Overdevelopment ruins local beauty

Over development is destroying local habitats at an alarming rate.

Tosh Everett

A new neighborhood is built off of El Camino Real. Robertson Ranch is currently undergoing construction.

AJ Griffin, Assistant Editor

Everywhere you look, local land is being converted into retail, housing and hotels. This is causing our population to grow and develop on the land that once attracted people to this town. This town was founded with natural landscape in mind, however to the city, that’s the last thing they would like to focus on. The city will try to build on every square inch of property in Carlsbad. The city council tends to lead in favor of growth and development, when the majority of Carlsbad residents want it to stop.

These council members are pro-development in spite of what the general public believes. This council has a set amount of area they can build on. This is the city council’s growth management plan. Right now they have built 85 percent of this set land and have stayed very quiet about the other 15 percent  and what they will do with it. The city has a 40% open space plan for our city. Though when they build they almost seem to forget this statement. Although, they have not proven to the public how they will set this land aside. This was tested when the council tried to propose Proposition A; this proposition was planning to demolish the strawberry fields along the lagoon and build a mega mall. This area was a natural habitat all along the lagoon, which contradicts what they said about where they would build. This came into the public’s view and was put to a public vote where the majority voted no on Proposition A. This council is directly responsible for the future of all of Carlsbad.

This overdevelopment affects our schools, resources and overall beauty of the city. This overdevelopment affects our schools by increasing the number of residents, resulting in more students looking to attend our school, despite having a combined population of almost 4000 at both high schools. This is leading to overcrowded classes, a need for more staff, and a requirement for larger campuses. This is depleting city resources with more first responders needed to respond to emergencies, more teachers needed for the schools and more city workers needed to keep up with the demands of a growing city. This is all coming from city and state funds, which results in an increase in taxes. So the more we build, the higher the tax tends to be.

Also, this development is affecting the overall beauty and appearance of the city. When you hear the name Carlsbad, beaches and greenery come to mind. You do not think of hearing construction while at the beach, or having to take a detour while in the village, to get around a new hotel.  

Importantly, these developments are affecting the wildlife of our city; animals are struggling to find homes due to construction, fish are struggling to survive because of polluted lagoons and coyotes are coming out because they are being humanized. These effects in our city are affecting the animals that live with us. These animals are becoming more and more used to being around humans, therefore more dangerous because their not afraid of us. This is causing attacks on our animals that were once allowed to be in our backyards that are now being confined to our homes. From animals to rise at increasing rates. I believe that this development is eliminating their habitats, thus causing attacks on the general public and our animals.   

The growth of Carlsbad has caused our roads to fill up with drivers to the point where it may be necessary to expand certain streets. We have an absurd number of drivers on our roads, which causes accidents, traffic and all around frustration. All that we would have to do is limit the growth of Carlsbad as a city and stop developing to combat these struggles.  

Overall, growth and development is important to a point; however, the city of Carlsbad has hit that point. When you start detracting from what made people come to Carlsbad in the first place, you might have to reconsider what’s best for the whole city. We as a city need to stand strong against the constant growth, and by voicing our opinions to the city, we are able to do that. One way or another we need to stop this, it is ruining our town.