Dear Friends of Rose Creek, the Rose Creek Watershed and other open spaces in San Diego,
San Diego Canyonlands has spent three years of mapping and planning, including a year-long public-vetting process to dedicate community open space as parkland. City Council is poised to dedicate at least 6,558 acres of our precious canyons and open space on Tues. Nov. 27 at 2:00PM, City Council Chambers, 202 C Street. However, City Staff has failed to recommend another 5,000 acres that were proposed by San Diego Canyonlands.
We need you there to show strong support. We are asking you to show up, sign a speakers slip and then turn over your time to Eric Bowlby of San Diego Canyonlands.
Rose Creek has a number of parcels proposed for dedication including almost 19 acres from Mission Bay Drive down stream to Grand Avenue and Mission Bay Park. This beautiful stretch of riparian habitat and salt marsh is very popular with birds, joggers, bicyclists and dog walkers. The stretch of Rose Creek along Santa Fe Street extending south from the end of Morena and continuing south of Jutland Drive was also proposed for dedication. This is a beautiful section of the creek with large trees and year around water flow.
THE BAD NEWS IS THAT CITY STAFF HAVE NOT INCLUDED THESE PARCELS in their official recommendations.
Councilmember Kevin Faulconer previously expressed support for challenging any attempt to leave these sections of Rose Creek out of the parkland dedication. The time is now to let him know we are not happy about city staff recommendations and ask him to support dedication in spite of the absence of recommendation. The Land Use and Housing Committee felt these areas were important for bicycle paths as well as linear parks.
Councilmember Faulconer can be reached by phone (619) 236-6622, fax (619) 236-6996 or email kevinfaulconer@sandiego.gov– please contact him this weekend by phone, fax or email and plan on coming out to the meeting.
The stretch of Rose Creek along Santa Fe Street may be considered to be in Councilmember Lori Zapf’s district (the maps seem to split right through the creek). Councilmember Zapf can be reached by phone (619) 236-6616 , fax (619) 236-7329 or email loriezapf@sandiego.gov. Please contact her and ask for her support.
***** TALKING POINTS *****
- Please support dedication of all parcels along Rose Creek despite the absence of a recommendation by City Staff as to the best of our knowledge, no City Staff have come out against the dedication.
- Rose Creek is a critical link from Rose Canyon Open Space Park and Marian Bear Natural Park to Mission Bay Park for bicyclists, joggers and wildlife.
- Parcels proposed for dedication include critical habitat for migratory waterfowl and should be managed to enhance these resources. Parkland dedication is highly congruent with natural resource management.
- Despite jurisdictional issues, Rose Creek functions as a heavily used park in the community and should be treated as such.
- The section downstream from Mission Bay Drive is in the Coastal Zone and subject to Coastal Commission approval for any actions not consistent with preserving and protecting our precious coastal wetlands.
*** END TALKING POINTS ***
There are other parcels outside of Rose Creek that have also been excluded. If you have concerns about what land is or isn’t cleared for dedication in your community, please email or fax your city council representative this weekend, so he/she sees the level of community concern regarding this issue when they arrive in the office on Monday. Please call your city council representative on Monday and let them know why protecting open space in your neighborhood is of critical importance.
Open spaces in our neighborhoods contribute greatly to our quality of life factor.
For more information on the project, visit http://sdcanyonlands.org/news-category/192-open-space-dedication-nearly-complete
For the official city docket on this topic, see http://dockets.sandiego.gov/sirepub/pubmtgframe.aspx?meetid=1701&doctype=Agenda
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