Newsflash:
FOA Board
Respond to City with Suggestions for Proposed Bridges / PonteBello Development
Press Release: FOA Carlsbad Citizen‟s Group Recommends Changes To Proposed Development Threatening Aviara Environment and Community
In the News:
"Wine Tasting To Support Friends Of Aviara -- Oct 23 -- Get Your Tickets Now"
FOA fights the building of a Big Box Store in South Carlsbad... Watch the Video
"FOA: Undoing Carlsbad's Anti-Big Box Rules Threatens Carlsbad's Way Of Life"
Membership:
Friends of aviara
In 2009, developers of the PonteBello project (formerly The Bridges at Aviara) and the City of Carlsbad unveiled a proposal to build assisted living facilities on two sites adjacent and northeast of the Aviara Oaks Middle & Elementary Schools.
The 15-plus buildings split between two campuses would accommodate 428-units at one site along Poinsettia plus a minimum of 76 affordable housing units on the corner of Ambrosia and Conoso – making it one of the largest, most ambitious such facilities in the nation.
Because the proposal is not in compliance with the planned community and zoning standards that have governed development of Carlsbad over the last decades, the property would have to be rezoned from low-density, single family housing to high-density, multi-unit housing. This would allow the parcels to accommodate semi-commercial operations. The project effectively creates an island of commercial activity surrounded by single-family neighborhoods, schools, parks, previously preserved open space and environmentally sensitive areas.
In December 2009, the Carlsbad City Council began removing obstacles to the development by approving changes to the 2005—2010 Housing Element, and specifically pledged to the state that affordable housing units in the PonteBello project would be used to meet the state’s low-income and affordable housing goals. According to Carlsbad’s senior city planner, the inclusion in the Housing Element gives the PonteBello project “the presumption of validity.”
