CARLSBAD— City Council unanimously approved the Agua Hedionda 85/15 Initiative, which proposed an upscale retail shopping center on a portion of the strawberry fields.
The initiative was approved after a six-hour meeting, which Mayor Matt Hall said, had more speakers on a single issue than he’s seen in his 30 years in public service.
The council approved the project because the proposal met all the city standards and regulations and because the property has been zoned for commercial use since the ‘80s.
“This plan has been developed in collaboration with the community, and it goes above and beyond what is required, by ensuring the future of the strawberry fields and providing public access to open space in perpetuity,” said Mayor Matt Hall. “That has tremendous value and will enhance our community for years to come.”
Developer Rick Caruso plans to build a shopping center on 27 acres between Interstate 5 and Agua Hedionda Lagoon.
Since the citizen led initiative process was used, council had the option to either send the project to a special election, to outright approve it or to think about it for 30 days.
A special election would have cost the city about $500,000.
Caruso plans to make the remaining 85 percent of the land, or 155 acres, permanent open space.
In an effort to get residents on board with the project, he proposed adding miles of publicly accessible trails and an outdoor amphitheater for use by the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation’s educational program.
According to Mayor Hall, when Caruso first approached the city, Hall recommended Caruso do lots of outreach to the community because Lennar Homes was denied a project after citizen outcry.
Mayor Pro Tem Keith Blackburn said he approved the project because he believes it’s a good project and because the developer, Rick Caruso, is giving back an additional 21 acres of open space.
“I can’t imagine another developer who is going to come into this city, look at that piece of property and come up with a better deal for Carlsbad,” Blackburn said.
After Proposition D passed with voter approval in 2006, 50 acres near Agua Hedionda Lagoon were set aside for commercial development to keep the remaining 155 acres as permanent open space.
Caruso plans to develop about half of the commercially zoned space and reserve the rest as permanent open space.
Councilmember Mark Packard said he approved the initiative because it will enhance what is already in Carlsbad.
“It’s not too good to be true, it’s too good to pass up,” Packard said.
About 130 speakers voiced their opinions on the shopping center.
Those in favor said they admired Caruso’s other developments, The Grove and The Americana in Los Angeles and said many of the critic’s arguments were similar to that of the arguments against LEGOLAND, which is a top tourist destination in Carlsbad.
The opponents of the plan said it would bring traffic to Carlsbad’s already clogged freeway and urged the council to send it to a vote.
Critics also claimed the project was sidestepping the California Environmental Quality Act by going through the citizen led initiative process.
Last year, the California Supreme Court ruled citizen led initiatives did not need CEQA approval.
Assistant City Manager Gary Barberio told the council the proposal meets the environmental standards.
Barberio also pointed out that it was only the proposal that was approved so city staff will still work to ensure the development meets all of the city’s codes and standards as the plans firm up.
The Coastal Commission still needs to approve the project. At a press conference Wednesday, Rick Caruso said he expects there will be some issues there.
“I’m sure we’re going to have some issues but again, I’m very confident that we’ll get through it,” Caruso said.
City staff estimates the project will add between 2,300 and 2,400 jobs to the local economy and about $2.5 million in annual taxes.
The project had support from the strawberry fields owner, Jimmy Ukegawa.
As part of the project, he will continue to farm on 50 acres and provide produce to the restaurants on site.
Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation Chairperson Maureen Simons was one of the initiative leaders and said she supports the project because it will open up the lagoon to the public.
Caruso had to get a minimum of 10 percent of registered Carlsbad voter’s signatures to get the initiative in front of council and they received double the amount.
5 comments
The people in favor of this project are not very well informed. The land was already preserved by an earlier vote. Further, this development will likely put out of business all the adjacent businesses during construction and after because of severe traffic congestion. How’s that for a trade off for your free bus rides and lunches, Folks?
I was among those that was hoodwinked into signing the petition, as it seemed to be a petition that insured a vote.
Not happy to find out later that that was untrue, and that obfuscation plus the slick, somewhat deceptive (to the casual tv
viewer, which is most of us) leaves me with feeling that Caruso is maybe just another slick developer who is good at
sliding his plan by the citizens who have to live with it in their community.
Hopefully, the Coastal Commission will treat this developer with the toughness that this and he deserves.
Matt Hall, he was behind the Lennar deal when he was Bud’s right hand man, so he obviously can’t be trusted to look out for the locals.
Do we really need a Nordstrom magnet mall along plugging up the freeways more , especially on weekends, when the Angelenos come flooding down here by the tens of thousands already? Now they won’t just be driving through Carlsbad, they’ll be plugging up local roads and beaches and restaurants…. All good for the business folks, I guess, and the tax base for the City. Good for the rest of us, who actually call this home? Not so much.
Hopefully the outcry that Mayor Matt talked about from the Lennar deal, will come out again, and manifest itself so the Coastal Commission stops this, or at least, puts it in limbo for years/decades. If that happens, it’s like the economy will kill it (like the Lennar
deal).
The writer of this article forgot to mention that Caruso and his people swarmed the City Council chambers and “reserved” ALL the seats for their minions. Carlsbad residents (who were opposed to this project and the way it was handled) were pushed outside. How fitting.. We were bullied and lied to (we have pictures of the petition tables, pictures that were “once” worth a thousand words) and then pushed out of our own city council chambers.
Unanimous vote? What does that say about how well Carlsbad citizens and merchants are represented?
2016 will be here soon enough.
Yes its a giant Mall that wont add to traffic even at Christmas. It also will add to the natural beauty of the area. Because the remaining land will have trails on it it can never be developed. That land is completely safe in perpetuity because it is protected by the developer and the city council. Further this Mall will never have occupancy problems because the internet doesn’t exist in North County. Lastly the Strawberry Farmer that has the developer as a landlord has told us it is good for Nature. Do we really believe any of this?
Agua Hedionda means “stinky water”. Guess we need to rename Carlsbad’s City Hall now….City Hall Hedionda. Something sure stinks in that place and even the expensive suits from LA can’t mask the stench. An absolute travesty, but then again why would anyone expect politics on the local level to be any less corrupt than politics have become on the national level.
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