Officials Not Out of Woods on Key Issue in Carlsbad

The towering eucalyptuses of Hosp Grove seem innocuous enough, swaying serenely in the light coastal breezes, but they’re the most politically significant trees in Carlsbad. Perhaps all of Southern California.

On two occasions during the past two years, the woodsy area rising up from Buena Vista Lagoon near busy Interstate 5 has been the subject of citywide votes to determine its fate.

Now a new proposal to build in the 90-acre grove has sparked an even bigger battle, unleashing a citizens’ initiative to protect tracts of open space not just in Hosp Grove, but throughout the fast-growing city.

The initiative, which seems destined for the November ballot, has angered many city leaders, who say it would undermine their beloved growth management program, the planning effort that is to guide Carlsbad into the 21st Century.

Perhaps even more significantly, the looming battle at the polls has once again pitted the powers-that-be at City Hall against a determined coalition of disgruntled residents.

Problem Rises Again

Many politicians and homeowners figured such fights were a thing of the past, what with the defeat of a citizen-sponsored slow-growth initiative and victory of the council-backed growth management plan in November, 1986.

Not so. The coming skirmish is shaping up into a classic political power struggle, a fight over control of Carlsbad that will likely branch off into the race for the two council seats up for grabs in November.

“This goes far beyond Hosp Grove,” said Mayor Claude (Bud)Lewis, a staunch opponent of the Save Open Space initiative. “This has turned into the election of ’88. Hosp Grove is just the pawn in the middle.”

So far, it has all the elements of a good barnyard brawl--two worthy opponents (battle-tested activists versus steadfast City Hall leaders), an unwavering symbol (Hosp Grove), even a political martyr (Kip McBain, an open-space advocate recently fired by the council from his post as a city planning commissioner).

All the hubbub has left some folks around town scratching their heads, wondering how the normally placid political waters of Carlsbad got roiled like this. If anything, however, it was a logical, albeit somewhat befuddling chain of events that spawned the current confrontation.

During the growth battles of 1985 and 1986, Hosp Grove became a cause celebre, a perfect emblem for environmentally minded residents and slow-growth zealots alike.

When a developer unfurled plans for condominiums in the grove, residents protested, but ultimately realized the trees would have to be bought to be saved. A bond measure was put on the November, 1986, ballot, but it failed to garner the required two-thirds vote, missing by a scant margin.

Place on Ballot Again

Sensing the mood of the citizenry, the council put the matter on the ballot again, this time as a measure requiring a simple majority vote. Despite opposition from old guard residents worried about where all the money would come from, the measure squeaked by in March, 1987.

Wary that other municipal programs would go begging to pay the grove’s $7-million price tag, a group called the Committee to Sustain Hosp Grove began gathering signatures earlier this year for an initiative that would authorize leasing 11.5 acres for commercial development to help defray the cost of the trees.

The renewed threat of the developer’s ax prompted grove backers to drop a bombshell--the Save Open Space initiative.

Instead of focusing simply on Hosp Grove, the initiative called for the protection of open-space areas in all quadrants of the city. Under its provisions, a two-thirds vote of the people would be required for development on lands designated as open space.

The measure quickly took on a life all its own. Although the leaders of the Committee to Sustain Hosp Grove have yet to turn in their petition, backers of the Save Open Space initiative presented more than 4,500 signatures to the City Clerk on June 6. Roughly 3,000 signatures of registered voters are needed to qualify a measure on the ballot in Carlsbad.

Long before, however, city officials let their concerns about the open space proposal be known.

For starters, officials say the initiative would hinder the city’s ability to negotiate with developers on a case-by-case basis to acquire open space, something the measure’s backers deny.

In addition, officials say the initiative actually calls for protection of less open space than would be provided under the city’s growth management plan. Under growth management, 38.6%of the city would be left as open space when the city is built out, while the Save Open Space initiative would allow for 25.3%, city planners estimate.

“I don’t understand how they can say they’re going to preserve more open space than we are,” Councilman John Mamaux said. “We’ll save 40%under the city, 25%under theirs. It doesn’t make sense.”

Misinterpreting Measure

Backers of the initiative vehemently deny such claims, saying the city is purposely misinterpreting the measure to undermine it. If anything, the initiative would only buttress the growth management plan, they say, working with it to spare even more space from development.

“The city is purposefully misreading our initiative,” said Anne Mauch, a leader of the open-space effort. “If we let them do an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and let them say what it means, we’ll have no way to fight it. It’s pure propaganda.”

Finally, city officials contend a map of open space in Carlsbad incorporated as part of the initiative is simply inaccurate--even though it was compiled from existing city records.

It was this particular map that caused the greatest stir of all. Earlier this year, then-Planning Commissioner McBain asked city planning staffers to draw up the document, which was subsequently passed on to open-space initiative backers.

When Mayor Lewis got wind of McBain’s efforts on behalf of the citizens group, he exploded. In particular, Lewis was miffed because McBain passed on information that the mayor feels sure the planning commissioner knew was inaccurate.

“If it had been a correct map, I wouldn’t have cared,” Lewis said in an interview last week. “Even the two-thirds vote idea (in the Save Open Space initiative)is fine with me.”

Lewis took the extraordinary step of calling on his colleagues to fire McBain from his post, which the council did May 10 on a 3-2 vote, with Councilmen Mark Pettine and Eric Larson dissenting.

The Great Map Flap, as it came to be known, had created a martyr--Kip McBain. Backers of the open-space initiative have been quick to spotlight that fact, pressing the council last week to reappoint McBain to his post. Once again, the council voted 3-2 against McBain.

“The council made a strategic error by picking on a person with the credentials and the integrity--Kip McBain,” said Jim Swab, an open-space advocate.

Now members of the group are talking seriously about McBain, and perhaps Hosp Grove activist Dan Hammer, running for seats in the November council race.

Lewis has a ready reply--”Let ‘em run.”

As he and many other city leaders see it, the open-space advocates are simply using the initiative as a foil to gain control of the city government.

“It’s political intimidation, that’s what it is,” Councilman Mamaux said. “They’re saying, ‘You do it our way or we’ll go to the ballot box and confuse the voter and beat you.’ ”

Backers of the effort to lease a portion of Hosp Grove agree.

“The open-space initiative is just a smoke screen,” said Dennis Meehan, a member of the Committee to Sustain Hosp Grove. “They want to control the city. That’s what they really want.”