Complementary Competition

As the month of April ended, it marked the half-way point of the 60-day review period for the Draft Environmental Impact Report concerning the proposed One Paseo project.  Since March 29, 2012, decision-making authorities have been receiving letters, emails and phone calls from the community, expressing both positive and negative sentiment about the development.

Since the decision to approve or dismiss the project depends on community input,  it is very important that the residents of Carmel Valley become informed on the projects facts.  I reached out to Carmel Valley resident and One Paseo Civil Engineer John Leppert, to ask him so questions about the development.  John provided an interesting perspective as a longtime resident and consultant for the project.  He has observed first-hand the different stages of development that have taken place in the community.  Now, he is involved with one of the most important developments in Carmel Valley history – the proposed One Paseo project.

Here is my Q & A session with John Leppert.

Moya: “Why is One Paseo such a sensitive subject in Carmel Valley?”
Leppert: “Carmel Valley is nearing its final stages of complete build-out, for what was originally forecasted for the master-planned community.  The last big piece of potential infrastructure in Carmel Valley so happens to be the lot where the proposed One Paseo project hopes to be built.  It is no wonder that this project has brought out a variety of emotions in the community, as it is near and dear to the hearts of many Carmel Valley residents.”

Moya:  “Why do you feel the community will benefit from the development?”
Leppert: “Building a mix-use development like One Paseo, will bring to the community some much needed amenities and complement surrounding facilities.  The enhancements that have been made in the community over the years, have consistently benefited Carmel Valley and its residents.  This was most apparent with the remodel of the Del Mar Highlands Shopping Center.  It is a prime example of how residents clamor for these types of amenities.”

Moya: “Why not just build what is already entitled to the land?”
Leppert:  “If the developer builds what’s already entitled to the land, the community gets nothing other than more traffic.  The existing entitlement doesn’t have any significant obligations to further improve current or future traffic conditions like the proposed One Paso project does.   The traffic network currently in use today was built for commercial-use.  By building a commercial building with no additional retail, we will only add to the traffic. We’ll see more traffic come in at 8:00am and leave at 5:00pm.  ”

Moya: “How do you respond to traffic concerns being expressed by residents?”
Leppert: “The project provides mitigation for the added and existing traffic.  Del Mar Heights Road will improve with mitigation measures – potentially giving us better traffic conditions than we’re experiencing today.  As the design civil engineer, we will be involved with the entire mitigation process for the project and will be working directly with the traffic engineer to solve related issues.”

While John believes “that the community needs more,” he feels as if this can be achieved “without compromising facilities that are already in existence.”  Although John is just an opinion of one, he believes that “the Highlands Center and One Paseo can really complement each other, rather than be in competition with one another.”  Because “there will be different types of retail at both centers, consumers can go back and forth to both without feeling like one is a duplicate of the other and together they will make up what will be known as the heart of the community.”

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David A. Moya is a Carmel Valley San Diego community contributor and influencer for positive change.  As founder of The Carmel Valley Life he focuses on education, transparency and helping others find a voice for their passion.  During his earlier years, he fed his entrepreneurial spirit and founded a company focused on helping kids committed to peak performance.  David went on to pay for his BA in Finance through his real estate business and after graduating flew more than 30 flights to over 10 countries in order to master the art of communication and business.  Today, he enjoys creating value for his community by leading a movement of responsibility – one of sharing knowledge, stories and a helping hand.