Candidate for
Board Member; Valley Center Community Planning Area

Planning Group members advise the County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors regarding development proposals within the Valley Center Community Planning Area. I retired at the end of 1999 from the active practice of law after 29 years, and would like to again use my expertise in planning and land use law on behalf of my local community. I advised the Planning Departments, Planning Commissions and City Councils of the Cities of Carlsbad and Chula Vista over 14 years, representing the people's interests in the application of land use, zoning, and environmental laws. I am no longer a member of the State Bar, and do not represent public or private clients.

My wife, Jo-Ellen, and I moved to the San Diego area in 1969 when I served at the Naval Training Center in Navy JAG. We have lived, volunteered, and played in Valley Center for fourteen years, and love the friendly, rural atmosphere and neighborly attitude of our community.

I was an elected member of the Planning Group from 2001-2004, including a year as Secretary. I still serve on the Planning Group Committees for the General Plan Update and the North Village.

Since my retirement in 1999, I have been volunteering for what is now the Valley Center Trails Association (VCTA), a tax-exempt non-profit organization helping to get Planning Group and county approval of maps and text language for the County's Community Trails Master Plan. The Planning Group recently approved VCTA recommendations for updates to the pathways and trails and staging areas approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2005. I am now Chairperson of the VCTA.

I am a docent at Hellhole Canyon and Wilderness Garden County Preserves. I serve as a member of the Board of Directors and Secretary of the Friends of the Library, and work in the Friends' Bookstore.

Most recently, I was proud to be a part of the Concerned Citizens of Valley Center for Integrity in Planning, helping the effort to get the Board of Supervisors to remove the "3A SPA" from the 'Referral Map" for Valley Center for the General Plan Update.