Carlsbad OKs Controversial Hosp Grove Development

In a decision entangled with election year politics, the Carlsbad City Council has approved a housing and commercial development on the last untouched stand of what once was a hillside forest of eucalyptus trees above the Buena Vista Lagoon.

By unanimous vote, the council Tuesday night approved a development plan for 104 condominiums and a shopping center in the Hosp Grove, stressing that they had no choice under a decade-old legal decision that went against the city. To have turned down the landowners’ project would have subjected the city to an expensive legal battle which, if the city lost, would have meant that 550 housing units could be built on the 50-acre section of wooded hillside.

About 200 angry Carlsbad residents demanded that the council deny the development project and retain the thousands of trees, or delay the vote until after the Nov. 4 election. A measure is on the ballot, which if approved, would increase property taxes to buy the last remaining portion of the 80-year-old eucalyptus grove.

However, most supporters of the measure are not optimistic that Proposition F, a $5.95 million bond issue, will receive two-thirds voter approval needed for passage.

A.J. Skotnicki, a former councilman, charged that the present council members were giving away residents’ rights when they approved the project in advance of the Nov. 4 vote, because of a council decision to exempt the proposed development from any present or future growth control ordinances.

“How could you possibly give away the vested rights of citizens, in secret and without a fight? In 14 years of observing city business, I’ve seen all sorts of deals--good, bad, shaky and questionable. But, this is, by far, the most underhanded,” Skotnicki said.

He pointed out that even if Carlsbad voters pass Proposition G, a growth-control initiative supported by citizens’ groups, the stringent measure would not affect the Hosp Grove development plan because of an earlier council decision.

Hosp Grove, planted in 1907 by nurseryman E.F. Hosp to produce a cash crop of lumber for railroad ties, was originally 200 acres, covering the steep hillsides south of the saltwater lagoon that divides Carlsbad from Oceanside. Over the years, when the trees matured and were found to be unsuitable for use by railroads, the grove became a scenic natural resource which most local residents prize as much as the quiet lagoon below it. Development has intruded in much of the property until only a buffer of trees along the toe of the slope remained undeveloped.

Ronald Wooten, spokesman for the Buena Vista Lagoon Foundation, conceded that some development was beneficial to the coastal lagoon but echoed the pleas of other residents that the project be sent back to the planning commission--which turned it down in September--for further study and possible revision.

John Thelan, attorney for the developers, Odmark Development Co., pointed out that a previous proposal had called for construction on more than 37 acres of the 50-acre tract, while present plans called for preserving 35 acres of the property as open space to be deeded to the city. Nearly 7,000 eucalyptus trees would be saved by the design changes, he said.

He warned that the landowners and developers had granted their last concession to the city and to residents opposed to the Hosp Grove development and would pursue their court-granted density rights if not granted approval for the project approved by the council Tuesday night.

Residents protested that the additional hillside development would destroy the scenic forest and increase traffic congestion at the already crowded intersection of California 78 and El Camino Real. They also said it would increase fire hazards in the wooded area, add to school overcrowding and increase erosion that would clog the lagoon.

Councilman Mark Pettine summed up the council’s action as “the most difficult decision I have had to make.” He explained that the approval was granted because council members were “looking right down the barrel of a legal decision which the city had lost” and which threatened to grant developers five times the development density approved by the council.

Councilman Claude (Buddy) Lewis agreed that the approval of the modified development plan “is the best we can do at this time” and was “a working solution” not a “giveaway” as residents had charged.