Aviara Petition to Reject PonteBello Rezoning & Inclusion in Housing Element
- Target:
- City of Carlsbad, CA
- Region:
- United States of America
- Website:
- www.friendsofaviara.org
In 2009, developers of the PonteBello project (formerly The Bridges at Aviara) and the City of Carlsbad unveiled a proposal to build assisted living facilities on two sites adjacent and northeast of the Aviara Oaks Middle & Elementary Schools.
The 15-plus buildings split between two campuses would accommodate 428-units at one site along Poinsettia plus a minimum of 76 affordable housing units on the corner of Ambrosia and Conoso – making it one of the largest, most ambitious such facilities in the nation.
Because the proposal is not in compliance with the planned community and zoning standards that have governed development of Carlsbad over the last decades, the property would have to be rezoned from low-density, single family housing to high-density, multi-unit housing. This would allow the parcels to accommodate semi-commercial operations. The project effectively creates an island of commercial activity surrounded by single-family neighborhoods, schools, parks, previously preserved open space and environmentally sensitive areas.
In December 2009, the Carlsbad City Council began removing obstacles to the development by approving changes to the 2005—2010 Housing Element, and specifically pledged to the state that affordable housing units in the PonteBello project would be used to meet the state’s low-income and affordable housing goals. According to Carlsbad’s senior city planner, the inclusion in the Housing Element gives the PonteBello project “the presumption of validity.”
We, the undersigned, are concerned citizens who appeal to and petition the City of Carlsbad, CA, represented by the elected members of the City Council and the City Planning Department, to act now and reject the re-zoning to high density, and reconsider the council’s Dec. 22, 2009, adoption of the 2005-10 Housing Element with Mitigated Declaration for these reasons:
1. This rezoning of a low-density single family housing area to high density meets the definition of spot zoning, which is not in keeping with the Aviara planned community, or Carlsbad’s General Plan housing guidelines. We object to the introduction of non-conforming buildings within and adjacent to the established, city-approved Master Plan for this residentially zoned area.
2. The development’s proximity to the schools would imperil our children’s safety, bringing increased traffic, congestion and noise.
3. The grading required to create pads for these two- and three- story buildings would pollute the air, posing a threat to the health and safety of the middle and elementary school students, faculty, and homeowners.
4. The PonteBello development would disturb sensitive flora and fauna, threaten endangered wildlife, pollute nearby waterways and disrupt natural water flows, while defacing the perimeter slopes defining one of the last canyons in this part of the city.
5. Rezoning of this area arbitrarily serves the parochial interests of a private developer and represents a taking of property value from established property owners and tax payers.
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The Aviara Petition to Reject PonteBello Rezoning & Inclusion in Housing Element petition to City of Carlsbad, CA was written by De'Ann Weimer and is in the category City & Town Planning at GoPetition.