From Pacific Rim to Aviara, the Lesson of Batiquitos Lagoon
Dr. Bill Fowler
In the mid-1980’s a wealthy out-of-town developer had fantastic designs on Carlsbad’s Batiquitos Lagoon. In this case, the land had been already purchased when project processing began. CEQA had been around for 15 or so years and “Growth Management” had come to Carlsbad under the stewardship of Carlsbad city fathers, especially Buddy Lewis and Ann Kulchin. The Pacific Rim Country Club was the project’s fake name until much later when the name Aviara was made up by some real estate marketing company hired for that purpose.
I worked out of the Red Barn at the corner of La Costa Blvd and El Camino Real. Incidentally, that Red Barn was moved, lock, stock and barrel, elsewhere in Carlsbad and ironically now serves as headquarters for Rick Caruso’s permit processors.
The developer was a company owned and operated by none other than Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt, famous oilmen brothers from Texas -- who by that time had diversified from oil into a number of other ventures including real estate development and, ultimately to their undoing, speculating in silver.
The City of Carlsbad gave us fits. New demands from the city arrived weekly, or so it seemed. There wasn’t any detail of the project that wasn’t closely scrutinized by the city and substantial changes seemed to be required at every turn.
I remember one incident that absolutely galled the Hunt Brothers’ local project planners. After some particularly difficult negotiations with the city council that predictably resulted in major concessions by the Hunts, Ann Kulchin proudly proclaimed that she was as good as any Texan at “horse trading” and that she would gladly play the Hunts in any game of poker they chose. It was a great political statement and, I might add, ruffled more than a few feathers in Dallas, Texas.
So what?
How times have changed. New demands from the planning department coming every week? If Measure A wins, there will be no “horse trading” on this project and Caruso holds all the Aces. The city is now poised to turn over all 203.4 acres of Carlsbad's prized resources over to an out-of-town developer. And have no say over any aspect of the project for 15 years.
I met Ann Kulchin once during that time (and have never spoken to her since). I only know Buddy Lewis as a legendary city father. I don’t pretend to know Ms. Kulchin’s reasoning behind her support for Measure A and I certainly will not speculate how Buddy Lewis would react to the development of Carusoland. But it sure doesn’t seem like the old days.
Carlsbad has always been known for higher and more exacting standards and I think “The Carlsbad Way,” has served the community very well.
Carlsbad projects like Aviara, developed “The Carlsbad Way,” result in high quality developments consistent with Carlsbad’s community’s vision of itself, even when the developer, like Caruso, comes from a city totally unlike Carlsbad.
Carlsbad projects like Aviara, developed “The Carlsbad Way,” make money, in spite of the higher standards that are required by the city.
Carlsbad projects like Aviara, developed “The Carlsbad Way,” has made Carlsbad the envy of San Diego.
So why are Carlsbad’s City Council and Planning Commission running away as fast as possible from participating at all in the development of Carusoland?
And why has Carlsbad’s Planning Department turned into Carusoland’s marketing department, distributing slick puff pieces, at Carlsbad taxpayers expense, instead of professional quality land use and environmental analysis?
Personally, I think that Carlsbad’s City Council has lost its way. I think it has confused “The Carlsbad Way” with “we know better than everyone else in Carlsbad.”
The silver lining here is probably that no other developer in his right mind would ever again try to end-run around “The Carlsbad Way,” disingenuously using the initiative process to ensure that no vote by locals will take place.
BTW, of course the Red Barn is not being used by Caruso’s permit processors -- everyone knows he won’t need them -- I was just making sure you were paying attention!