This week the City Council extended our local emergency on traffic safety another 60 days. As we head into the holiday season please keep an eye out for tips and strategies the city will be sharing for safely navigating our roads during peak holiday traffic times. More updates on traffic safety in today’s edition, along with these news items:

• Parks and recreation priorities to be discussed
• More progress on homeless response
• Repair and reuse old items at our FixIt clinic
• Citrus quarantine reminder
• Final Front Row Saturday concert
• Upcoming meetings 

Progress continues on traffic safety improvements

The City of Carlsbad advanced several key efforts this week to help address the local traffic safety emergency, which was originally proclaimed in August following a dramatic increase in collisions involving bikes and e-bikes. The City Council also voted to extend the emergency another 60 days so quick progress can continue to be made on the three main areas of focus: education, engineering and enforcement.

Traffic safety emergency

• On Tuesday, Dec. 6, the City Council voted to extend the local traffic safety emergency after they received an update on the city’s recent efforts.
• By law, the City Council must review a local emergency proclamation at least every 60 days and take action either to extend it or end it.
• Cities can proclaim a local emergency when “conditions of extreme peril threaten public safety.” The emergency proclamation allows cities to respond more quickly by freeing up resources and streamlining certain processes.

As part of the presentation to City Council Tuesday, city staff provided an update on what’s been accomplished the first 100 days of the emergency proclamation. I am short on space today, but I encourage you read this report to see what all the city has accomplished to address traffic safety in the first 100 days of the emergency.

Restriping major east/west streets

In September, the City Council approved more than a dozen new initiatives in response to the traffic safety emergency, including projects to repave and restripe several busy streets throughout the city, including these major east-west corridors:

• Carlsbad Village Drive
• Tamarack Avenue
• Cannon Road
• Poinsettia Lane
• La Costa Avenue

On Monday, the city’s Traffic & Mobility Commission reviewed and provided comments on the striping plans for the first phase of this effort. You can see the plans in the commission staff report.

Restriping roads is a quick and inexpensive way to better meet the needs of walkers, cyclists and drivers, while promoting safe behaviors.

• For example, making vehicle lanes narrower causes drivers to go more slowly. On some roads this means reducing the number of vehicle lanes from two to one.
• Widening bike lanes and adding buffers between cars and bikes where possible, makes riders feel more comfortable on our roads.
• Green paint is a way to call attention to areas of potential conflict between cars and bikes.

Here’s a video that shows how restriping works. 

City staff will finalize project plans for these east-west streets and return to the Traffic & Mobility Commission in January 2023, followed by the City Council for final approval.

Kelly Elementary School neighborhood

The Traffic & Mobility Commission also voted Monday to support staff’s recommendations to redesign parts of Kelly and Park drives.

• The project is designed to slow traffic and promote safer behaviors among all road users. 
• Of the options presented, the Traffic & Mobility Commission recommended designs that include a new roundabout, a buffered bike lane and multiuse pathway that connects to a nearby trailhead. 

Reducing speeding on Tamarack Avenue

A short-term plan to reduce speeding along Tamarack Avenue, between Skyline Road and Adams Street, is also moving forward following Monday’s Traffic & Mobility Commission meeting.

• The project would add speed cushions and raised crosswalks to this segment of Tamarack to slow down traffic while the city works on a more extensive redesign of Tamarack that will take longer to complete.
• It will go to the City Council for final approval in early 2023.

More information

Dec. 5, 2022 Traffic & Mobility Commission meeting agenda packet

Safer Streets Together initiative

Safer Streets Plan

Parks and recreation priorities to be discussed

Next week city staff will provide an update on work completed to date on the new Parks & Recreation Master Plan, including:

• Results of a citywide survey conducted by a third-party research company
• Assessments of the city’s current recreation programs

This information builds on feedback gathered from the community about parks and recreation priorities and investments.

Monday, Dec. 12

City Council chamber 

3 p.m. – Senior Commission 

5:30 p.m. – Parks & Recreation Commission 

You can watch the meetings live on the City TV cable channel.  

The Parks & Recreation Master Plan is a blueprint that will help guide priorities and investments in parks and recreation facilities and services for the next seven years. The city’s existing Parks & Recreation Master Plan was completed in 2015, and the major projects have been completed. The updated plan will cover: 

• Assessment of current parks, facilities and recreational programs 
• Demographic and industry trends 
• Community needs and priorities 
• Funding needs and revenue opportunities 
• A seven-year action plan 

This project started right before the COVID-19 pandemic, so it’s taken longer than expected. For one thing, staff wanted to add another round of public input to see if anything major had changed as a result of the pandemic experience, once facilities were allowed to reopen. City staff are on track to present the draft master plan to the City Council in early 2023.

More progress on homeless efforts reported

Reducing homelessness and its effects on the community is a top city priority. The city’s homeless response team provided an update to the City Council at this week’s meeting, noting our progress in the first quarter of the fiscal year, which lasted from July through September 2022. Here are some highlights:

• 18 people experiencing homelessness transitioned into permanent housing
• 33 encampments were cleaned up
• 21 people placed in temporary shelters
• 247 people provided with information, referrals and other services to help them get off the streets

At Tuesday’s meeting, the City Council voted to continue operating an emergency motel voucher program and allocated $60,000 to fund it through the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 2022. The program has proven to be an important tool, with 36 people transitioned so far to short-term shelters or permanent housing, who would have otherwise been living on our streets.

Read the full report.

Repair and reuse old items at our FixIt clinic

We talk a lot about recycling, but really, reducing and reusing are even better for our environment in most cases. If you have broken items you were considering getting rid of, bring them by our “Fix it" clinic this weekend.

Fixit clinic

Saturday, Dec. 10

10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Georgina Cole Library

1250 Carlsbad Village Drive

FREE

Environmental sustainability is one of our Core Community Values in Carlsbad and events like this support our sustainability goals by helping to reduce holiday waste. You can learn how to:

• Fix broken appliances
• Mend your favorite holiday outfit
• Maintain your skateboard or in-line skates
• Rewire a lamp or replace a wall outlet
• Master the art of Japanese “Furoshiki,” which is cloth gift wrapping. (Bring a small gift to wrap if you want to practice on the real thing.)
• Recycle any broken holiday lights that can’t be repaired

If you have an orange tree, read this!

Officials are asking everyone to help stop the spread of a plant disease fatal to citrus trees. You might remember that state and county officials declared a citrus quarantine last year, which includes parts of northern Carlsbad, after the disease was found on a property in Oceanside.

• The Carlsbad quarantine area is north of Carlsbad Village Drive, from the coast to the city’s northeast border with Oceanside.
• Don’t share homegrown citrus inside or outside the quarantine area.
• The disease, called huanlongbing or HLB, isn’t harmful to humans or animals, but once a tree is infected, it can’t be saved and needs to be removed right away.
• Check your trees for signs of HLB. Signs include blotchy, yellow leaves that look different on the front and back and fruit that is small and/or lopsided and tastes rancid.
• The disease is spread by adult Asian citrus psyllids who are infected with a specific type of bacteria.
• If you see any signs, report it to the CDFA pest hotline at 800-491-1899.

Learn more about Asian citrus psyllids in San Diego County, as well as the local quarantine area, on the county’s website.

Front Row Saturday concert

This weekend, we’re wrapping up our last Front Row Saturday concert of 2022 with a great night of music and entertainment featuring the dynamic family band, Avenida Music.

Saturday, Dec. 10

7 p.m. Doors open. Seating is first come, first served.

7:30 p.m. Curtain

Schulman Auditorium

Dove Library

FREE

Avenida Music has been described as a cross between Sublime and Los Lobos. The band brings a funky and original groove to their own music and hits by popular bands like Oasis and Nirvana. People who’ve heard them say you’ll be a fan after just one show.

Learn more.

Get involved: Upcoming meetings

The County Registrar of Voters issued its final election results today, which our City Council will certify on Dec. 13 at 5 p.m. With all the votes counted, I would like to officially congratulate:

Keith Blackburn, Mayor

Melanie Burkholder, City Council Member, District 1

Priya Bhat-Patel, City Council Member, District 3

Sherry Freisinger, City Clerk

Craig J. Lindholm, City Treasurer

Our next City Council meeting, we will start with some important city business: Our newly elected officials will be sworn in, and we’ll take a few minutes to honor outgoing Mayor Matt Hall and District 1 Council Member Peder Norby.

Other topics on the agenda include:

• Renewing the agreement for the city’s Microsoft applications
• Approving a list of the 2023 scheduled vacancies on city boards and commissions
• An update on the city’s investments
• The city’s annual financial report on capital project funds and special taxes
• Agreements with labor organizations to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day in lieu of Columbus Day
• Buying a data security platform to safeguard city documents and information
• Updating an agreement for the maintenance of the billing system for water, recycled water, waste collection and sewage services
• Hiring a company to assess the condition of all buildings owned by the city to prioritize maintenance work
• Putting a project to replace sewer lines along Kelly Drive out for bids
• Accepting an $18,000 U.S. Department of Justice grant to purchase an electronic roadway sign and a drone for the Police Department
• Adopting an ordinance establishing the Community Police Engagement Commission

Here is a link to the agenda and staff reports.

In addition to the City Council meeting, these city meetings are also planned next week. You can find more information about each of them by clicking on the links below:

Dec. 13, 9 a.m. – Legislative Subcommittee

Dec. 14, 10 a.m. – Agricultural Conversion Mitigation Fee Advisory Committee

Dec. 15, 5 p.m. – Carlsbad Tomorrow: Growth Management Citizens Committee

Please also note that city offices will open at 9 a.m. Thursday to allow city employees to gather for our annual service recognition program.

Thanks to everyone who attended our annual Holiday at the Rancho event last weekend. I want to especially thank our Parks & Recreation staff for all their hard work in planning this event and all of the other wonderful gatherings we are returning to this year. Creating opportunities for our community to come together is so important, and it was great to see so many of you enjoying time with friends and family.

Scott Chadwick

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