Dog park gets new 'leash' on life
By Mirna Alfonso

The Carmel Valley Community Planning Board on June 8 made permanent the Torrey Highlands dog park, setting some conditions as well.

Conditions suggested by the city and supported by the board were:
€Any maintenance above and beyond what the Maintenance Assessment District is responsible for must be undertaken by the dog park users.

€Any improvements to the dog park above and beyond what the city has done must be undertaken and funded by the dog park users.

€The city will try to place turf on the site once more before abandoning that for an alternative surface, to be discussed if the need arises.

€The park will undergo a yearly review by the board to ensure compliance with all conditions.

Board chair Frisco White said he would form a subcommittee to serve as a link to the city.

Former Carmel Valley Recreation Council Chair Ginny Barnes asked the board to see that the user group becomes an organized one so that any funds raised for improvements would be reported to the Park and Recreation Department.

Barnes said the parks staffers could help the group plan improvements and manage the funds.

In another, MAD-related matter, Barnes asked the board to make clear the lines of division between what is paid for from Facilities Benefit Assessment funding and MAD funding.

The board for the last few months has been working on expanding the MAD boundaries and preparing documents for another ballot vote by residents.

"Two items on the list are planned to be funded through the Facilities Benefit Assessment, however, projects with an estimated cost totaling $1,230,650 over 10 years are expected to be funded by the MAD," Barnes wrote in a letter to the board.

"I remember many discussions held by former and current planning board members that the Carmel Valley (north) MAD area would stop at Route 56," Barnes wrote.

"Now there is talk of extending it to include the Palacio Community and CVREP. Why stop there? Who established this new boundary," Barnes wrote.

Barnes also had problems with a number of other items, such as the planned landscaping of Torrey Pines High School frontage.

"What improvements are planned and what measures will be taken to prevent the students from trampling the plants," she wrote.

Barnes also said that if CVREP is included in the MAD, it should be a regional amenity, thus paid for by all surrounding communities.

Barnes also stated that a planned inclusion of the Elysian development should be reviewed because as she remembers it, the area between the sidewalk and the project's stucco wall would be maintained by their development association and not the MAD.