The dog walkers and the skateboarders are local Encinitas residents, and they will not create the same noise and traffic impacts that league sports teams and their spectators will create, when hundreds of out-of-area people and their cars are focused in 1 area. Many dog owners will walk to the park, and skateboarders will roll into the park and use it for short periods of time throughout the day.

In contrast, team sports leagues and their spectator will be drawn from many surrounding communities, and they will converge on the park at the same time—presumably in the evenings and on weekends. The quality of life for Cardiff residents could be forever changed with the sudden addition of 5 proposed league sports fields.

Besides having fewer environmental consequences than the proposed sports fields, a dog park and a skate park are also less expensive to build and maintain. While I love team sports, it is not clear to me that our financial health is such that we can afford so many sports fields, considering that we will have to borrow money and drain other funds to pay for them. Wouldn’t a more prudent financial approach be to reduce the number of fields at this point, so that we can have a greater diversity of options, while serving the broadest cross-section of Encinitas residents? A staged approach could provide the flexibility to plan for the future, and also would not lock us into the ongoing expense of maintaining so many fields.

Given the precarious financial plan that they have presented, I fear that one way or another, this WILL be a staged development, if the City’s record on other projects is taken into account. Considering the overruns on the Updated General Plan, and the fact that we are borrowing money and draining other designated funds, why should we assume that this much larger project will come in on time and on budget?

Finally, Dr, Rothe is correct that the City must take every reasonable precaution to ensure that those who live near the Park and those who will eventually use the park be protected from harm. More specifics are needed on how they will mitigate the impact of this contaminated site before they take any other action.