Some Lucky Home Buyers Are Part of the ‘Family’

When the Fieldstone Co. opens a new upscale subdivision, there are two ways to buy the home of your dreams.

The first way is to join the camp-outs that usually accompany new Fieldstone offerings. Take your sleeping bag and wait in line for several days, maybe a week or more.

The second way is easier. You stroll in ahead of the public, no waiting, and pick out your home.

The second way is open only to Fieldstone employees, consultants and selected city and county officials.

City and county officials? Si.

Fieldstone, which builds homes throughout San Diego County, says it has a “longstanding VIP presale policy.” It thinks of public officials as “family.”

The VIPs get no break on price or terms, but they are spared the camp-out hassle and the possibility of getting shut out or having to settle for a less-than-ideal location.

The company revealed its VIP policy after a civic gadfly recently asked publicly whether Carlsbad City Councilman Mark Pettine got special treatment to buy a Fieldstone home in the Alga Hills development above the La Costa Resort Hotel & Spa.

Pettine, a deputy district attorney, used the VIP policy to buy a home in Alga Hills.

So did Carlsbad Planning Director Michael Holzmiller and County Planning Director Lauren Wasserman.

Doug Avis, head of community planning for Fieldstone’s Carlsbad projects, says the VIP policy makes good business sense.

“Fieldstone has an ongoing relationship with Carlsbad, and Mark (Pettine) will be reviewing and voting on our projects for the next 10 years,” Avis said.

“It makes good business sense to have a councilman or a planner as a satisfied home buyer,” he added. “That’s a statement of quality.”

Before they went ahead, Pettine and Holzmiller quietly asked City Atty. Vic Biondi for advice.

Wasserman stressed that Fieldstone does not build in the unincorporated area, under county jurisdiction. If it did, he said, he would not have used the VIP privilege.

Once the public flap hit, Carlsbad Mayor Bud Lewis asked Biondi for a formal opinion on whether the arrangement is a conflict of interest that could bar Pettine, a leading slow-growther, from voting on future Fieldstone projects.

After conferring with the state Fair Political Practices Commission, Biondi decided that the deal is not a conflict or an improper gift because it did not result in a direct financial benefit.

He notes that only 8 of the 33 homes (priced from $245,000 to $307,000) in phase one of Alga Hills were “presold.” The rest were available to the public at the same price.

What about the argument that being in an early phase of Alga Hills is a financial benefit because later phases will be more expensive and thus increase the equity of early buyers?

Too theoretical, particularly since appreciation is rampant in all North County real estate, Biondi said.

Biondi says he understands that VIP policies are common. Wasserman, who has worked in local government in Southern California for 20 years, agrees.

The Building Industry Assn. won’t comment. Three major local home builders--Kaufman & Broad, McMillin and Pardee--say they have no such policy for public officials.

William Cardon, president of Kaufman & Broad in San Diego, says that when he was an executive with McMillin, he camped out for four days to get a McMillin home in Scripps Ranch.

“If after four days, I found out a bunch of VIPs had gotten preference,” he says, “I think they’d have had to take me away in a straitjacket.”

A Laugh a Minute

Try these.

* Is that a sly sense of humor in the Sheriff’s Department television commercial seeking would-be correctional officers for county jails?

The commercial says being a jailer can “open the door to your future” and is a good job “if you like working with people.”

* Mailgrams I never finished reading:

“The $10-billion snack industry crunches into San Diego for its annual four-day SnaxPo ‘90, March 10-13, at the San Diego Marriott Hotel . . . .”

* The first four-way stoplight has just been installed in Alpine: at the intersection of Alpine Boulevard and Tavern Way.

Within an hour, there was a fender-bender.