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Lawsuit over Carlsbad’s growth management plan will proceed
By
Phil Diehl, Jan 2, 2022
Similar
lawsuits resulted in new city parks
A
Superior Court judge has rejected Carlsbad’s challenge
of a lawsuit alleging the city has failed to create enough
parks and open space under the growth management plan voters
approved in 1986.
Judge
Robert P. Dahlquist, in a Dec. 22 ruling, denied the city’s
request to bifurcate, or split the case for separate trials,
saying the city failed to show that some of the issues raised
by the local nonprofit North County Advocates in 2019 were
settled in previous lawsuits.
North
County Advocates alleges that the city is violating its growth
management plan by setting aside too little open space, building
too few parks and allowing too much traffic congestion. The
suit names specific developments including Robertson Ranch,
Quarry Creek and Bressi Ranch as background for the case,
but challenges only the general implementation of the plan.
Carlsbad’s
growth management plan specifies that at least 40 percent
of the city’s 9,500 acres must be set aside for parks
and open space, including the three coastal lagoons. As of
June 30, 2021, the city remained 2 percent short of that goal,
according to a status report on the city website.
Previous
settlements between the city, the citizens group and its partners,
including the nonprofit Preserve Calavera, have created new
parks and set aside land for open space and natural habitat.
Examples include the Buena Vista Reservoir Park that opened
in August on three acres near Highland Drive, and the 61-acre
Village H property along the eastern end of Carlsbad Village
Drive that the city purchased in 2020 for habitat preservation,
trails, and an off-leash dog park.
“The
city of Carlsbad has tried for years to justify their failure
to comply with the growth management plan,” said Diane
Nygaard, a North County Advocates board member and president
of Preserve Calavera. “The judge rejected every one of
their procedural challenges.
“Will
the city continue to ignore the will of the people and waste
even more taxpayer dollars?” Nygaard said in an email
Wednesday. “Or will they respect their residents and
take action to actually meet the performance standards voted
on by the people of this city? Parks and open space are a
core value of the people of Carlsbad. It is time for their
city government to listen.”
Carlsbad
does not comment on litigation, said Kristina Ray, the city’s
director of communication and engagement, on Wednesday.
“This
is a great outcome for the ability of North County Advocates
to pursue enforcement of the voter-adopted Growth Management
Program,” said attorney Everett DeLano, who represents
the advocacy group. “At the end of the day, this case
seeks to ensure greater open space, parks and transportation
facilities.
“It
isn’t the end of the case by any stretch of the imagination,”
DeLano said. “The court sees we have valid points we
can bring.”
Volunteers
formed North County Advocates in 2009 to successfully fight
a “big box” store proposed for La Costa. Since then,
the group has taken on a number of environmental and development
issues in Carlsbad and Encinitas.
The
group filed a lawsuit in 2015 challenging Carlsbad’s
approval of Poinsettia 61, a 123-condominium development on
Poinsettia Lane. The settlement of that lawsuit required the
city to create a new neighborhood park on the site of the
former Buena Vista Reservoir in Olde Carlsbad.
The
Poinsettia 61 settlement also increased the size of preserved
habitats at the city’s Veterans and Stagecoach Parks.
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