Thursday, January 9, 2025

Response to Carry Downey & PROP H

Mr Editor:

I would like to address Ms. Downey statements, with respect to the police power of the Coronado City Government. We do not live in a socialist environment in this town, so the taking of ones property by Eminent Domain is a very serious and important matter to a property owner and the government entity taking the land. To be effective and functional, it needs to have careful consideration and implementation of laws, notices, plans and fair value paid to property owners who lose their properties through this taking process.

If one has bought property recently in Coronado, there are a few things you may what to know. On the other hand if you purchased property in Coronado years ago, it’s certain that the possibility of a tunnel near your home was never disclosed to you as a possibility. Either way, there are surprises in store for you.

State law requires that Cities prepare and adopt a “Comprehensive Long Range General Plan” which shall serve as a guide in land use decisions. Its considered the jurisdictions “Constitution”. This plan is a legal requirement to educate prospective buyers of potential risks and changes planned for their property or neighboring parcels.

Interestingly, many prospective buyers in Coronado do not have a clue that a tunnel project lurks in the shadows of their purchase of property. Who are the potential purchasers and current property owners of land subject to Eminent Domain? Who disclosed the possibility of a tunnel to the purchasers of property that closed their deals in the past 6 months? The Coronado General Plan does NOT DISCLOSE anything to potential buyers for plans of a tunnel in the city. The Coronado General Plan fails to provide any legal support for the actions by Council to study and implement a tunnel project.
According to the City of Coronado’s on line description, the Coronado General Plan is expanded into a ” Comprehensive Plan”. Unfortunately, the “Comprehensive Plan” has been only partly written by a consultant in 1995. If City Council claims to have the authority to act to proceed with the tunnel, then they should follow the law and change the “General Plan” or the consults devised “Comprehensive Plan”, to reflect the will of the people. Our elected officials have a duty to the residents and prospective buyers to disclose the truth and not obfuscate it with hyperbole. If the tunnel is a planned possibility then property purchasers should be made aware of the risk they are purchasing into in this city. Remember, it is the Councils obligation to protect the health, safety and welfare of it’s residents.
If you are concerned about losing your property through Eminent Domain, or you are living next to the property that is taken, then you may want to ask your public officials for an explanation. Better yet, ask a realtor or the person who sold you your property, as they are required to make known disclosures to purchasers. With respect to Ms. Downey’s 3 statements, about what Coronado did not do, they are all true. She is right about the traffic needing to go somewhere, so take a look at the General Plan and see what is says about funding a tunnel through Coronado. You will find that there are no details and that Coronado has NOT secured any funding from the State (SANDAG) or any other source since the voters tasked them to find funding in 1998. Coronado merely has the promise of Conditional funding, or the promise of Future funding IF AND ONLY IF Coronado can finance a tunnel. The State HAS NOT given it’s support for a tunnel in Coronado. You have a place at the table and a right to participate in the workings of your government, you just need to participate at the local level and communicate your ideas, thoughts and concerns to your local elected officials.
To those of you that want the tunnel, you need to show through your votes that you will finance the project and must demand it be included it in the General Plan. There is an obligation to disclose to those that will be effected by this action, it is the right thing to do. Until that happens, everything is just talk and a huge waste of money. Just like the money already spent on tunnel studies and those planned for in the future.
I strongly urge all residents and prospective buyers to read the “Coronado General Plan” and then ask questions to your mayor and council members. Hold them accountable for the potential taking and disclosures on your property. If you don’t ask, they won’t tell.
If General Plans are a means to assuring better long range planning, then why isn’t the tunnel mentioned in the transportation or traffic circulation element of the Coronado General Plan”?
Please vote NO on Prop H to preserve your rights in the Coronado General Plan. The Plan you thought that you were buying into when you purchased your property.
Terry Escala



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