Carlsbad council approves Ponto development plan Document to guide building in south Carlsbad coastal region By Barbara Henry North County Times November 11, 2007 CARLSBAD -- Calling it a "real step forward" for a mostly forgotten region, Carlsbad's City Council unanimously approved a planning document Tuesday for the coastal region known as Ponto on the city's southern border. "The community is really getting a lot," said Councilwoman Julie Nygaard as she described the public amenities, including trails and parking planned for the area. Councilman Mark Packard called the Ponto Beachfront Vision Plan a "cohesive and coordinated" plan that would guide development in the area, while Councilman Matt Hall said it would be a slow process -- perhaps a decade or more -- before the hotels, resorts, shops and other amenities become a reality. Long considered by city officials to be a somewhat blighted region, the Ponto area is bordered by the Hanover Beach Colony homes to the north, Batiquitos Lagoon to the south, Carlsbad Boulevard to the west and railroad tracks to the east. More than half the area is vacant land, while the rest contains several homes and businesses, including an upholstery shop and dog kennel. Private developers have proposed building a resort, plus three hotels, retail shops and what are termed "live-work" units -- places with space for a small ground-level shop and living quarters above -- on about 50 acres of the region. Getting to this point has taken several years. The city's Planning Commission approved the planning document two years ago, but the council delayed its decision and ordered a full environmental report after intense public pressure from neighbors and environmental groups. People packed City Hall for those meetings two years ago, but in recent months crowds have dwindled and there were plenty of empty seats at Tuesday's hearing. The 17 people who provided public testimony Tuesday included five representatives for the various private developers in addition to many nearby homeowners and several environmentalists. Comments ranged from praise to requests to rework the document. One topic that received much attention Tuesday was a recent recommendation by the city's Planning Commission to expand a proposed setback along the cliffs near Batiquitos Lagoon from 45 feet to 75 feet. That would mean that the proposed resort for the lagoon area couldn't include buildings close to the bluffs. Representatives for the developer argued that the city was getting too detailed, saying the setback issue should be settled when the individual development plan for the proposed resort is submitted the city. They also stressed that any proposed setback area shouldn't become a public parkland. Other folks said the setback didn't go far enough. A representative for the local chapter of the Sierra Club said the city might need to set aside more space than the 75-foot limit, but the president of the Batiquitos Lagoon Foundation said he was thrilled to get that much. "That was a lot more than I expected," he said, commenting that he doesn't think that many birds use the bluff area. His view wasn't shared by all the members of the organization -- member Sara Huber said she thought the plan could do more to protect the lagoon area. Meanwhile, council members said they could support a 75-foot setback as long as the area remained in private hands. They said they didn't want the area to become a public parkland, and asked the city attorney to put together language declaring that the setback would "generally" be 75 feet. A privately held setback area could include landscaping irrigation and parking spaces, city staff members said. The council backed other Planning Commission recommendations, including an emphasis on trail linkages, but didn't support the commission's proposal that parking garages in the area must be underground unless it wasn't feasible. -- Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 901-4072 or bhenry@nctimes.com Copyright 1999-2007, California Coastal Coalition Phone: (760) 944-3564