The grassroots group Protect Rancho Santa Fe has been posting and distributing signs throughout the community, raising awareness about their opposition to the proposed Silvergate senior living development. The nonprofit held a yard sign sale at the post office on July 22 and within days the signs started vanishing overnight.<\/p>\n
Protect Rancho Santa Fe member Sharon Ruhnau, who had two signs taken from her property, said at least 20 others have been removed. Resident Cari Chanin\u2019s sign was attached with fishing line and sunk into concrete and was still swiped: \u201cThey really went to some work to take it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLittle by little, the signs have been disappearing so it was obvious that this was a coordinated effort of some sort and not just some random person,\u201d Chanin said. \u201cIt is just absolutely disturbing to know that somebody is creeping around my property at 1:30 in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sign thefts have been reported to the San Diego County Sheriff\u2019s Department and the Rancho Santa Fe Patrol.<\/p>\n
After one resident on Lago Lindo installed a trail camera, the camera showed a sign being removed at 1:30 a.m. by a member of the Rancho Santa Fe Patrol, prompting many concerned residents to contact the Rancho Santa Fe Association, including Russ Penniman, the president of Protect Rancho Santa Fe.<\/p>\n
Prior to the group\u2019s sign distribution, Penniman said he checked with a county representative about road right-of-way setback requirements and reviewed the Covenant\u2019s rules on placing noncommercial signs on private property.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder California law an individual who enters private property and removes a non-commercial sign without consent or the required noticing of hearing the process requires commits theft, trespassing and conversion,\u201d said Penniman at the Association\u2019s Aug. 6 meeting.\u00a0 \u201cIf the conduct was directed or ratified by supervisors or board members, exposure expands to conspiracy and aiding and abetting. Because the individual was in uniform and on duty, acting as an agent of Rancho Santa Fe, the Association itself faces a vicarious liability.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis problem is far bigger than a couple of officers accidentally taking a few signs. It needs to be addressed seriously by this body.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the meeting, Association Chief Administrative Officer Dominique Albrecht issued a public apology for the Patrol officer\u2019s \u201cinadvertent\u201d removal of the sign. She said it was dark and the officer mistakenly took it for a commercial sign.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things the Patrol does overnight is they will go and remove signs from the public right of way,\u201d Albrecht said. \u201cYou\u2019d be surprised at the number of signs for free taekwondo lessons and roof repair and estate sales there are, and one of the things we try to do is keep the Ranch very beautiful so they assist code enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n
After hearing the complaint from residents about the sign being removed, Albrecht said she spent the day investigating what happened and found the patrol officer involved was very apologetic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have reminded our staff not to remove any signs related to anything that is supporting any initiative and free speech issue that happens in the Ranch,\u201d said Albrecht. \u201cI want to assure the community that it will not happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n
During board member comments at the close of the meeting, the directors dismissed any insinuation that the board or Association staff was coordinating or directing sign removal for the controversial project.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conspiratorial nature of the accusations are at its best disappointing,\u201d said Director Mark Simpson. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing going on like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the number of signs stolen, Director Jeff Simmons said the thefts should be reported, and they should let the sheriff\u2019s investigation play out. \u201cTo implicate that there\u2019s some kind of conspiracy is outrageous,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Per the Covenant, a private sign may be erected but it remains subject to the continuing jurisdiction of the board. If the Association receives a complaint about a sign, the board may require an alteration in design, a change in location, or any other modification it deems appropriate after providing notice to the property owner and an opportunity for a hearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The grassroots group Protect Rancho Santa Fe has been posting and distributing signs throughout the community, raising awareness…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[6837,6838,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-429866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-rancho-santa-fe-review","tag-rancho-santa-fe-review-news","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}