Encinitas Friends of the Arts and the Synergy Art Foundation each donated $1000 to the Encinitas Arts, Culture and Ecology Alliance as a demonstration of support for the Alliance’s efforts to rehabilitate and administer the Pacific View property. Pictured at the presentation during the January 27 Encinitas City Council meeting are (front row, l. to r.) 101 Artists’ Colony President Danny Salzhandler, Encinitas Historical Society President Carolyn Cope, 101 Artists’ Colony Board Member Kay Colvin, Alliance President Garth Murphy, Mayor Kristin Gaspar, Encinitas Friends of the Arts President Naimeh Tanha, Friends of the Arts’ Laura Diede, Encinitas Arts Commissioner Deanne Sabeck, SD Visual Arts Network’s Patricia Frischer, Synergy Art Foundation’s Irène de Watteville (back row, l. to r.) Encinitas 101 MainStreet Association Executive Director Thora Guthrie, musician/activist Ashley Mazanec, Alliance attorney Trisha Hilder, Alliance Vice-President Jon Humphrey, Council Member Catherine Blakespear, Deputy Mayor Lisa Shaffer, Council Member Mark Muir, and Council Member Tony Kranz.

At its Wednesday, January 27, meeting, the Encinitas City Council agreed to draft an agreement giving the Encinitas Arts, Culture and Ecology Alliance interim access to the Pacific View site for several months while a long-term agreement is negotiated.

City Council and Pacific View Subcommittee members Lisa Shaffer and Tony Kranz had proposed that a “Right of Entry” agreement be written up so that volunteers could stop the deterioration of the buildings and improve the site at no expense or risk to the city.

After addressing concerns from attorney Felix Tinkov, representing nearby property owner Don McPherson, that the California Environmental Quality Act might be violated by “piecemealing” the Pacific View project, the council voted 4-1 to draft an agreement that will return for the council’s approval, probably at its February 17 meeting. Tinkov was invited to sit in on the agreement drafting process.

Mayor Kristin Gaspar voted against creating the interim agreement because she disagreed with the idea of letting a prospective tenant on the property before a final deal is reached.

Before the vote, Alliance Vice-President Jon Humphrey urged the council to approve the agreement, citing the quantity and quality of the Alliance’s 60-to-70 members, all of whom are enthusiastic about getting started. “We’re a bunch of thoroughbreds and we’re sitting there ready to charge on this project,” he implored. “We don’t want the war of attrition to wear this thing down.”

The Encinitas Arts, Culture and Ecology Alliance consists of many local artists and community leaders who banded together to create a vision for the site. Their unification avoided what some predicted would be unpleasant competitive jostling for the right to administer Pacific View. On September 23, 2015, the council voted unanimously to begin negotiations with the Alliance for a long-term agreement to operate an arts and culture center on the historic property.

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The historic Pacific View property as it appeared before the City of Encinitas purchased it in 2014.