Several weeks ago an article was written in The Coast News about a beehive found on private HOA property that was that was mistakenly destroyed rather than being moved. The article failed to tell the complete story and the community feels compelled to respond about the importance of the environment and climate change to our overall objectives and strategies.
The fact is that the community’s policy is to always relocate honey bees and not killed. In this particular situation the directions given to the previous community manager at NN Jaeschke were not followed.
Encinitas Ranch works extremely hard to support the environment and sustainability efforts. In just the past five years alone the community completed the following actions:
- Developed and implemented a large complex project to convert the use of potable water for irrigating all common areas in the south mesa. This was done in partnership with the City of Encinitas, the San Elijo Joint Powers Authority and the Encinitas Ranch Golf Course. This is saving over 50-acre feet of potable water, ensures that the community will be able to continue to provide irrigation water even during a serious drought and saves over 20% in the cost of water. This represented one of the largest recycled water projects in north county San Diego history.
- The community was one of the first to eliminate the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in support of a city ordinance adopted in 2019. Since then, BrightView, our landscape contractor also eliminated the use of gas-powered lawnmowers and edgers.
- Implemented and installed a completely automated smart irrigation system that allows our landscaper to monitor the environment and manage the entire irrigation system remotely. This is saving the community more than 10% in annual water usage and costs.
- Our tree trimming team is constantly on the look out for birds nesting and will avoid any trimming during active nesting season. As one example, they waited over six months to trim a number of eucalyptus trees to avoid harming a hawk’s nest.
- In 2019 the City of Encinitas awarded the Encinitas Ranch Community Association with their annual Environmental Award program for significant contributions to environmental efforts:
The Landscaping Committee meets regularly and all landscape maintenance and enhancements are reviewed to ensure we mitigate any potential negative effects on the environment. If they discover any problems, they will delay or change the plans. Any owner is welcome to attend their monthly walkthroughs held at 9 AM on the third Tuesday of each month. Please contact Sandy Gallagher, the chair of the committee, at [email protected] for more details.