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About Calavera Hills - Calavera Hills is a wonderful place to live.
We have gorgeous homes, well-tended neighborhood parks, great schools, an
attractive community center - home to summertime jazz concerts and
year-round sports and activities - the Calavera Nature Preserve, with hiking
trails and a lake, and all conveniently located within a couple minutes of
shopping and I78.
To get a better view of Calavera Hills, click on the
following link and take the
Calavera Hills
Community Virtual
Tour.
You may not be aware that our beautiful little corner
of Carlsbad is the culmination of over 30 years of planning and development.
The original master plan was first approved in 1974 by the Carlsbad Planning
Commission and has slowly taken shape as more and more villages have been
built. The map below will provide you a guide to the different
areas of the Calavera Hills Master Plan. |
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The original master plan has several important goals outlined
that helped to create what we have today. They are:
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Preserve the significant environmental resources and
existing topographic character of the area.
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Create and maintain an open space network (i.e.
pedestrian and bicycle trails) which links neighborhoods within the Master
Plan and to the surrounding areas.
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Create a variety of single family and multi-family
neighborhoods interspersed with natural open space corridors.
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Ensure that public facilities and services that serve
the Master Plan Community meet or exceed applicable city standards and
requirements.
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Create an attractive, buffered circulation system
that provides for the safety needs of automobiles, bicyclists and
pedestrians.
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Provide a fair share of affordable housing and
community facilities.
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Provide a biological habitat link from east to west
in order to adequately mitigate for impacts to the California Gnatcatcher
and other species, consistent with current habitat conservation efforts.
Construction began in the early 1980s and with the
extension of Tamarack Avenue east of El Camino Real, providing access to
Villages A, B, C, and D. By the end of the 1980s approximately 1100 homes,
Calavera Hills Community Park and Hope Elementary School had been built.
By this stage the theme of the development had been established and which holds
true today: urban villages set amongst large areas of open space while
preserving the natural topography and habitat.
There were several important requirements written into the
original Master Plan having to do with affordable housing, open space,
community facilities, schools, community parks and RV
storage.
Affordable housing - Overall, 15% of the homes
built within the Master Plan community were to be affordable to lower-income
families. This is a city-wide requirement.
Open Space - preservation and enhancement of open
space was an important part of the Master Plan. Overall, including the
preserve Village Z, approximately 470 acres (46% of the 1019 acres in the
Calavera Hills Master Plan) was left as open space. This includes habitat
preserves, environmental mitigation areas, recreation areas, riparian habitats,
natural slopes, trails and landscaped parkways. The open space on the
northwest corner of Carlsbad Village Drive and College will remain in permanent
biological open space (Village K).
Community Facilities - The Calavera Hills Master
Plan required 3.04 acres to be developed into community facilities (2 acres plus
a minimum of 1% of the total net developable acreage). There are at least
two sites designated for community facilities: a 1.0 acre site in Village Y,
planned to be a daycare facility and a 2.04 acre site at the corner of Carlsbad
Village Drive and Victoria (Village H). The function of this one is still
to be determined.
Schools - the two areas designated for schools were
for Hope Elementary in Village M and N along with the site housing Calavera
Hills Elementary and Middle Schools in Village S.
Community Parks - the southeast corner of Carlsbad
Village Drive and Tamarack Avenue comprises the Calavera Hills Community Park --
18 acres of community park land for the residents of Calavera Hills and
surrounding areas. A community center, a gymnasium, several softball
fields, basketball courts, children's play areas, picnic areas and flat turfed
play areas currently exist in this space. The plans call for 6.1 acres of
this site can still be developed into residential housing.
RV Storage - Carlsbad zoning requires that 20
square feet of RV storage per development unit. At build-out Calavera
Hills will contain approximately 2,093 units. This results in a
requirement to have .98 acres devoted to RV storage. A 2.5 acre RV storage
lot is currently located in Village I, in the southwestern portion of the
community, with striped parking spaces for the required .98 acres.
Phase II of the Calavera Hills Master Plan development is
still underway, with construction continuing at Montara, Mystic Point,
Summerhouse, Ravinia. The Mariposa Apartments have just opened.
With the completion of these neighborhoods the Calavera Hills Master Plan development will
also be
complete. Our community, however, will develop in many other wonderful ways -
culturally, educationally and as a community of Carlsbad citizens with the
shared value of maintaining the beauty and character of Calavera Hills.
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