Daily Business Report-Sept. 28, 2018
Newland Sierra development site. (Photo courtesy of Newland Communities)
Supervisors approve 2,135-home
project in North County
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 Wednesday to approve the Newland Sierra project that plans to build 2,135 homes, commercial space, parks, trails and a school site in North County along Interstate 15 near Escondido and San Marcos.
Supervisor Dianne Jacob was absent.
The Newland Sierra project is planned to be built just west of Interstate 15 and five miles north of state Route 78. It will include 1,140 single-family homes and 995 multi-family townhomes, all with solar rooftops, in seven neighborhoods.
The project will also feature a 58.3 acre town center, where 95 of the 995 townhomes will be built, along with 81,000 square feet of commercial space that the project’s representatives say will be anchored by a grocery store, and a six-acre school site.
The project will also include a 1,209-acre biological preserve, nearly 36 acres of public and private parks, and 19.2 miles of multi-use and community trails.
The project is also close to local transit, including the North County Transit District’s Sprinter rail line, and California State San Marcos and Palomar College. The project is expected to be built in two phases over approximately 10 years.
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More on Newland Sierra
By Ry Rivard | Voice of San Diego
The developent is pitched as one way to help fix the region’s housing crisis with more suburban homes.
While its opponents say the project would trounce on parts of San Diego’s backcountry, the project’s backers note it’s right along Interstate 15, an artery for commuters already going from coastal businesses to homes way out in the Inland Empire.
Developers have been eying that site for years. Nine years ago, the board rejected a similar development.
But, the fight to actually start construction and move people into new homes is far, far from over. Well-funded and determined opposition, which includes nearly every environmental group in the county, as well as a nearby luxury resort owned by one of the world’s richest families, will continue to hammer in court and potentially at the ballot box to modify, stall or kill the project.
The project’s immediate hurdles will likely involve a lawsuit over how it plans to offset greenhouse gases the new development will cause. It could also face challenges because of where it sits, near critical habitat that environmentalists want to preserve.
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Pay property taxes on new website:
nearly $1 million bills now available
San Diego County Treasurer-Tax Collector Dan McAllister announced a newly redesigned website, sdttc.com, where taxpayers can now find and pay their 2018-2019 property tax bills.
“The new website is based on analytics that helped us understand what taxpayers were searching for most online. Based on those findings, we reorganized and redesigned sdttc.com,” said McAllister. “We hope we’ve made it even easier to do business with our department online.”
This week, the Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office (TTC) also began mailing 998,298 printed bills.
“The number of parcels in San Diego County grew by 0.45 percent. Of the 4,477 new parcels, 25 percent of the increase was in new condos and 65 percent was single family homes,” said McAllister.
The total amount owed by property taxpayers is almost half a billion more than last year — $6.49 billion. Rising home prices are contributing to the increase. McAllister recommends going online to pay property taxes with a free e-check. About 60 percent of taxpayers now pay their bills electronically. The first property tax installment is due on Nov. 1, 2018, and becomes delinquent after Dec. 10, 2018. The second installment is due Feb. 1, 2019, and becomes delinquent after April 10, 2019.
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Scientists discover genetic basis
for how harmful algal blooms become toxic
A team led by scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) has uncovered the genetic basis for the production of domoic acid, a potent neurotoxin produced by harmful algal blooms. Harmful algal blooms cause significant economic and environmental damage to coastal communities around the world.
These blooms occasionally produce toxins that can sicken marine mammals and can threaten human health when the toxins accumulate in seafood. A high-dose exposure to domoic acid, produced by a type of phytoplankton known as diatoms in the genus Pseudo-nitzschia, can lead to amnesic shellfish poisoning, a potentially fatal condition characterized by seizures and short-term memory loss.
In a new study appearing in the Sept. 28 edition of Science, the team of UC San Diego and JCVI scientists identified a cluster of genes associated with production of the toxin domoic acid in the marine phytoplankton Pseudo-nitzschia.
By showing how the genes for domoic acid production are turned on in culture, the authors suggest a way to connect the oceanic conditions that drive algal bloom evolution to the development of toxin production.
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Airport recognized for carbon emissions reduction
San Diego International Airport’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint have been recognized by the global agency that enforces carbon standards for airports worldwide. The airport has been certified at “Level 3,” one of only 10 airports in North America to achieve this designation or higher from the Airports Council International’s Airport Carbon Accreditation program. The third-party verified program is a framework that helps airports identify, manage, and reduce their carbon emissions.
Level 3 certification acknowledges that the airport has gone beyond implementing a carbon management plan that reduces emissions under its control; and is now effectively partnering with airlines, concessions, and ground transportation operators to help them lower their emissions at the airport.
Examples of airport initiatives include creating a novel greenhouse gas reduction program for rideshare companies such as Lyft and Uber, launching “The Good Traveler” carbon offset program that has since been expanded nationally, and partnering with San Diego Gas & Electric to expand airport charging infrastructure for new electric-powered ground-service equipment under Senate Bill 350.
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Jim Madaffer elected board chair
of San Diego County Water Authority
New officers for the San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors were unanimously elected on Thursday, with Jim Madaffer starting his two-year term as board chair on Oct. 1.
Madaffer, vice chair of the board for the past two years as a representative from the city of San Diego, will serve with incoming Vice Chair Gary Croucher, a board representative from the Otay Water District, and incoming Secretary Christy Guerin from the Olivenhain Municipal Water District.
Mark Muir, who represents the San Dieguito Water District on the Water Authority’s Board, served as chair for the past two years. He was honored at the meeting for leading the Water Authority during an era of water supply reliability, continued promotion of water-use efficiency, the adoption of new technologies to improve agency operations, and significant legal victories against the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
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Personnel Announcements
William L. Coggshall III joins
Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani law office
Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani welcomes William L Coggshall, III as a partner in the firm’s San Diego office. Coggshall joins the firm’s Environmental/Toxic Tort practice group. Coggshall was previously with ArcherNorris law firm in Walnut Creek, Calif.
Coggshall represents individuals and businesses ranging in size from small sole proprietorships to large international corporations. He handles cases involving professional liability claims, construction litigation (defect, contract, delay claims), and high-exposure toxic tort litigation.
Coggshall represents some of the world’s largest infrastructure design companies. He has been successful in representing clients asserting affirmative claims such as unpaid contractual fee claims and lost business profit claims.
Coggshall is a member of the Defense Research Institute, Association of Defense Counsel, Contra Costa County Bar Association, AIA – East Bay and the Council on Litigation. He earned his law degree from Marquette University Law School and his undergraduate degree from San Jose State University.
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Terrence Tallen and Terry Aston named to policy board at USD
The Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate at the University of San Diego School of Business announced the appointment of Terrence Tallen and Terry Aston as the newest members to its policy advisory board. The board provides policy guidelines and financial support to the center and real estate students at USD.
Tallen is the founder and CEO of Tallen Capital Partners LLC, a privately held real estate investment, development and asset services company. He leads the company’s multidisciplinary approach of the acquisition, financing, entitlement and redevelopment of retail and mixed-use projects located throughout the Western and Midwestern United States.
Aston is a partner at San Diego Self Storage. He has been involved with the self-storage industry since 1996. He started his real estate career while attending UCLA as an undergraduate with a small residential development company. The self-storage business allowed him to focus on his real estate passion while also focusing on the retail business aspects of the self-storage industry.
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Paul Broussard joins Cavignac & Associates
Cavignac & Associates, a downtown San Diego-based risk management and insurance brokerage firm, has hired Paul Broussard as an account executive.
In his new position, Broussard will have dual roles serving both in Cavignac & Associates’ Professional Liability Department and as a small business consultant for the firm. In the former, he is charged with maintaining existing professional liability client relationships, handling renewals and prospecting for new sales leads. In the later, he will service small- to mid-size accounts, maintaining and renewing existing relationships and generating new business for the firm.
Broussard brings to Cavignac & Associates five years of experience in the risk management and insurance industry. Most recently, he served as an account executive for Risk & Insurance Consultants Inc., in Atlanta, Ga., where he was employed for two years and advised that firm’s clients on their risk management and insurance programs.
For three years prior to that, he was a broker placement specialist for Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services in Baton Rouge, La. There he worked on a team responsible for putting in place property and casualty programs for the State of Louisiana and Louisiana State University.
