Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club members vote in favor of Association sale
By Karen Billing
The membership of the Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club conducted their own internal vote recently on the RSF Association’s $2.4 million purchase of the facility and an overwhelming number of members were in favor of the sale. Votes counted on March 31 showed 96 percent of the members approved the sale and 4 percent were opposed, according to Helen DiZio, RSF Garden Club president.
DiZio declined to release the exact number of people who voted but said it was well over half of their members.
“They think what we’re trying to do is good for the community,” DiZio said of the results. “We’ve thought this through over the past three years. We think the money that went into the facility was meant for the people of Rancho Santa Fe and the board of the Rancho Santa Fe Association understands the value of this building and would like to have the property available for the community.”
The ballots for the community-wide election on the Association’s purchase of the club will be mailed April 4. Members will have a month to vote, with ballots due back by Monday, May 5, at 5 p.m.
Last April, 85 percent of the community voted in favor of the sale. Since that time, the deal has been “hammered out” in negotiations but remains largely the same, she said.
“It is identical to the talking points with one exception and that is it gives the people of Rancho Santa Fe the option of voting if they decided to change the use of the building,” DiZio said, noting that is an important point for Garden Club members who are also members of the community.
“Of course, we would like to continue our mission to make improvements to beautify the community as we’ve been doing for many years,” said DiZio. “That’s what we’re all about, helping Rancho Santa Fe and making things better here.”
Ballots in the community-wide vote will be counted on May 6 in an open meeting that any member is allowed to attend to observe the process. The votes will be counted at 2 p.m. in the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District board room.