CARLSBAD — At least 50 residents of the senior community Rancho Carlsbad showed up en masse to pre-emptively strike against a development proposal to slightly extend College Boulevard south off Cannon Road.
Russ Kohl, 79, cautioned the City Council during its Jan. 29 meeting about the proposed apartment and single-home developments behind Rancho Carlsbad and south of Sage Creek High School.
Kohl said his community is against the project as it stands because it does not address relocating the residence’s RV park, community gardens and drainage basin. He also submitted more than 100 letters to the city.
“We are very proactive to protect the 55-and-over lifestyle and property rights,” Kohl told the council.
Kohl, the former homeowner association president and 21-year resident of Rancho Carlsbad, said there are numerous obstacles to address before the community signs off on the project, but said they would if those issues were addressed. He said residents know and understand College Boulevard will eventually be connected to El Camino Real.
However, he, along with four-year-resident Barry Clark, 68, worries about flooding and access to the 125 gardens and 60 RV spaces. The community has 504 homes and 772 residents.
Kohl and Clark said there are no plans to allow access under College Boulevard or move the gardens and RV lots to a contiguous parcel about 100 yards away.
“She has to put in College in first, so all her construction equipment will have access,” Clark said, referring to the owner of the adjacent property, Susan Clark.
In addition, three creeks — Encina, Agua Hedionda and Calavera — cut through the properties. The Encina and Calavera creeks converge in the northeast part of Rancho Carlsbad, while the Calavera and Agua Hedionda creeks intersect at the intersection of Cannon Road and El Camino.
Heavy rains are an issue for the senior community and the creeks have crested in the past, thus the concerns.
Kohl said the proposal calls for College Boulevard to extend about 100 yards into the right of way on the property of Rancho Carlsbad. However, there are no plans to address the B.J. basin should the road be extended, which Kohl and Clark said would create what amounts to a dam.
Kelly’s proposal includes plans to build at least 100 units, dubbed the Encina Creek Apartments, along with about 45 single-family homes on the Holly Springs lot.
“She’s proposing that College be extended into where she can access, what’s called Avenue C,” Kohl added. “Avenue C would get into the apartment complex and Holly Springs.”
The plans have been slowly working their way through the city’s process, but have yet to come before the Planning Commission or City Council.
And despite those concerns, Kohl and Clark said if they are addressed in the plans, the residents would not be against the developments.
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