Loop Road change under review

Some progress has been made on the dead-end street issue in Pacific Highlands Ranch.

Neighbors in the Airoso neighborhood on Village Center Loop Road have grown frustrated that, for the last two years, the road to their homes has ended in a line of temporary blockades chained to their fence and surrounded by overgrown weeds.

Pardee Homes Division President Beth Fischer said that Pardee would work with the city to see about installing a more permanent barricade. Since being informed of the issue on Oct. 26, Pardee has unchained the line of blockades from the Airoso neighborhood’s fence.

Karen Dubey, president of the Airoso Homeowner’s Association, said the neighbors would prefer something that looks like the dead-end of Pacific Highlands Ranch Parkway across the street.

That unfinished neighborhood street ends in a temporary blacktop sidewalk for pedestrians and a guard rail with red reflectors serves as a warning for drivers.

Fischer said that improvements to the Loop Road are the responsibility of the city.

Cul-de-sac an option

City engineer Gary Pence contacted Dubey last week about working on a plan for sidewalk completion and the potential of creating a cul-de-sac.

The Loop Road currently ends at a stoplight and the blockade just beyond. The stoplight exists because the road will eventually run through to more Pacific Highlands Ranch neighborhoods and access the future Pacific Highlands Ranch Village, a mixed-use retail and residential center.

Neither of those projects will happen until the Interstate 5 and Highway 56 connector issue is resolved, per Prop M conditions.

Fischer said it is Pardee’s preference that the road remain prepped for future development with proper signage present to “ensure continued motorist and pedestrian safety.”