The next City Council meeting is scheduled for 6:00 PM on Monday, May 21st.

  
CITY MANAGER 

NEW SHERIFF’S LIEUTENANTS
The Encinitas Sheriff’s Substation (which patrols Del Mar) has welcomed two new Lieutenants over the past several weeks.  Lt. Kelly Martinez has been with the Sheriff’s Department for over 25 years and is serving as the acting Administrative Lieutenant who will oversee investigations, COPPS, and station administration.  Lt. Ken Nelson has over 20 years of experience with the Sheriff’s Department and will be overseeing the patrol and traffic division, serving as the new Parking and Traffic Lieutenant.  Welcome Lt’s. Martinez and Nelson! 

BEACH SAFETY CENTER
Crews are working on drywall and primer and began the finishing phase late this week.  Floors and cabinetry will be installed shortly.  A little over half of the concrete boardwalk has been poured and “stamped” to resemble a wooden plank.  Staff has begun planning for the Grand Opening Ceremony on June 27th at 3:00 PM.

REGIONAL CLIMATE PROTECTION MEETING
Staff attended ICLEI’s Regional Climate Protection Network meeting this week to share progress, successes, and lessons learned from local climate action planning efforts throughout the region.  Also discussed was information about new climate action tools and climate education efforts, including the California Statewide Energy Efficiency Collaborative (SEEC) which provides free technical trainings and resources to local governments.  ICLEI presented findings from the San Diego Bay Sea Level Rise Adaptation Strategy and implications for other north county coastal cities for adaptation efforts.  The San Diego Regional Climate Education Partnership recently completed a survey of San Diego residents and found that 85% believed climate change is happening and an overwhelming majority of residents have a basic knowledge of the science of climate change.

22ND DAA BOARD MEETING
Staff attended the monthly board meeting of the 22nd DAA on Monday.  Becky Bartling presented the schedule for compliance with the Coastal Commission Consent Order, and described how the Consent Orders were divided into three general categories: 1) six- month CDP; 2) 12-month CDP; and 3) interim uses. It was noted that the Consent Order permitted the 22nd DAA to continue with current activities during this interim period, as long as it did not expand them.  Tim Fennell stated that they are compiling a list of all current activities.  The consent calendar was passed, and the Board voted to combine several committees, including combining the master plan, real estate, and environmental committees.  During the Kentucky Derby, Surfside Raceplace had 3,200 attendees, with over $1 million wagered, which was slightly less than last year.  The Community Relations meeting was described as being very lively, and productive.  The new Fair shuttles were discussed, including the Fair Shopper Shuttle offered by NCTD, which would combine a train ticket with a Fair ticket.  There will be a new bar and pub in the Paddock, which will be established during the Fair and Race Meet.  It may persist during part or all of the remainder of the year, to be determined.  This week is the one year anniversary of bingo at the Fair, so festivities are planned.  Considerable public input was received on making the Fair smoke free, and after considerable discussion the Board agreed to adopt a policy of making the Fair smoke free by the 2013 season.

NEW WASTE CONTAINER ROLL-OUT NEXT WEEK
Del Mar residents will be receiving their new wheeled carts starting May 14th.  Cart delivery will occur on the regular collection day from the hours of 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, to avoid peak traffic hours, and will be completed by Friday, May 18th.  The collection will occur after the regular trash collection on the scheduled collection day.  Waste Management will provide tags to place on the old containers, so that residents can indicate which, if any, of their existing containers they would like collected for disposal.

ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGERS 
They’re off and running!  The EV chargers in front of the Del Mar TV Studio are now fully functional, but their use requires a Blink Network InCard, available at https://www.blinknetwork.com/membership.html

GOLDEN GUARDIAN
On Wednesday, May 14th, the City of Del Mar will join Solana Beach and Encinitas in participating in the statewide Golden Guardian emergency response exercise.  The City will convene its EOC in the Annex, and the exercise will involve CERT team members including amateur radio operators.  Golden Guardian is the annual California statewide exercise that is designed to establish a learning environment in which first responders and emergency managers can exercise emergency response.  The focus of Golden Guardian 2012 will be response and recovery for a catastrophic earthquake with subsequent aftershocks throughout San Diego County.

FINANCE 
Finance introduced the First Reading of the new ordinance amending Del Mar Municipal Code Chapter 6.32, Operations Permits Taxicab requirements at the City Council meeting on Monday.  The Second Reading is scheduled for the May 21st City Council meeting.  Utility bills were mailed this week for March/April.  Finance completed a survey of current sewer rate comparisons requested by the Otay Water District.  Staff attended training on current updates to federal and state payroll taxes.  

PLANNING / COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

PLANNING COMMISSION
The Planning Commission met on Tuesday with the sole purpose of reviewing and discussing the draft Village Specific Plan and associated draft EIR.  Recognizing the scope of this task, Chairperson John Kerridge laid out a plan for the Commission’s review of the documents various elements.  He posed 10 questions to facilitate the discussion, ranging from: “What are the needs for revitalization?” to “Is the 1.0 figure of a baseline Floor Area Ratio an appropriate starting point before the addition of possible Exceptional Public Benefit FAR?”  In reviewing those questions, Commissioners addressed many different issues including: vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle mobility; development regulations;  parking; and the role of the design review process for new projects.  Although there were differing opinions on some subjects, including the Park-Once methodology and the baseline FAR, there was consensus on many others, including suggestions for revisions to the “pencil draft.”  Staff will prepare a list of those comments for the City Council’s upcoming deliberations on potential revisions to the draft VSP before it goes through the formal review process.  Because the Commission did not have enough time to complete discussion of the VSP or comment on the EIR, the meeting was adjourned to a special meeting which will be Wednesday May 16th at 6:00 PM in the Council Chambers.  The Commission is also scheduled to review the Specific Plan and EIR at its June 12th meeting and will then make a formal recommendation to the City Council on the Plan and the adequacy of the draft EIR on July 10th.

SANDAG REGIONAL PLANNING TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP (TWG)
The TWG (Planning Directors) discussed five items at their monthly meeting on May 10th: 1) The TWG reviewed the report entitled "Integrating Transportation Demand Management (TDM) into the Planning & Development Process - a Reference for Cities" and recommended it as another tool in the Smart Growth tool kit.  Del Mar has already begun to utilize these tools and have met with iCommute staff to consider how SANDAG and the DMVA could jointly work with Del Mar to reduce the number of employee trips to our downtown, which would also limit parking impacts in the neighborhood; 2) SANDAG is also underway with two grant applications, the Active Transportation Grant (released now, applications due in July), and the Smart Growth Incentive Program grants due in Fall (not released until July).  In both cases, 25% of the points are awarded to Policy 33 criteria, for which Del Mar does not qualify; 3) SANDAG staff members met with Del Mar and the other cities and the County to collect zoning information that will be used in the Series 13 Regional Growth Forecast; 4) SANDAG is proposing a new approach to the update of the Regional Comprehensive Plan (RCP),  integrating it with the next Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy rather than having separate processes and EIRs for the RCP and the RTP.  This reinforces the value of an integrated land use/transportation/housing approach; 5) SANDAG staff, in conjunction with the California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE), is organizing both a survey and a workshop on electric vehicle (EV) readiness now that the Ecotality program is drawing to a close at the end of 2012.  Many of the jurisdictions expressed similar concerns with the Ecotality process as Del Mar has had and the need for a comprehensive approach.  Additionally, CCSE is hosting a workshop on June 14th for staff to discuss how to integrate EV into building and zoning codes, parking policies, permitting, and outreach.  Del Mar will send a representative to the workshop.

PUBLIC WORKS 

PARKS, STREETS, AND FACILITIES
Public Works graded sand at the beach access points of 23rd, 24th, 25th and 27th Streets and repaired the stairway at 29th Street.  Crews installed a temporary sign referencing a future lagoon monument at the Riverpath Del Mar.  Vegetation was cleared to enhance street sign visibility on Jimmy Durante Boulevard, Stratford Court, Sherrie Lane, Crest Road, and Ocean Front.

Traffic counters were installed at the intersections of Via de la Valle and Cedros Avenue, Luneta Drive and Van Dyke Avenue, and along Crest Road.  The data gathered is available to the public on the City’s website.

WATER AND SEWER
Annual backflow device testing and certification was completed on time with 130 private property owners complying with State and City regulations, related to the protection of the public water supply.  Approximately 50 City-owned backflow devices were also tested by a certified contractor.  Compliance requires that testers maintain a current Backflow Prevention Assembly Tester Certification (either by the American Backflow Prevention Association or American Water Works Association) and a Certificate of Calibration for the testing kits used.

2011 STREETS AND DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
Camino del Mar was limited to one lane in each direction on Monday while the contractor completed a blacktop slurry seal from 9th to 11th Streets.  A combination of appropriate traffic controls, advance coordination with the Sheriff’s Department, and warm weather allowed the work to be completed early with minimal traffic impacts.  New traffic striping is scheduled for completion next week.

COMMUNITY SERVICES

DOWN AT THE BEACH
The beaches have seen slightly warmer water temperatures.  It was 65 degrees by Monday afternoon remained around that temperature for the first half of the week.  Given that the water temperature was still just 58 degrees as of April 28th, this has been a nice change.  There have also been clearer skies along the coast reducing some of the ‘May Gray’ effect. 

Last Friday afternoon three swimmers were rescued in front of 17th Street.  On Saturday, lifeguards responded with two rescue boats to an after-hours call along the North Beach bluffs.  At high tide the beach in front of the bluffs was flooded, trapping two fishermen in the area.  Crews launched the first boat at 7:45 PM and completed the rescues by 8:15 PM.  Because the rescue boats were unable to get close enough to reach the fishermen, lifeguard Matt Becker completed the rescues with a tube and fins. 

Sunday was one of the nicest afternoons of the year with over 8,000 visitors enjoying the sunny skies.  Ocean conditions were rough with deep inshore holes, head-high surf, and strong currents.  Boats were used to help patrol the beach throughout the day.  With 500 swimmers throughout the day, there were three rescues with the boat and another 10 with paddleboards, tubes, or fins from the beach.  Medical aid numbers were also high with 10, including three stingray-inflicted wounds.

WEEKEND EVENTS
Rookie lifeguard training began on Friday and will continue on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays throughout May.  Hopeful student lifeguards are being trained and certified in: CPR for the professional rescuer, emergency response first aid, and lifeguard skills. 

A business BBQ is taking place at Powerhouse Park on Friday; and weddings will take place at the Powerhouse Community Center and Seagrove Park on Saturday.  On Sunday morning, Earl Warren Junior High is hosting a beach clean-up event for students.

PARK RANGER UPATE
Congratulations to seasonal enforcement officer Daniel Welte for completing the Reserve Police Academy at Grossmont College!  He has dedicated the last 9 months to this achievement.

FIRE DEPARTMENT 
The Fire Department responded to numerous medical aids; four traffic accidents; three fire alarms; and two car fires- one on the I-5 freeway and the other in Solana Beach. 

Crews continued web-based safety training and conducted testing for the engineer’s exam which consists of four parts.  Two parts, held this week, were the department review where candidates have the opportunity to show an interview panel what they have done to prepare for the position through education, training, etc.  The second part of the test was a written exam testing the candidates’ knowledge of the position.  The upcoming third part of the testing process will be held at the Del Mar Fairgrounds to test the candidates’ ability of driving and maneuvering fire apparatus. The fourth portion of the test will be held at the Rancho Santa Fe Training Tower and will involve pumping a fire.

WEED ABATEMENT PROGRAM
Properties (396) in the Wildland Urban Interface have been inspected for overgrown trees and vegetation over the past two weeks.  Courtesy Notices will be mailed out this week to 57 property owners in Del Mar.