Capri Elementary’s school community banded together for a massive garden project on campus, with students and volunteers working for more than a year to transform empty space into a habitat for native plants that would attract butterflies and birds. It’s already attracted a giant lizard.
The lizard is a wooden sculpture hewn from a log of Monterey Cypress. It was crafted by local artist Tim Richards — well known in Encinitas for — and his son, Justin Ames. Capri parent coordinator Susan Addams had seen Richards’ wood carvings at the Encinitas Library and asked him to help with the project. “My son and I, who had been wanting to carve something big together…decided on a lizard because it would fit in with the garden theme. Plus, it could double as a bench,” says Richards. The design was based on the California Fence Lizard, which is common in the area, as well as a photo of a lizard eating a bee. Richards and Ames put in about 60 hours combined on the volunteer project, in which they used gas chain saws and electric angle grinders, with the electricity provided by neighbor Greg Johnson.
“It was a lot of fun,” Richards says.
The lizard lives among flowers, grasses, and fruit trees in the new garden, which was funded by grant money and community donations.
Pacific View Update
Ten firms have notified the Encinitas Union School District of their interest to submit a development proposal for the Pacific View school site, and the district has extended the registration deadline to Nov. 25. Here are the 10 submissions received last week, according to district documents:
- Sanderling Waldorf School — The Encinitas-based school is interested in leasing the property.
- Finest City Realty Advisors Inc. — The San Diego company specializes in the development of medical offices and light industrial centers.
- Lennar Homes of California — The Aliso Viejo company specializes in residential and mixed-use development.
- City Ventures — This company is a San Diego-based homebuilder.
The following three parties have indicated they are in the process of forming a development team for the proposal:
- Harley Ellis Devereaux, an architecture and engineering firm.
- Global CRES, a Carlsbad-based real estate services firm.
- Colrich Residential LLC, A San Diego company.
The last three businesses indicated their interest in joining a development team and are open to being matched with interested companies that could use their services:
- Guidia Surveying, an Irvine firm that specializes in land surveying and subdivision mapping.
- Morrison Workshop, a Leucadia planning and development management firm.
- Hostelling International USA, a San Diego nonprofit hostel operator and developer.
The deadline to submit a proposal is Jan. 4, 2012. The school district will consider sale, lease, development, or exchange of the 2.82-acre property, which was closed as a school site in 2003 due to declining enrollment. Members of the (DEMA) have proposed a cultural arts center for the site, and a Facebook group has sprung up in support of that idea.
