By TR Robertson
The fourth meeting of the Vista Leadership Academy, run by the City of Vista, covered a wide variety of topics dealing with a number of aspects extremely important to the majority of residents in the city. Topics for the night included Community Development, Capital Improvement Projects, Traffic Engineering and Climate Action Plan. Opening the evenings presentation was the Community Development Department consisting of Director Joe Vacca (with the city 3 years), Assistant Community Development Director Patsy Chen (with the city 19 years) and City Planner Michael Ressler (with the city 10 years). The total number of staff working with these individuals is 17 staff members who cover Development Services, Building and Safety Division and the Planning Staff. After an introduction by Joe, Patsy Chen discussed General Plan & Zoning, Discretionary Approvals and Building and Grading as related to the process necessary for any projects in the city. Discretionary Approvals cover such items as special use permits, site development and the city’s tentative map. Discretionary Projects can be reviewed by the Zoning Administrator, Planning Commission or City Council members and require a public hearing in most cases as they seek conditional approval. Once this occurs there still remains construction permits, grading permits and building permits before the project can begin.
Each year approximately 30 grading permits are approved annually, and 2,500 building permits are approved
Patsy said that for the City of Vista most of the residential density for the city is planned for the Downtown Specific Plan Area and the N. Santa Fe Corridor. She said the Housing Element for the city is 2,561 dwelling units the city could accommodate by 2029. She also said a lot of this depends on state legislative changes, ADU changes and SB 9 (lot splitting).
Joe Vacca spoke next, showing a number of recently completed projects, projects currently underway and projects proposed and in the process of starting in the city. Currently and recently opened is the Wendy’s and Dutch Brother’s Coffee establishments at 2655 S. Melrose Drive. Also opening or in process of opening is Dutch Brother’s Coffee at 1025 E. Bobier Dr. and 1940 Hacienda Drive. The Dutch Brother’s Coffee on Hacienda Drive will be the 1,040 Dutch Brother’s to open.
Currently under construction is the Costco Fuel relocation at 1755 Hacienda Dr. This will result in additional pumps being added at this Costco,
the tearing down of the existing gas station and changing this area to additional parking for Costco. Additional projects have been Hampton Inn at 760 Shadowridge Drive, Hilton Garden Inn at 1675 S. Melrose Drive, and The Learning Experience at 3150 Business Park Drive. Some of the housing projects that have been approved include Santa Fe Senior Village at 414 N. Santa Fe Avenue (54 units), Park Avenue Apartments at 165 Eucalyptus (176 units), TTLC Melrose on Matagual (34 2 story homes on 5.5 acres) and Camino Largo Subdivision at 2123 N. Santa Fe. Avenue (46 homes).
Michael Ressler spoke about the General Plan Update 2050, required by state law. The city is currently in the General Plan that will finalize in 2030. The General Plan covers such things as Goals and Policies, the General Plan city map, Implementing Measures and more.
Seven core elements are required by the state – Land Use, Circulation, Housing, Open Space, Conservation, Noise and Safety.
The General Plan should also accommodate growth while preserving neighborhoods and reflect the diversity of Vista. It should also incorporate some recent legislation. Several public workshops have been held, and a third workshop will be held during the summer of 2025. Michael said the goal of this is to also focus on sustainable growth in the city. Some of the recent changes include the development of Mixed-Use residential and commercial development. One change has been expanding land use for construction from 40 to 45 units per acre. He said they are hopeful that hearings can be held for the City Council during Fall or Winter of 2025.
The next presentations were given by Matt Atteberry, Associate Engineer and Sam Hasenin the Traffic Engineer for the City of Vista. Greg Mayer is the Director of the Engineering Department for the city. The Engineering Department deals with areas such as Capital Improvement Program, Traffic Engineering, Sanitation, Stormwater and much more. The city’s $45 million budget for the Capital Improvement Program is allocated to cover projects dealing with traffic congestion, sewer conditions, parks and public facilities, drainage, pavement rehabilitation and maintenance, sidewalks and more. Matt said one of their projects is the replacement of corrugated metal piping that has deteriorated or collapsed, replacing this with reinforced concrete piping. Several of the projects either currently underway or proposed include the installation of sidewalks on Avenida de Bonita Juarez; sidewalks to be installed on one side of Sunset Drive in the future, the construction of a roundabout at Foothill/Oak/Bobier and the Townsite Drive Street project. He said they have a
Pavement management program that coordinates with Public Works for the maintenance, patching, repairing potholes and cracks, sidewalk repair or replacement.
Mike showed an Improvement Cycle Map that divides the city into 5 Zones. They cover 2 Zones a year on a 5-year cycle. He also showed how they either use a slurry seal or overlay for street repair and spoke about the different products used for these applications.
Speaking next was Traffic Engineer Sam Hasenin. Sam has been with the city for a number of years and spoke about the importance of their job in the city as they deal with signals, stripping, speed limits, signs, parking, traffic calming, control plans, capital projects, development of plans & traffic studies, safety evaluations, and interaction with SANDAG.
Sam said the City Council’s priorities are to improve the flow of traffic for all forms of travel and transportation, to reduce congestion, and to improve roads and sidewalks.
He said their department’s current focus is improving traffic safety, accommodating active traffic, reducing vehicle speeds and establishing connections for traffic. He said they are currently doing a Vista Village Drive Train Crossing Bridge Study, an Emerald Drive complete street project and a city-wide Sustainable Mobility Plan. They are also currently completing painting bike lanes on major roads in the city, making traffic calming improvements, completing the Townsite Street Plan, and completing the Bobier and Foothill roundabout. Sam and Matt both responded to a number of questions from those in attendance had.
The final speaker for this evening’s presentation was Cassidy McCarthy, City of Vista Climate Action Plan Program Administrator. Cassidy said the Climate Action Plan is the road map to reduce greenhouse gas emissions built on greenhouse inventories calculated on data from SANDAG.
She said the California Climate Change Scoping Plan encourages local governments to establish action plans to reduce emissions in their city
. Cassidy also said on road transportation is the largest emission factor. They are currently looking at 2021 cap results but are in the process of looking at new caps that will be established. Some of the emissions the caps look at deal with transportation, energy, waste, and carbon sequestration. There are 7 strategies and 13 measures the action plan concentrates on. Some of these are replacing the Vista fleet vehicles with EV’s or PHEV’s; creating a citywide EV charging plan; tracking and advertising SANDAG’s icommute program; looking at the fact that there is no city policy on requiring EV charging stations; and establishing a city bicycle master plan. The city has also completed a Solar Project at the Civic Center and has joined the Clean Energy Alliance. Some of the other programs and projects the Climate Action Plan Program has started include the organic waste recycling program, the Free Tree Giveaway, the E-Bike Safety Training Program and E-Bike Rebate, the city Styrofoam ban, the Green Business Network consultation for Vista businesses, the Mulch & Compost give-away, Creek to Bay Clean-up and running the Environmental Commission (meeting on the 4th Wednesday of the month). Cassidy also said they will be at the Earth Day celebration at Alta Vista Botanical Garden on April 19th and take part in Bike Anywhere Day on May 15th. The Creek to Bay Clean-up is on April 26th beginning on the Buena Vista Creek Trail. Some references www.vista.gov/ebike , www.vista.gov/trees, www.altavistabotanicalgardens.org/earth-day-festival .
Next up for the Leadership Academy is Providing Effective Infrastructure – Public Works and Sewer Engineering at the Taylor Street location.
