Resistance to Transit Stations Re-Emerges

Only days after a breakthrough was announced for North County mass transit, new protests have arisen over a proposed rail station in Carlsbad and a bus center in Encinitas.

Last week, Santa Fe Railway agreed to sell more than 300 miles of right of way in Southern California, including track for a commuter-rail line between Oceanside and San Diego.

But growing opposition to a downtown station in Carlsbad and a bus center in Encinitas could hinder the planned line which is to begin carrying passengers in 1994, officials said Thursday.

“Every one of those stations is vital,” said Mike Zdon, senior transportation planner with the San Diego Assn. of Governments, which helped plan the commuter rail system.

Nine stations in all are planned for the rail service: Oceanside, two in Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Beach, Sorrento Valley, Miramar Road, Old Town San Diego and the Santa Fe Depot.

“All of these stations are critical to the success of the commuter rail operation,” according to Pete Aadland, marketing officer for the North County Transit District, the lead agency in the $140-million commuter-rail project. But opponents in Carlsbad are hoping to persuade the City Council at a July 7 meeting to kill plans for a downtown station. That would leave only one station for Carlsbad, 4 miles south at Poinsettia Lane.

They claim the downtown station will displace businesses, cost jobs and destroy the village atmosphere.

“It (the downtown rail station) is not good for Carlsbad, and it’s going to displace the oldest business in Carlsbad, which is my livelihood,” said Craig Bauer, co-owner of Bauer Lumber Co. on State Street and a leader of the opposition. The business was founded by his grandfather and great-grandfather in 1922, Bauer said.

Construction of the $2.5-million downtown rail station would wipe out the lumberyard, which sits on land leased originally from the railroad but now belongs to NCTD.

“It’s the wrong place to put a station,” agreed Melinda Maltby, co-owner of the adjacent Carlsbad Industrial Supply. Her company headquarters, also on leased railway land, also would be wiped out by the station project.

Opponents gained a major victory Monday when members of the city’s Master Plan Advisory Committee voted overwhelmingly to reject the downtown rail station site.

Also giving opponents hope is that, although the City Council endorsed the downtown site in 1990, two new council members, Julie Nygaard and Margaret Stanton, have since been elected.

Nygaard was unavailable for comment, but Stanton said Thursday that she has not made up her mind. “I certainly believe in mass transportation,” she said, “but I think the station needs to be located in the best place for Carlsbad, and I don’t know where that is.”

Councilman Eric Larson said his was the only vote against the downtown station in 1990, and he is still opposed. “My position hasn’t changed. I think we should build a bigger station at Poinsettia. I don’t think Carlsbad needs to have two whistle stops,” he said.

But Aadland and Zdon said each of the five North County stations is vital. Each station is spaced along the line to serve key population areas, based on studies that show 80% of rail passengers will live within 5 miles of a station, according to Zdon.

“When you only have five (stations in North County) and talk about eliminating one, that is potentially a fifth of your ridership,” he said.

In Encinitas, opponents are hoping to kill plans by NCTD to build a bus station next to the rail station. They claim it will cause problems with traffic, pollution and increased crime.

But eliminating the buses also will cut down on commuter rail ridership, said Zdon, because there won’t be enough parking to allow motorists to drive to the train station.

“We put in as much parking as we could,” he said, but “its not enough . . . so the only other way is buses. It’s absolutely essential to get people in and out.”

As to Carlsbad, Aadland said the commuter rail station would be a good thing for the downtown and its merchants. It would not only bring people into the downtown area, but it would also provide a 300-space parking lot, which could be used by shoppers and theater-goers in the evening and on weekends.

“We obviously feel that a small commuter station in the hub of the redevelopment area is an excellent cornerstone for the merchants of the area,” he said.