President's Letter August 2022

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

The new OTC board had its first meeting of the 2022-2023 year, and as is our custom the first order of business was election of our officers. The 2022-2023 officers are: 

One complication this year is that I have pulled the nomination papers to run for City Council and I informed the board that I was likely to announce my candidacy in the first half of August. The board unanimously felt that there is no conflict of interest between serving on the Town Council and running for or serving on the City Council. Because of our hard-earned status as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt status OTC must remain neutral in the election. To date, 3 other potential candidates have also pulled nomination papers: Stacie Davis, Bruce Ehlers, and Pamela Redela, of these Bruce and Pam have each announced their candidacy in the press. OTC has its traditional Candidates Forum scheduled for the 5th of October, and the board designated Carol Knight as Director of the Forum. I will not play any role in the planning or conducting of the forum for OTC except, when asked, as a resource for Carol on how we have conducted the last two forums.

Last month, OTC hosted the 3rd and final Fire Evacuation meeting which was the largest of the three with about 50 residents in attendance. The slides and recordings for all three meetings can be found here. We anticipate a next revision of the Olivenhain Evacuation Plan next month, which will reflect the input from the three sessions. There are ongoing discussions of a multi-jurisdictional Evacuation Plan to be led by County Fire, which will require a vote by the County Board of Supervisors, but that is not yet scheduled. On Saturday August 13th, the Encinitas Fire Department will also be conducting a Fire Preparedness workshop at the Meeting Hall. 

Last month also saw installation of the community’s first cross walks across Rancho Santa Fe Road, at Lone Jack/11th Street and El Camino del Norte. The City has allocated money for an additional crosswalk, which will likely be installed on the north side of Olive Crest and will be an important crossing for Diegueño students. Additional money has been budgeted for traffic calming (lane restriping and signage), a speed study to lower the posted speed limit, and initial design work for roundabouts at Lone Jack and El Camino del Norte. These improvements are a direct result of the OTC co-sponsored Rancho Santa Fe Road Task Force efforts since 2020. 

Encinitas RRD has amended its lawsuit with the City to challenge the June 8th approval of the Goodson project. As reported in this recent article in the Rancho Santa Fe Post, this is the last best hope of slowing the project, which is hoping to break ground by the end of the year. The statute of limitations for additional filings or amendments is 90 days, so there is potential for additional claims and/or lawsuits. 

I look forward to seeing you at the Members-only Homebrew Festival, as a reminder tickets must be purchased online and at the Free outdoor movie nights on Friday Aug. 26th and Sep 9th for Back to the Future and Sing 2, respectively. 

Yours in Community, Dan