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Some like it hot: Council kills idea for ‘green infrastructure’



The Escondido City Council majority Wednesday, July 21, nixed the “green infrastructure plan for Escondido” the Planning Commission submitted. The plan would have addressed some deficiencies the city has, such as few shade trees on many streets and a lack of easily accessible parks for many residents.
This deficiency puts Escondido at the bottom of cities in the county in terms of how many parks are within a ten-minute walk. The city also has one “Cool Zone” where residents can retreat during torrid temps.
The council majority felt adopting the “green infrastructure” plan would duplicate other efforts; add a layer of bureaucracy, and spend more money.
The plan would develop a framework for “greening” the city with more trees to shade and cool it, while seeking grant funding for development of a green infrastructure plan. It was created by the seven-person Planning Commission, an advisory body. Members are appointed for four year terms. The work plan was developed over three meetings.
Chairman Katherine Barba presented a slide presentation: “Our objective is to develop a green infrastructure plan that will establish a framework and geographic focus for greening our city, which in turn provides a context for seeking support and funding for specific green infra project proposals.”
She called the proposal “a very broad plan, almost a policy, but within it provides a framework through which we can identify specific projects then go out and seek money for those specifically.” The plan would map the city, identifying specific neighborhoods needing work and identify some actual projects and opportunities to go out and seek funding for.
There are multiple state and federal definitions of “green infrastructure,” Barba said, but when applied to Escondido it includes greening streets, buildings waterways, establishing new parks and open space for recreation.
The group talked with former Director of Community Development Mike Strong (before he left to work in Carlsbad) and his interim successor, Adam Finestone and other staffers. “We would take a broad view of the overall jurisdiction at green space connectivity and where are the access points for the public to go to green spaces across the jurisdiction,” said Barba.
The plan also proposed to “to map green and open space . . . to assure green corridors, connectivity and access to greenspace; and in parallel, do a deep dive to focus on greening urban land and streetscapes in specific areas/neighborhoods including tree and shrub plantings to lower temperatures, increase shade, improve air quality, install permeable sidewalks, parking lots, ‘natural play areas,’ pocket parks and gardens.”
It also looks at “priority investment neighborhoods” (PINS) outlined in the existing Climate Action Plan (CAP) and in the city’s East Valley. “We see this is truly a nice opportunity to focus on the East Valley area and truly define the green space opportunities—as opposed to more random project development,” said Barba. “We target PINs identified in Escon’s Climate Action Plan and East Valley Specific Plan area – neighborhoods that will map to a larger network/system of open green space to assure connectivity and access to improve quality of life for PINs and East Valley hoods. Priority Investment Neighborhoods are highlighted in the Social Equity and Health Index Map – with a 50% ranking in socio-economic factors and public health. We target the EVSP as a key emerging opportunity for proactive green space planning,” she said.
She noted that “various master plans have been drafted but not approved such as Grape Day Park Master Plan and Escondido Creek Trail Master Plan,” adding “Escondido is “rock bottom last” in residents being next to a park (see illustration.)
Neighborhoods where extreme heat events occur have little shade or green space and are often PIN neighborhoods, “Which experience 5 degrees more heat impact from nasty heat. That’s only going to get worse with climate change,” said Barba. “I think we are going to need to focus on increased tree canopy and green streets.”
Grant funding could come from federal and state agencies such as the EPA, Caltrans, Congressional district awards, private foundations and partnerships with Escondido Creek Trail partnerships and SD Green Infra Consortium, she said.
Councilmember Tina Inscoe congratulated commissioners on their “tremendous amount of work.” She said it was important to engage with the community on such discussions and to “reach out to the development industry. We want to get those developers that are interested in working with us,” and to incentivize developers.”
However, she was concerned with redundancy, duplicating programs the city already has.
Barba replied, “The first step would be to identify what’s currently funded and what’s out there.”
Councilmember Mike Morasco said, “There seems to be a lot of redundancy and the other plans and ordinances we already have on the books.” Such as existing ordinances in the Open Space Element of the General Plan, “all of which staff is already working on —all of which is already taking in an extensive amount of time and energy and costs to the taxpayers.”
Morasco added, “Why we would want to add an additional layer and create an additional commission and do it in such a way that we are competing with ourselves?”
He continued, “I think too many of the ideas and thoughts are based upon assumptions and acceptance of global warming data information. I just don’t think this is something we need to add to the current work plan at this time.”
Councilmember Joe Garcia also praised the work but was concerned about replicating existing programs. He felt the work proposed was not within the scope of the Planning Commission. That the commission was trying to claim territory that was the council’s responsibility.
“I have concerns this would put the Planning Commission in a supervisory position over the planning department. It seems like the planning commission would have a direct supervisory role over staff,” he said.
Garcia also felt such a policy could lead to stopping development and preventing the city from meeting residential units the state requires. “That is very concerning to me,” said Garcia. “I think this is a presentation of something that is of good heart and but I believe it is not within the framework allowed by the bylaws.”
Barba replied, “We don’t anticipate taking an supervisory role. That’s not within our purview at all. We were trying to outline a process the city could adopt or not or just as an idea.”
Councilmember Consuelo Martinez said the work “really resonates with me. I grew up here and having lived here most of my life; this heat just doesn’t get any easier. It’s really it’s really tough and every year it just gets even hotter.” It sometimes gives her heat migraines. “It kind of puts me out for the whole day so I can only imagine what people who are badly affected by it experience.”
Martinez said some bus stops don’t have shade. She praised a homeowner who allows riders to sit on a stump waiting for the bus. “She actually puts out a bucket for trash. I don’t know her name but they’re just awesome for doing that!” She added, “I do agree we need shade and especially at bus stops and just more trees in Escondido.”
She said there is a “huge difference” between Escondido and Rancho Bernardo, “where you have medians and trees everywhere and you see people walking their dogs, running and exercising at all times of the day. Especially in my district you don’t see very many people out in the day. You see a lot of umbrellas during summer because umbrellas provide shade .”
At places where there are big trees, “I see people lying under the tree to get out of the heat.”
Finestone said existing requirements mandate developers to plant trees along public rights of way. He said he would check to see which kinds of trees developers are encouraged to use.
“That works because trees cost money,” said Martinez. She mentioned annual volunteer tree planting events. “I don’t know if the volunteers buy the trees of if it’s included in our budget but I’m curious to know if we can add locations that need more trees?” She added, “I’m very sensitive to my colleagues’ comments about funding but I also think we have opportunities here and we know it gets hot in our city. We need more cool zones. We only have one.”
She said she was grateful for citizen’s commissions because Escondido doesn’t have a fulltime council. “We don’t have the time to do deep dive policy, because we don’t have dedicated staff for each member. I feel that you fill that gap for us. I see you as an asset. I would love to have more boards and commissions.”
She added, “I see this as you not telling us how to do our jobs, it’s you having an idea and being excited about it.” She would like to see action on the plan. “Sometimes it takes years and decades. I hope we won’t still be talking about this years from now.”
Mayor McNamara again quoted Strong, who, he said “didn’t think this was too much bureaucracy or layer of control. He saw this as a need. Despite some of my colleagues’ concerns which are genuine, he believed we needed this. Some of the early slides show we are woefully behind in some areas. There is work to be done.”
Finestone said in one area the presentation wasn’t accurate. Escondido Creek Trail, where the city is spending $8 million, “is in the heart of town in the East Valley.” That should be counted as a green area or park, he said.
The mayor noted that every city, as Barba had said, “faces this tension between density and not having too much urban sprawl and maintaining enough parking. Other cities seem to be ahead of us in terms of solving it. I think we owe it to our residents to address it. When you see a problem you can’t just wish it away.”
Morasco said he too met with the departed Director of Community Development: “and he expressed a different perspective and said almost all of this is being addressed by staff and it could be costly to add on another layer. Strong’s response was to avoid duplication.”
Finestone said to fund the plan would probably cost about $100,000. “We are looking for policy direction from the council that this is something where we should look for money.”
McNamara warned, “If we do not approve this and see it move forward, we will all be held accountable. If I was a voter I would say, ‘You knew we needed parks, and you’re not taking care of it.’ ”
Morasco said several years ago, when he and former councilmember Olga Diaz were “screaming for sidewalks,” they learned that many trees had been removed from the “flower” streets because they were destroying the sidewalks. “The reason they are gone in some cases is they were problematic.” He said when he bikes and looks down on the city from miles away, “It looks like one of the greenest valleys in San Diego County. I personally believe we are addressing this in an efficient way and we don’t need an added layer.”
McNamara quipped, “I think we are looking down on a hot green city. The infrastructure plan looks to restore that.” He pointed out that in District Two, “we had to take down a lot of trees, and a lot of people are upset about that, but they are being replaced by the right trees.”
Martinez said she understands that her colleagues don’t want another layer. “But I would be interested in adding trees in areas where they used to have them. I would like to not shut down the idea.”
McNamara moved to adopt the plan and it failed 3-2, with McNamara and Martinez in the minority.

A source for trees
In a related development, Mayor McNamara was contacted Thursday by Dave Jones, president of the Escondido Rotary After 5 club who said he had spoken to Tree San Diego a few weeks ago: “They mentioned that they were trying to communicate with the city as they had several programs to fund some trees for a city like Escondido. They had not received any response. It sounds like a possible easy win for the city and I told them I would see if I could help.”
Jones said Tree San Diego wrote him this: “The city of Escondido’s Climate Action Plan (CAP) aims to plant 2,802 trees by 2030. The time is now to enact climate-change mitigation and adaptation measures in the city’s CAP. Urban forestry measures are easy to implement with help from organizations like Tree San Diego (TSD). At TSD, we have mapped, maintained and/or planted more than 20,000 trees in the past seven years. We have the tools, resources and expertise for planting, multi-spectral imaging technology and tree-steward education. We are currently working with state agencies to implement tree-planting projects at a quicker pace, as cities are struggling to keep up with the demands of the urban forestry sector. We also offer inventorying/surveying services and would love to collaborate with the city and help Escondido reach its CAP goals. You can learn more about our work here: www.treesandiego.org/. We would be happy to discuss future possibilities with the city.”

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