Carlsbad Gateway S&F to be Replaced with 5 Story Apartment Complex

[storewanderer]

Parking garages that are underground in nice climates like CA are just unpleasant for grocery shopping. There is usually only one way in/out so if you are not sure where you are going you can easily miss the entrance and then you get to have a nice drive around the block to find the opening again. They are often not a comfortable temperature. The air is often not the most pleasant inside parking garages as cars back up trying to exit or keep circling around trying to find "the right spot." So if you are walking through the garage, unloading a cart in the garage, etc., it is just not pleasant. Also cell phone reception often does not work in these garages so if you want to go to your car to look something up on your phone or do a call, no luck. It also tends to be more difficult to park in these garages due to all of the support beams, etc., so if you are not great at parking, that just adds to the "experience" not being positive.

The stores with garages at surface level or higher are better. I recall a Vons in San Diego with a great garage. The Safeway in Millbrae also has a great garage. The Albertsons in Downtown San Diego- down in what may as well be a cemetary with how it felt; scary due to deadness/darkness and unpleasant garage. These surface level garages also often have more than one way in/out.

Now let's take a place like Minneapolis for instance and in that type of a place with extreme winter climates, during much of the year, a parking garage can be a very nice attribute for a retail store customer to have.

[Alpha8472]

There is a very busy Target in safe suburban Walnut Creek, California that was rebuilt in 1999 with a parking garage under the store. There is also a decent amount of surface parking. However, there are signs all over saying Police Bait car in parking lot. Which means that cars get broken into all the time. The garage is decently lit now, but for a time the garage used motion sensor lights. The lights would turn very dim unless they sense motion. This made the parking garage a terrifying dark cavern. It was so dark that you could barely see. The lights would only turn on if you got really close to them, and they were really dim LED lights.

There is a Safeway in San Ramon, California with Pavilions decor. It received motion sensor parking lot lights. The lights would turn completely dim to the point of almost no light unless it sensed motion at close range. This made the parking lot dark and dim at night. It made you wonder if the store was even open. They had to change that as it was a safety hazard.

There is a Safeway that was built in 2016 in Walnut Creek, California which is in the suburbs of San Francisco. It has rooftop parking as well as surface parking. People don't like the rooftop parking as it is time consuming to drive up to the roof and then have to wait for elevators for your shopping cart. This also creates huge 3 foot wide pillars in the middle of the store's aisles that you can smack into and injure yourself.

However, it is sunny and bright. The panoramic views of Mount Diablo and the Diablo Valley are amazing.

The surface parking lot is crowded and an absolute nightmare to walk through as it has deep dirt pits separating each row of parking to collect rain water for reuse. You can trip and fall and injure yourself. You cannot simply cross them as they are as deep as moats. You have to walk all the way down the rows of parking to get to the store. It is a huge amount of walking.

[veteran+]

Ralphs has quite a few roof top parking in my area (all of them dirty and sticky and stained). Actually, even their parking in front of store is dirty.

Pavilions roof top parking is clean as a whistle as well as the parking in front of store.

[ClownLoach]

There is a very busy Target in safe suburban Walnut Creek, California that was rebuilt in 1999 with a parking garage under the store. There is also a decent amount of surface parking. However, there are signs all over saying Police Bait car in parking lot. Which means that cars get broken into all the time. The garage is decently lit now, but for a time the garage used motion sensor lights. The lights would turn very dim unless they sense motion. This made the parking garage a terrifying dark cavern. It was so dark that you could barely see. The lights would only turn on if you got really close to them, and they were really dim LED lights.

There is a Safeway in San Ramon, California with Pavilions decor. It received motion sensor parking lot lights. The lights would turn completely dim to the point of almost no light unless it sensed motion at close range. This made the parking lot dark and dim at night. It made you wonder if the store was even open. They had to change that as it was a safety hazard.

There is a Safeway that was built in 2016 in Walnut Creek, California which is in the suburbs of San Francisco. It has rooftop parking as well as surface parking. People don't like the rooftop parking as it is time consuming to drive up to the roof and then have to wait for elevators for your shopping cart. This also creates huge 3 foot wide pillars in the middle of the store's aisles that you can smack into and injure yourself.

However, it is sunny and bright. The panoramic views of Mount Diablo and the Diablo Valley are amazing.

The surface parking lot is crowded and an absolute nightmare to walk through as it has deep dirt pits separating each row of parking to collect rain water for reuse. You can trip and fall and injure yourself. You cannot simply cross them as they are as deep as moats. You have to walk all the way down the rows of parking to get to the store. It is a huge amount of walking.

Target built one of those surface level, store above buildings in Brea, CA about 15 years ago. Beautiful store and parking seemed okay. The mall across the street had several garages in addition to ample surface lots and did fine; being a hot little valley many preferred the shaded parking inside the structure as temperatures are regularly up to 20° warmer than areas just a few miles away. But in 2017 there was a fatal shooting in the Target parking garage and now you see people trying to find ways to avoid using the garage even though it means walking quite a ways from the store. Perception was permanently shattered; the garage is not safe because someone was shot to death there in an attempted robbery.

Unfortunately when it comes to lighting you're describing several requirements of new California commercial building codes, although enforcement is poor at best after the final building inspections. Many communities are requiring certain level of LEED compliance. This means lots of things like sensors and dual flush toilets and others. Many of these energy saving required equipment pieces get removed in the first few months of operation, like the problematic dual flush toilet valves that lead to sewer line clogs because there isn't enough water volume moving through them. Some companies are already sneaky enough to install the equipment for final building inspection and then remove it or modify it immediately. These codes like LEED require automatic dimming lights and lights that turn off completely with sensors in non sales floor spaces. These sensors are very problematic as if they are not placed perfectly or merchandise/fixtures/equipment are put away that block a sensor there will be situations where an employee (or customer) could become trapped in a 100% dark stockroom or other space. Happened to me in my own new building and was a complete surprise - I went into a separate room and came back to total darkness that for some reason wouldn't trigger the lights in the stockroom. (I raised hell with the construction dept and after they tried to argue their plans were perfect I got them to come back and add a few more sensors after demonstrating the design flaw). These codes are completely brainless in that not even one light bulb is to remain "on" in a office or backroom space as a failsafe. Are we that desperate for electricity here now? They're all LED that uses almost zero power, and the same code usually requires solar and batteries or other systems like the biomass things behind most Home Depot stores that serve as their own power plant. Yet LEED isn't requiring skylights (maybe because they think they'll interfere with solar installations?).

Where it gets worse is bathrooms. They will put a sensor by the door and one overhead. However sometimes the switch gets set for only a few minutes (sometimes by unintentional settings change - many new switches get programmed by pressing and holding the button a few seconds), and the overhead sensor might not exactly cover all the stalls due to partitions. Walk in, go to do your business, suddenly complete darkness with no warning. Yep, customers just love when this happens. Remember requirements are zero light. So when the light goes off and they slip and fall unfortunately the city or county doesn't get the million dollar lawsuit for mandating brainless design, the store does.

And then you get to the parking which indeed is supposed to be completely blacked out when there is no motion. Again nobody is happy with this.

All of these motion sensors can fail to recognize motion except for the absolute newest models; one I put in my garage last year isn't even as good as one I added to a laundry room this year in my house. So very concerning to see them required in commercial mass use environments like stores.

For the parking garages that have only a few sensors versus on every fixture it is very likely that one could carefully walk in such a way as to avoid tripping the sensors then commit crimes. These types of areas should not have motion sensors, period. Same for bathrooms. And the greatest irony of all? The dimmer switches and sensors all use electricity 24/7.

[storewanderer]

In the case of motion sensors and bathrooms while I don't like them, the good thing is most people have a smartphone and flashlight they can use to deal with that issue. Not ideal by any means but better than nothing. I've also noticed in some bathrooms the exhaust vents are part of these motion sensors too, whereas before they were on when the lights were on, so there are odor issues with this set up.

Motion sensors and garages are also something I've had issues with. The best solution is when there is some lighting at all times then the motion sensors add additional lighting to make the garages what I'd call super bright. The safety argument for motion sensors is if someone is hiding in the garage they'll trip the sensor and be noticed. I do not agree with this- if someone is hiding and they are still for a long time period they will not trip the sensor.

Some grocery stores went through in my area and installed motion activated lights in the freezers, etc. before/during COVID. These things stopped working quickly. These have since been deactivated and now those case lights are just on 100% of the time again. Multiple chains I have seen this. Also new stores that have opened in the past couple years (Safeway, Sprouts) do not even have motion activated lights in the freezers/refrigeration.

[BillyGr]

Where it gets worse is bathrooms. They will put a sensor by the door and one overhead. However sometimes the switch gets set for only a few minutes (sometimes by unintentional settings change - many new switches get programmed by pressing and holding the button a few seconds), and the overhead sensor might not exactly cover all the stalls due to partitions. Walk in, go to do your business, suddenly complete darkness with no warning. Yep, customers just love when this happens. Remember requirements are zero light. So when the light goes off and they slip and fall unfortunately the city or county doesn't get the million dollar lawsuit for mandating brainless design, the store does.

Sounds like that is when you don't settle, but go to court and explain to the judge that the reason they couldn't see was due to something installed to comply with a LAW, thus it is NOT your responsibility - then they can transfer the lawsuit to the correct party (city, county etc.).

Some grocery stores went through in my area and installed motion activated lights in the freezers, etc. before/during COVID. These things stopped working quickly. These have since been deactivated and now those case lights are just on 100% of the time again. Multiple chains I have seen this. Also new stores that have opened in the past couple years (Safeway, Sprouts) do not even have motion activated lights in the freezers/refrigeration.

Seems like the stores that have these around here still use them and they work most of the time (occasionally you get a section that doesn't) - though most actually work too well (like you walk right along one side and both sides come on, when not needed).

[ClownLoach]

Where it gets worse is bathrooms. They will put a sensor by the door and one overhead. However sometimes the switch gets set for only a few minutes (sometimes by unintentional settings change - many new switches get programmed by pressing and holding the button a few seconds), and the overhead sensor might not exactly cover all the stalls due to partitions. Walk in, go to do your business, suddenly complete darkness with no warning. Yep, customers just love when this happens. Remember requirements are zero light. So when the light goes off and they slip and fall unfortunately the city or county doesn't get the million dollar lawsuit for mandating brainless design, the store does.

Sounds like that is when you don't settle, but go to court and explain to the judge that the reason they couldn't see was due to something installed to comply with a LAW, thus it is NOT your responsibility - then they can transfer the lawsuit to the correct party (city, county etc.).

Some grocery stores went through in my area and installed motion activated lights in the freezers, etc. before/during COVID. These things stopped working quickly. These have since been deactivated and now those case lights are just on 100% of the time again. Multiple chains I have seen this. Also new stores that have opened in the past couple years (Safeway, Sprouts) do not even have motion activated lights in the freezers/refrigeration.

Seems like the stores that have these around here still use them and they work most of the time (occasionally you get a section that doesn't) - though most actually work too well (like you walk right along one side and both sides come on, when not needed).

My point is that the sensor requirements are no longer needed, but these codes like LEED haven't been updated. The sensors use a surprising amount of power 24/7, while LED lights use a tiny fraction of the old florescents. When it was florescent the sensor made sense, now that they are all LED the sensors should be removed and the lights on a timer to remain on constantly during store hours, and 24/7 in stockrooms and bathrooms and such. It's very likely in some cases 60% usage of the light plus the sensor power exceeds 100% usage minus the sensor.

I also forgot to mention the parking lot trenches. These are also becoming a new requirement and you're seeing them in new developments. I can't imagine how many broken ankles and other serious injuries are stemming from these, not to mention pedestrian vs car collisions because entire aisles from end to end have a trench between the rows forcing more pedestrian traffic into busier areas. I saw some trenches with a 2 ft drop off a curb right along the driveway the other day at a new build Bristol Farms in Yorba Linda. It is insane that we are requiring these rainwater management systems that probably cause more injuries and hospitalizations - facilities that use and require a lot more water than these are saving. At the same time we refuse to build any water storage facilities like reservoirs or anything else. Seeing the Santa Ana river in OC lately with literally billions of gallons of water wasted going out to sea is incredible. So we must have ankle breaking trenches to save a thousand gallons or so, but waste billions because we won't store our rainwater for when we need it.