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Stories by Sheila Pell

Encinitas struggles with Hwy 101 crossing

To build a long-imagined South Coast Highway 101 pedestrian crosswalk, Encinitas officials are leaning towards a road diet and median, while not ruling out options that include two travel lanes in each direction.The Encinitas city …

Is San Diego losing war on plastics?

It isn’t just plastic bags, butts and balloons littering the coast. Dock bumpers, debris booms and sandbags shed plastic, too.The California Coastal Commission will vote this week on new guidance cities can use in their coastal development …

November 4, 2025
City of San Diego threatens landlords for all the fees

San Diegans are being hit with all kinds of fees just to rent a home, and the city wants to lay down some laws. “These fees may be arbitrary, excessive, and opaque,” a recent report …

October 28, 2025
Imperial Beach will try living levee

Despite rising fears about rising sea levels, some bayside communities are trying to attract more shoreline development. Imperial Beach, which may face some of the region’s greatest risks from sea-level rise, is tackling coastal adaptation …

City of San Diego casts cold eye on Paradise Point

Paradise Point Resort in Mission Bay is facing more scrutiny of its latest proposed remodel, which includes over 100 modifications.In a letter to the coastal commission, which postponed a vote on a coastal development permit …

Pine Hill Egg Ranch in Ramona has to watch its waste water

A chicken factory farm in Ramona is being ordered by regulators to manage its waste better. To some of its neighbors, the new plan amounts to an expansion of operations at Pine Hill Egg Ranch, …

October 7, 2025
Hare Krishnas move into semi-rural Escondido

A Hindu temple in northeastern Escondido, 25 years in the works, is one step closer to approval. The planning commission last week voted 4-1 to recommend it to the city council. It’s a smaller version …

National City really, really doesn't want you to smoke or vape

It’s the twilight years for tobacco stores in National City, where the city council narrowly approved an ordinance last week that bans new permits for such businesses within 1,000 feet of schools.In the small city, …

September 23, 2025
Santee, Carlsbad, Encinitas, La Jolla go after underage e-bike riders

Kids like bikes and kids like tech, so it stands to reason that kids would love e-bikes. But as the accidents pile up, it's becoming clear that grownups don't love kids on e-bikes. They fume …

Is El Camino Real so dangerous?

It’s been delay after delay for the proposed Sage Canyon apartments in New Encinitas. Now, the 102-unit project located at the southeast corner of El Camino Real and Sage Canyon Drive is stalled again, this …

September 9, 2025
Leucadia expels the non-natives

In Leucadia Oaks Park, over a former flower field, the city of Encinitas plans to grow a native plant garden that will teach residents how to achieve similar results in their own yards.Last week, the …

Chicken-friendlier National City

In a move that could help with food insecurity, the National City city council has introduced an ordinance to allow up to 12 chicken hens per 1000 square feet on single-family zoned lots. If passed, …

Santee sizes up its subarea

Santee has taken almost three decades to come up with a citywide plan to protect its open space, putting it behind Poway, San Diego, La Mesa and Chula Vista. But earlier this month, the city …

August 19, 2025
Side street speedsters pose problem in El Cajon

El Cajon drivers have found a way to avoid idling at certain busy intersections and stoplights: just take a side street. They use Dorothy Street to cut from Jamacha to Washington, avoiding the intersection of …

August 12, 2025
Why not put the Pangaea Sports Complex east of I-5?

A major sporting venue proposed for the Chula Vista bayfront promises jobs, tourists, local visitors, and recreation — but what will it bring to the Bay itself? Environmental advocates fear the answer to that question …

Could El Cajon vote for fourth time on cooperation with ICE?

Nine protesters showed up at the El Cajon city council meeting last week to demand the city roll back a resolution that allows police to cooperate with federal immigration officials.While that is a much smaller number …

July 29, 2025
County loses State Supreme Court appeal over rural traffic measurements

The county has lost another round in its long battle with environmental groups over the way it measures the traffic generated by rural developments. This time, it was a ruling by the California Supreme Court, making …

July 22, 2025
Downtown La Mesa's parking crunch

Big changes are coming to La Mesa’s downtown village district, where hundreds of new apartments are expected to reshuffle traffic, including the stationary kind.Where everyone will park was more of a concern at last week’s …

July 15, 2025
Del Mar wants the views – but also the Torrey Pines and Monterey Cypresses

Del Mar’s embattled tree ordinance — which aims to save not only trees, but also scenic views and sunlight — is finally getting an overhaul.The Trees, Scenic Views, and Sunlight ordinance hasn’t been revised in …

July 8, 2025
Paradise Valley Road orphans fighting AT&T

Everyone wants what the service cell towers provide – as long as the tower isn’t next door.In coastal towns like La Jolla and Encinitas, home dwellers have been scoring victories over projects proposed near homes, …

Carlsbad backtracking on fake grass?

Tucked into Carlsbad’s budget approved last week is funding to replace its synthetic turf fields. Another goal for next year is ramping up the city’s sustainability efforts. But it seems those two things are at …

June 24, 2025
The end of San Diego's sandy beaches?

San Diego’s coastal resiliency master plan, a major pilot project that favors nature over armor to protect beaches from flooding and erosion, is entering phase two, with many details still to work out. But one …

Appellate court rules against Cal Fire plan to clear chaparral

For decades, a debate has raged over how best to balance the desire to preserve California's threatened chaparral and coastal sage scrub plants while at the same time mitigating the risk of deadly fires fueled …

June 10, 2025
City proposes longer hours for cannabis dispensaries

To make up for revenue lost to declining cannabis sales, the city raised taxes on the businesses starting in May. Now, in an effort to help dispensaries increase revenue, and also help close the city's …

June 3, 2025
City's trees need green

Almost every community in San Diego has seen an increase in tree canopy over the last decade, officials say. The latest analysis of the city’s urban forest has found that as of fall 2021, overall …

May 28, 2025
San Diego squid boom lasts three weeks

It was not the average “big bang” squid run off La Jolla last fall, as scientists sometimes call it when the normally large spawning groups turn up in extra large numbers. And while breeding typically …

Escondido extends ban on new battery sites

Escondido’s moratorium on new battery storage sites will stay in place. What began as a temporary pause after a fire last October was extended in November for up to 10 months and 15 days.At a …

Dust up – UC researchers sound the alarm

A new report by University of California researchers warns that it’s time to get serious about dust storms. Historical records suggest the state’s dust emissions are now higher than ever, while the forecast points to increasing dustiness …

Carlsbad faces grumbling over water rate hikes

Carlsbad residents pay less for water than other cities around the county, but rates are about to jump. A 20 percent increase in July will add $25.30 to the average customer bill, with more to …

April 29, 2025
San Diego bus drivers can now get $78K – but is it enough?

Too many bus drivers are taking the off ramp to easier jobs, transit officials say. San Diego Metropolitan Transit System's hardest job to fill currently has 24 vacancies.The majority say they're leaving for less demanding …

April 22, 2025
Slow bike riders vs. fast ones in Cardiff-Solana Beach stretch

To encourage cycling and walking on scenic highway 101, Encinitas built a protected bike lane along the north and southbound shoulders between Chesterfield Drive in Cardiff and Solana Beach to the south.October 5, 2024Soon after …

Del Mar: bikes and e-bikes – stay off sidewalks and streets where we tell you

Since the pandemic, e-bikes have been a growing share of the transportation mix of objects moving at different speeds on roads, trails, and sidewalks. Riders of all experience levels jostle and merge — or try …

Court rejects San Diego County's transportation plan

The county has lost again in a battle brought by environmental groups over its transportation guidelines for new development.On March 28, California's Fourth District Court of Appeals reversed a Superior Court of San Diego County …

April 1, 2025
No clustered housing for South Moro Hills

In a 3-2 vote, the Oceanside city council agreed last week to completely halt consideration of clustered housing in South Morro Hills, the city's last remaining farmland.A community plan for the 3,500-acre agricultural region in …

March 25, 2025
Encinitas carries the war beyond plastic straws

Eat out — but don't throw it out. That's what the city of Encinitas has tried to encourage when it comes to dining and plastic leftovers.However, the city's ban on styrofoam and plastic straws in …

San Pasqual – an Eden for San Diego's homeless

As San Diego weighs new options to replace scrapped plans for a 1,000-bed homeless shelter in Middletown, there's another idea not being considered by the city that offers to "end homelessness in 100 days." The idea …

Forget about coral bells

San Diego native plant gardeners take note: Heuchera sanguinea, commonly known as coral bells, no longer belongs in your plot.The popular clump-forming perennial named for its bell-shaped flowers has been removed from the California Native …

March 4, 2025
Imperial Beach anguish – so much for the birdwatching

The new building at 951 Seacoast Drive is touted as a public amenity for everything from ocean-view dining to yoga and birdwatching tours.But to many neighbors of the two-story commercial building, which sits across the …

February 25, 2025
The infill urge comes to Dove Court

The planning commission last week voted to initiate an amendment to the Uptown Community Plan that opens the door for a developer's project — but only a crack."It's just a way to turn over facts," …

February 19, 2025
Cow days re-surface in Cleveland National Forest

Starting next summer, more cows may be foraging in an area of Cleveland National Forest where grazing has been sporadic and unpermitted since the 2003 Cedar Fire. The proposed Sill Hill grazing allotment near the Cha’chaany …

February 11, 2025
Alpine park – too much for checkerspot butterfly and spadefoot toad?

A draft habitat conservation plan has been released for what will be Alpine's first county park — unless a lawsuit filed against the county last month stops it in its tracks. The $43-million-dollar project includes …

Will San Diegans trim their trees right?

There's something missing in San Diego's fire prevention arsenal, say advocates of a little-known practice called silviculture. It's a fuel reduction method that draws on techniques to thin and manage forests, such as trimming the sides …

San Marcos older set says no to less aged trailer tenants

The San Marcos city council last week agreed to extend a moratorium to prevent converting senior mobile home parks to all ages.First passed on Dec. 2, the urgency ordinance was set to expire, and residents …

January 21, 2025
Will Del Mar move the train to I-5 – for 4 billion?

Del Mar, the city that will be most affected by the relocation of the train tracks away from its eroding bluffs, is steeling itself for the release of a new study of possible routes.To date, …

Fight over bike safety re-ignites in Encinitas

As the new year begins, so do the car-bike collisions. Encinitas, the city that in 2023 declared a local emergency over bike safety after multiple serious and fatal crashes, was first.On January 1 just before …

Pancho Villa Farmers Market ends 20-year run

A favorite stop for handmade tortillas in North Park is closing its doors next month."The tortillas are the gold you seek," reads one review of Pancho Villa Farmers Market. Online forums overflow with praise for …

Oceanside toughens up Harbor Beach

Oceanside beaches will all have the same fire ring hours starting next year. A curfew unanimously approved by the Oceanside City Council last week includes Harbor Beach for the first time.The ordinance is "one of …

December 24, 2024
East San Diego County has only one bike lane

In North San Diego County, s lot of bike and pedestrian safety features are in the works. The same can't be said for the East County, where there is only one protected bike lane, according …

National City to junk permissive land-use code

Short term rentals are illegal in National City, but at any given time the city estimates there are at least 125-200 in operation.Without an ordinance to regulate them, officials have been fielding complaints about parking …

San Diego seawalls depend on Half Moon Bay case

A lawsuit that had beachfront property owners feeling hopeful about relying on seawalls to protect their homes is leaning the other way — upholding limits on coastal armor.The fight between homeowners and the California Coastal …

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