inquire about donating.
 
We are currently developing a strategy of how best to communicate with our community on this issue. Regardless of the strategy please note that our correspondence via email will be very limited.  We will not be sharing critical information, documents or findings electronically.  In the meantime, we encourage you to forward this email to your friends and neighbors.  If they would like to be in the Friends of North County database they can send an email to mail@friendsofnorthcounty.org.As we have said repeatedly to the school district in meetings, at public hearings and in our media interviews, our goal has always been, and continues to be, to seek open and honest dialogue with the school district about the ultimate use of the school property and the money associated with our Mello Roos taxes.  The school district has all of our contact information.  We continue to hope that they will decide to work with us in this manner to reach a solution.  Until that happens (or in case it does not) we will not be deterred by the school district’s campaign of misinformation, propaganda and scare tactics.   The history of the district’s actions can’t be changed.  They can’t erase it, get rid of it or avoid it.  We have taken the time to learn those facts and are determined to learn more.   
 
Best regards,
 
Friends of North County

statement from SDUHSD (March 24)

This is a statement from Peggy Lynch, superintendent of SDUHSD. It’s pretty clear that the district is going on public record.

She, like many others, is unclear about the motives of the “Friends of North County.”

 http://www.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/pdfs/2008/Superintendent/Superintendents%20Message%20Concerning%20La%20Costa%20Valley%20Flyer.pdf

Statement of Superintendent Dr. Peggy Lynch regarding La Costa Valley flyer:

I received a copy of a handout regarding our property in La Costa Valley that causes me great concern. I am troubled that the wonderful members of our community are being misled. I do not know why anyone would do this but, quite frankly, the reason is less important than the truth.

I can tell you on behalf of the Board of Trustees, without hesitation or reservation, that the bold assertion that low income housing, commercial centers, apartments, or industrial parks are not part of any plan for the District’s La Costa Valley property. It is distressing that community members would mislead others into believing that this is within the realm of possibilities.

In order for anything like what is suggested to happen, there are several steps that would have to take place. The property in question is zoned as a school site. For a change in zoning, the City of Carlsbad would require the school district to go through a very public and protracted process that could never occur without complete transparency.

There is no plan to construct anything of the sort as is described in the flyer or otherwise. The “plan” is a flight of fantasy that is being perpetrated by those who have an agenda that is impossible for me to comprehend. If it is a function of a misunderstanding, then I would apologize, however, I do not believe that to be the case.

The mission of this district is to provide the highest quality of education for the students of this community. In addition, we also embrace the notion that we shall do no harm and certainly not cause any anxiety for our neighbors.

Again, I will reiterate there is no plan to seek rezoning of the school site in La Costa Valley.

Sincerely,

Peggy Lynch, Ed.D.

email from Friends of North County (March 15)

Also, the following email was sent by the Friends of North County on March 15, 2008. It included a sensationalized artist’s rendering of high-density housing along Calle Barcelona.

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Could LOW INCOME HOUSING, COMMERCIAL CENTERS, APARTMENTS or INDUSTRIAL PARKS be coming to your La Costa Valley neighborhood?

Find out why the answer could be YES.  

Become informed about the vacant property in the heart of La Costa Valley. Neighborhood meeting:Wednesday, March 26 at 7:00 pmCoastline Community Church2215 Calle Barcelona

Mark your calendar and bring your neighbors!

 

 

 

 

 

 

NC Times article - “La Costa Valley parents demand new middle school”

La Costa Valley parents demand new middle school

By: PHILIP K. IRELAND - Staff Writer | Friday, October 13, 2006 12:20 AM PDT ∞

CARLSBAD —- Anger, frustration, distrust and allegations of misrepresentation punctuated a heated meeting Thursday between San Dieguito Union High School District officials and homeowners in the La Costa Valley development, who say they bought their homes with the promise that a middle school would be built in their neighborhood.

About 100 parents and a few sleepy kids attended the meeting in a clubhouse in La Costa Valley to hear Steve Ma, the district’s associate superintendent of business services, explain why the district has shelved plans to build a middle school on a 22-acre site on Calle Barcelona in south Carlsbad.

Ma used a PowerPoint presentation of charts, graphs, tables and maps to lay out the district’s thinking. Ma said past enrollment projections indicated a need for the school.

But now enrollment is slowing after sustained growth since 1993, Ma said. The district’s most recent projections show growth has slowed to about 1 percent per year throughout the district, with some areas actually declining. With room in the Diegueno and Oak Crest middle schools, the district has shelved plans for building another middle school.

But it was clear from homeowners’ questions and comments that they have little faith in the district’s data and would settle for nothing short of a new school or financial compensation.

“The damage that we have suffered must be addressed,” said Leonard Steinberg, the father of two elementary school-age children. “The district should be held accountable.”

About 2,500 homeowners in the neighborhoods of La Costa Valley, La Costa Oaks and surrounding areas pay $800 annually in Mello Roos taxes under a 1993 mitigation agreement with developer Fieldstone Homes. Such agreements are common in new residential developments, Ma said, to help build schools for students from those new homes.

The district bought the $5.8 million site for the school on the south side of Calle Barcelona between El Camino Real and Rancho Sante Fe in 1999 with Mello Roos tax money. The district had planned to build a middle school on the property to accommodate a projected rise in enrollment of about 5 percent per year.

Homeowners say part of their tax money went toward the purchase of the property.

Steinberg said district officials intentionally misled homeowners with faulty enrollment projections to justify buying the property in 1998. His assertion that the district only bought the property as an investment and had no intention of building the school brought a stern rebuke and a warning from Dan Shinoff, the school district’s attorney.

But in bombshell that appeared to surprise district officials, Steinberg presented a letter from Carlsbad Councilman Mark Packard that spoke of a meeting last spring between Superintendent Peggy Lynch, board President Linda Friedman, another board member, Councilwoman Norine Sigafoose and City Manager Ray Patchett. In that meeting, Packard said Lynch said the district no longer needed the property and asked if the city would be interested in buying it. She also asked about the potential for changing the property’s zoning, Packard said.

School board member Joyce Dalessandro vehemently denied that any such meeting took place. Shinoff told Packard after the meeting that he also doubted that the meeting occurred.

Contact Philip K. Ireland at               (760) 901-4043        or pireland@nctimes.com

Steinberg’s crusade with more than one group?

Either this La Costa Valley resident has been involved in more than one organization on this matter, or CHPLCV was a prior organization?

In either case, he made a public comment in a June 26, 2007 SDUHSD meeting.

<i>Public Comments

Mr. Leonard Steinberg, a representative of the Concerned Homeowners Protecting La Costa Valley Organization and community member, approached the Board about the current status of, and the district’s intentions pertaining to, the La Costa Valley property and requested that the district provide opportunity for an open discussion meeting in the near future. </i>