After a robust discussion that included public speakers who offered positive encouragement and those who decried the wisdom of the city’s Pacific View purchase, the Encinitas City Council voted at its July 16 meeting to accept a 778-page Due Diligence report on the property and to authorize City Manager Gus Vina to begin securing $13 million in bond financing for Pacific View and a new lifeguard station for Moonlight Beach. Both items passed with what has become the usual split on Pacific View issues: Barth, Kranz and Shaffer voting yes, and Gaspar and Muir voting no.

On March 27, 2014, Encinitas Union School District Board President Marla Stritch and Encinitas City Councilmember Tony Kranz presided over a jubilant press conference announcing a joint agreement to sell the Pacific View property to the city. Dozens of supporters came to witness the historic moment.

Public Works Senior Engineer Ed Deane presented a summary of the Due Diligence report that included an environmental assessment, limited geotechnical evaluation, title report evaluation, recorded easements and encroachment permits. Among the discovered items noted by Deane were the presence of asbestos in the classroom flooring, probable lead-based paint in the classrooms, and the possibility that the State of California may have to approve the school district selling the property. The report also details how a 28-foot-wide alley on the west edge of the property is used by residents to access their homes, a fact that may reduce the usable area of the 2.8-acre property by 10 percent.

When highlighting the concerns, Deane indicated that nothing in the report would appear to render the property unfit for purchase by the city. The 59MB report can be downloaded from the city’s website here. The report on the issuance of the bonds (a small download), prepared by the Finance Department’s Jay Lemcah, is here.

Mayor Kristin Gaspar echoed some public speakers’ objections and suggested that, based on the alley easement and the possibility of the sale needing state approval, the city renegotiate the $10 million purchase price with the school district before the late August deadline. Shaffer responded that the report contained no surprises that would trigger a renegotiation, and that the alley has clearly been in use by residents for years. Barth said that any possibility of the state having to approve the sale will obviously have to be handled before the transaction is finalized, but that it shouldn’t delay the council’s approval of the Due Diligence report.

In other council news, opponents of the city’s current Density Bonus policies cheered as five items designed to tame the negative effects of the law on neighborhoods in Encinitas were approved on a near-unanimous basis. The marathon session lasted until 11:46 p.m..

The Wednesday, July 16, meeting can be viewed here. Pacific View is discussed in Items 10A and B.

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