Lowe’s submits plans to build Poway store

The Lowe’s home improvement chain has formally submitted plans to build a new store on Poway Road.

The
company proposes to build a 121,000-square-foot store, a
31,658-square-foot garden center and a 4,500-square-foot fast-food
restaurant pad on 11 acres on the north side of Poway Road where Toyota
of Poway and a auto repair shop and former Chevrolet dealership now
stand.

A preliminary plot plan was submitted by Lowe’s in May.
The company last week turned in six sets of plans, a 366-page draft
traffic impact study and other related documents. The applicant’s
representative also paid $6,566 in city fees.

Assuming city approval, Lowe’s projects a January 2012 store opening.

Bob
Manis, the city’s development services director, said Thursday his
staff will spend the next month or so reviewing the documents to make
sure the application is complete. He said that once all items have been
submitted, the staff will determine whether the proposed use will
require the preparation of an environmental impact report. If required,
the preparation of the report could take up to a year, Manis said.

Stavros plans run for Poway mayor

Poway Mayor Don Higginson will be challenged in November by 24-year
resident Nick Stavros, who on Tuesday took out nomination papers.

Meanwhile, appointed Councilman Carl Kruse has become the first
candidate to qualify for the election by returning his papers. Recently
elected Councilman John Mullin is expected to do the same before the 5
p.m. Aug. 5 filing deadline. Also expected to return their papers are
Higginson and council challenger Dave Grosch.

Voters will elect a mayor and two council members in November.

Stavros, 59, ran unsuccessfully for council in 2002 and 2004. In each race he received about 25 percent of the votes cast.

Ceremony Monday will start Poway Veterans Park work

A groundbreaking ceremony for the long-awaited Poway Veterans Park will
be held at 10 a.m. Monday on land northeast of Midland Road and Adrian
Street.

The event will be hosted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion and the Navy Fleet Reserve, and the Elks Club.

Plans call for construction will begin in early August and be
completed in time for a dedication at 11 a.m. on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

Poway city officials say that although construction bids for the
park came in higher than expected, sufficient funds are available to
build the long-awaited park.

The City Council on Tuesday night awarded a construction contract to
Palm Engineering Construction Inc. of San Diego. The firm was the
lowest of nine bidders, offering to build the park for $384,000. Other
bids ranged from $424,095 to $569,869.

Poway to change water rate schedule

The City of Poway will abandon its controversial five-tiered water rate
structure in favor of a two-tiered plan that essentially returns
customers to flat-rate system.

Meeting for nearly three hours Tuesday night on the subject, the
City Council said that all customers should pay the cost of providing
water to their homes and that while the five-tiered schedule was a good
idea at the time, it wasn’t fair that higher water users — those living
on bigger lots — should be subsidizing the bills of lower users.

A dozen people spoke during the meeting, with nearly all of them
supporting a return to a flat-rate charge, which the city had until the
tiered-rate system was adopted last fall.

Assuming the new plan is adopted following a state-required public
hearing on Oct. 5, the city will charge $4.02 per unit (748 gallons) to
every residential customer using 199 or fewer units every two months.
The current basic rate is $3.80 per unit. The basic rate is the
break-even amount the city says it needs to provide water to homes and
businesses.

Poway mayor, recall candidate running in November

Add the names of appointed Poway Mayor Don Higginson and June recall
election candidate Dave Grosch to the list of candidates running in
November.

City Clerk Linda Troyan said Higginson took out
nomination papers last Thursday and that Grosch did the same, to run for
City Council, on Monday.

Higginson, a 24-year council member who
was the city’s elected mayor between 1992 and 1998, announced his plans
to seek a four-year term in March. He was appointed mayor in May 2009
following the death of Mayor Mickey Cafagna.

Higginson has lived
in Poway for 45 years and graduated from Poway High School. He is a
senior vice president for Mail Boxes, Etc. a subsidiary of UPS.

To
date, no one has taken out papers to run against Higginson. Earlier
this year Councilwoman Merrilee Boyack said she had changed her mind and
would not challenge him.

Poway Walmart report delayed; Council hearing in March?

A revised schedule now calls for the Poway City Council to possibly
consider the proposed expansion of the community’s Walmart store in
March of next year.

That represents a pushback of eight months
from the city’s initial estimate of last year that hearings would be
held this month.

“Assuming that all goes well with the second
draft (of the project’s Environmental Impact Report), we expect to have a
45-day review period begin in late-October,” said Bob Manis, the city’s
development services department director. “The neighborhood meetings
will occur during the public review period. With time to respond to
public comments received during the public review period, and to prepare
the final EIR, we are anticipating a public hearing in early March
2011.”

Walmart is proposing to expand its Poway store on
Community Road from 142,955 square feet to 179,933 square feet. The
expansion, downsized in August 2009 by 17,937 square feet, would include
the addition of fresh produce, a meat department, deli and bakery,
turning the store into a “Supercenter.” The company has reportedly
dropped plans to operate the store 24 hours a day.

Ruling: Poway recall committee complied with local, state laws

The special counsel hired by the City of Poway to investigate a
citizen’s claims that the Recall Rexford committee violated election
laws has concluded the committee broke no city or state laws.

City Manager Penny Riley said Wednesday morning that while attorney
Jodi L. Doucette had originally determined that one of several alleged
violations claimed by Poway resident Adam Sullivan was valid, she
changed her mind after the committee submitted new information.

Doucette’s previous recommendation that the committee be fined
$1,000 has also been withdrawn, Riley said Wednesday.

Last week Doucette concluded that committee members Steve Vaus and
Cynthia Maher were wrong in not disclosing on campaign statements the
names and amounts paid to two people they employed to circulate recall
petitions in an attempt to place on the June 8 ballot the question of
whether Betty Rexford should be recalled from office.

Lawsuit settled, Poway mobilehome home park sold

The City of Poway closed escrow Monday on the sale of the Poway Royal
Estates Mobilehome Park after settling a lawsuit filed by a tenant for
$50,0000.

The 51-acre, 399-space park was sold to Hometown America for $38.3
million.

Conditions of the sale require that no park rents be increased until
January 2013 or until the buyer completes about $1 million in park
improvements, whichever comes later. All current leases, including
agreed-upon provisions for minimum and maximum annual rent increases,
will be honored and cannot be changed for as long as the tenant remains
in the park. Leases for new tenants can be set at market rates but will
contain a provision saying that increases will range between 3 and 5.5
percent annually.

Poway water, sewer rates to be reviewed July 20

A water-rate increase, changes to the city’s five-tiered water rate
structure and a sewer-rate decrease will be discussed during a July 20
Poway City Council workshop session.

A city consultant recommends that the current basic water rate of
$3.80 per unit (748 gallons) be increased by 7.9 percent, to $4.10. The
basic rate is the break-even amount city says it needs to provide water
to homes and businesses.

The increase would take effect in January and reflects still another
increase in the rate charged the city by the San Diego County Water
Authority. Rates have climbed 40 percent over the past 18 months.

Up for discussion by the council will be whether it should bill for
water usage based on a five-tiered rate structure or consider a lesser
number of tiers or perhaps a return to the previous system of charging
all uses the same amount per unit. The tiers, or “blocks,” were
established last summer in part to encourage water conservation and went
into effect last fall.

Mullin joins Poway City Council

With a roomful of family and friends looking on, John Mullin was sworn
in Tuesday night as the newest member of the City Council.

Fifteen
minutes prior to the 7 p.m. meeting start, City Clerk Linda A. Troyan
received the official documents from the county Registrar of Voters
certifying that Mullin had won the June 8 election.

Mullin
defeated seven other candidates to replace Councilwoman Betty Rexford,
who was recalled from office during the same election. It was the city’s
first recall election.

The final vote had Mullin defeating
second-place finisher Steve Vaus by 103 votes. Absentee and provisional
ballots had to be counted before the final results could be certified by
the county.

Mullin, 61, the owner of a painting contracting
business, thanked his supporters for the “positive energy” they brought
to the campaign and said he wants to put election behind him. As member
of the council, Mullin said he would like to “return to the tradition of
working proactively” on the city’s issues.