Undeveloped land in Ponto area of Carlsbad

South Carlsbad locals who have fought for years for a coastal park at Ponto Beach say this year will be a big one.

The Growth Management Committee, Carlsbad City Council, and California Coastal Commission are holding key meetings to determine the fate of the city's coastal open space.

But will it bring them at least a 6-7-acre park or, as some fear, just a "fancy sidewalk"?

The group known as People for Ponto has lobbied unsuccessfully to get the city to create Ponto Park by developing an 11-acre site at the corner of Carlsbad Boulevard and Avenida Encinas. The property was once approved for a mixed-use project, but that has never been built.

A report by the Trust for Public Land found in its 2023 parkscore that only 48 percent of Carlsbad residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park. In neighboring Encinitas, 68 percent of residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park.

But it's not just the number of parks or acreage (Carlsbad has 46 parks; Encinitas, 57). It's the uneven spread, residents complain.

Coastal South Carlsbad has no parks and no park acres, while North Carlsbad has 10 coastal parks and 37 park acres. All of the city's coastal parks belong to 38 percent of the city, according to Lance Schulte, a member of People for Ponto.

The nearest park to Ponto is Poinsettia, about 2.5 miles away and across 1-5.

Yet the city's proposed 94-acre Veteran's Memorial Park only about one mile from three other major city parks (zone 5 and the future Robinson Ranch and Hub parks).

"Saying Veteran's is the park to serve southwest, southeast and northeast Carlsbad families, when those families are upwards of six miles away on major commercial arterials that kids can't safely use, is false and unfair," Schulte said in a letter to the city.

At a recent city council meeting, recommendations made in a report for an update to the city's 1986 growth management plan were criticized by park proponents. The update is needed due to new state housing laws that left the plan's housing cap unenforceable. But the performance standards ignored key questions, said a member of Buena Vista Audubon Society.

There was no commitment to a park within walking distance of every neighborhood. No coastal access park in the entire southern half of the city. And where was the promise of 40 percent open space at build-out?

Carlsbad's growth management plan specifies that at least 40 percent of the city's 9,500 acres must be set aside for parks and open space.

Eric Larson, chair of the Carlsbad Tomorrow Growth Management Citizen's Committee, said five of the plan's 11 standards were kept as is, which included libraries and parks. Rather than new standards for parks, they came up with another option.

The existing standard is three acres of community park or special use area per 1,000 people.

"The committee is requesting the city council directs staff to evaluate the feasibility of creating and implementing a distance-based standard to any publicly accessible park," he said.

"We have this acreage standard throughout the city. Some people feel that's great, we've got the acreage, but I still have to get in my car to drive to a park. Or it takes me 30 minutes pushing a stroller to get to the park."

According to the city’s 2017 and 2020 Sea Level Rise Report, Ponto will eventually lose over 32 acres of high-priority coastal land use due to erosion and flooding.

Officials say they are studying plans to realign South Carlsbad Boulevard, which would create 50 acres. When all the major new development in Carlsbad is complete, they say, the city will contain nearly 40 percent open space - an area almost eight times the size of Balboa Park.