Scripps Ranch fire victims attend homecoming party
By Andrea Moss - Staff Writer, North County Times
July 13, 2005

SCRIPPS RANCH ---- The dark clouds that enveloped 81 families for nearly two years gave way to joy and sunshine Saturday as the group celebrated its return to a once-burned-out neighborhood.

About 200 residents of the Whispering Ridge subdivision of this San Diego suburb donned Hawaiian wear and attended a Polynesian-themed homecoming party at the southern end of Pinecastle Street. The neighborhood was one of several in Scripps Ranch that were devastated by the 2003 Cedar fire.

The community lost 322 homes to the blaze, which was one of three that raged in the county for several weeks before they were completely extinguished. The extent and suddenness of the blow ---- the Cedar fire whipped into and out of Scripps Ranch in a matter of hours early Oct. 26, 2003 ---- left its victims stunned and overwhelmed with grief.

The mood was radically different at Saturday's gathering, which resembled a giant block party with Polynesian food and entertainment. The event was hosted by hosted by Stonefield Development, an Orange County-based builder that rebuilt the 81 Whispering Ridge homes.

Company and local officials said they believed the project was the largest and fastest reconstruction effort ever by a single builder following a national disaster. Many of the homes were finished in the past few weeks, enabling their owners to move in; the rest are scheduled to do so in the next month.

Pinecastle Street homeowners Tamara and Ernie Kotsos are among those already in their new houses. Beaming as she watched her two young children, including a 20-month-old born one week after the fire, play in a portable jump house, Tamara Kotsos said she was thrilled to be at the party.

"There's nothing I wanted to do more than celebrate our homecoming with our neighbors," Kotsos said. "You feel like you put your life on hold, in one respect, for almost two years while you rebuild and deal with insurance companies and get your life back to normal."

She and others credited Stonefield with making their post-disaster lives a bit easier.

The company, which has built many custom homes in Rancho Santa Fe and Encinitas, was one of three that responded to the Whispering Ridge Homeowners Association's search for builders willing to give the group a volume discount on the neighborhood's reconstruction. Only Stonefield Development was willing to be flexible on architectural styles, floor plans and other details of the new structures, homeowners interviewed at the party said.

Company founder and owner Robert Pack said he decided to help the residents after hearing about the fires on the news.

"We were so moved by their loss of just everything that we wanted to give back any way we could," he said.

The result is several streets full of houses that coordinate with each other but still have their individual looks. Stonefield also helped with city permits and ate some of the homes' construction costs when prices for materials skyrocketed because of the fires and other factors ---- something other companies helping with the overall rebuilding effort have not done, Pack and homeowners said.

"Stonefield swooped in here on a white horse, in a white hat, too," said Karen Reimus, who showed her husband, Bill, around their newly rebuilt and furnished Pinecastle Street home for the first time during the party. "For those people who were underinsured, that was really a godsend. It made the difference whether they were able to rebuild or not.

"We're feeling the happiness right now. It's been a long time coming."

Contact staff writer Andrea Moss at (760) 739-6654 or amoss@nctimes.com.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/07/17/news/inland/20_40_487_16_05.prt


DORSEE SAYS SCRIPPS RANCH REBUILDING A MODEL FOR THE NATION
July 13, 2005

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Almost two years after the tragic firestorm of October 2003, the residents in Scripps Ranch have something to celebrate – new homes. Stonefield Development has been working diligently on rebuilding homes for the Scripps Ranch fire survivors. This Saturday to commemorate their new homes, Debbie Dorsee, one of the team whom brought to the attention of Stonefield the rebuilding concept, is producing a “Homecoming Celebration.” The event will be held this Saturday, July 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Pinecastle Street in the cul de sac in Scripps Ranch.  The “Homecoming Celebration” marks the end of a long journey.

A Share of the credit for the rebuilding concept goes to Dorsee, a resident of La Jolla and local businesswoman, saw the need for an equitably priced Scripps rebuilding project and brought this philanthropic endeavor to the attention of Stonefield, which is currently constructing 81 homes in the Whispering Ridge neighborhood in Scripps Ranch. This effort has become a blue print for re-building after natural disasters nationwide.“As someone whom cares about her community, this major community achievement has been the most rewarding experiences of my life”.

After other developers decided not to help rebuild, Dorsee contacted Bob Pack, the President & CEO of Stonefield Development and explained the idea of his company building premium homes all at once to reduce rebuilding costs. “Bob wanted to be involved for some time in the rebuilding effort. When given the opportunity he realized right away the importance of giving back to this community,” recalled Dorsee. “I really want to compliment Stonefield for being open to this vision. The whole community really worked together to make this a reality.”

Dorsee said the experience in Scripps Ranch is likely to be beneficial for the victims of future disasters, whether they be earthquakes, floods, hurricanes or, God-forbid terrorist incidents.“We have a model now for helping citizens get back to their normal lives, and in some cases to upgrade their residences in the process.”

Dorsee has an active voice and role in the San Diego community. She is a member of the Building Industry Association of San Diego County, Urban Land Institute, San Diego State University Alumni Association and Art Council, the Mingei International Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla. The Dorsee Company is a marketing and event production company committed to providing personal attention to each client. Through our extensive San Diego community contact base, we connect our clients to the pulse of San Diego.


BUILDING INDUSTRY HONORS BOB PACK WITH 'BIG AWARD'
May 6 , 2005

Robert C. Pack, founder and CEO of Stonefield Development, was honored Thursday, May 5, with a BIG (Building Industry's Greatest) award for professional achievement in community affairs.

The 15th annual BIG Awards of the Building Industry Association of San Diego County (BIA), took place at Paradise Point Resort & Spa on Mission Bay. Pack was presented with a gleaming BIG trophy as the individual who has accomplished exceptional achievements in community affairs. More than 800 industry professionals attended the recognition and fun social event with the theme of "Blackbeard's BIG Boondoggle." They wore a variety of pirate-era outfits.

The BIG Awards recognize outstanding professional achievements in both individuals and companies of the building community in 19 categories. The BIA is a non-profit trade association that provides legislative advocacy, networking and industry communications to its 1,470 member companies and their 165,000 employees.

This is not the first BIA recognition for Pack. In 2004, he was honored with the Builders Helping Neighbors community service award for his company's effort to rebuild 81 homes predominately in the Whispering Ridge neighborhood of Scripps Ranch that were destroyed by the county's devastating firestorms of October, 2003. It's considered the nation's largest such undertaking by one homebuilder in a disaster area.

Pack said he is grateful and humbled by the building industry recognition. "We believe our social responsibility in the aftermath of a natural disaster is to bring a heartfelt compassion for survivors and share with them a vision for the community."

One who agrees is Scripps Ranch homeowner and fire survivor Christian Anderson.

He said, "We did our due diligence on Stonefield and found that Pack is highly regarded in the building industry for the highest standards of quality craftsmanship and providing customers with satisfaction. He's earned my loyalty and respect for only taking the high road."

During the BIA's largest public event, Stonefield Development was awarded the prestigious Best of Show award (as well as best floorplan, best landscape and best pool) for its 7,615-square-foot villa, Palacio Pacifica at the Tour D'Elegance at Cielo in Rancho Santa Fe.

In 2003, Stonefield received the Diamond Builder Award, given by the nation's leading home warranty company, 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty. Of 15,000 enrolled in the program, only 41 have qualified as Diamond Builders.

Pack has appeared in national publications extolling the virtues of being a socially responsible builder and he has addressed the BIA Annual Dinner in La Jolla. Stonefield builds custom and one-of-a-kind homes throughout Southern California in the $800,000 to $6 million price range. Currently, its San Diego division offers three new home communities in Rancho Santa Fe.

For more information, call Stonefield Development at (858) 759-6115 or visit www.stonefielddevelopment.com


Dorsee named director of HomeAid
March 3, 2005
Debbie Dorsee, known for her work rebuilding fire survivors' homes in Scripps Ranch, has been tapped as executive director of HomeAid San Diego. Supported by an alliance of local building and real estate industry organizations, nonprofit HomeAid works to build abodes for the homeless in San Diego County.

Dorsee's list of duties will include managing commercial and residential projects, directing community outreach efforts, organizing fund-raisers, boosting public awareness of HomeAid, and building coalitions with other community groups, foundations and government.

Dorsee will continue to oversee other consulting projects through the Dorsee Co. of La Jolla. She will also remain focused on the rebuilding Scripps Ranch projects alongside homebuilding company Stonefield Development, which is constructing 81 houses in the Whispering Ridge neighborhood.

Her affiliations include the Building Industry Association of San Diego County, Urban Land Institute, San Diego State University Alumni Association and Art Council, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, and the Mingei International Museum.


BUILDER ROLLS OUT BLUEPRINT FOR AFTERMATH OF NATURAL DISASTER
Stonefield Development Rebuilding At Scripps Ranch Seen As National Model
July 16, 2004

Natural disasters serve up many similarities, not the least of which is that homes are destroyed and rebuilt. That’s the scenario at Scripps Ranch following the devastating firestorms of October, 2003. But there’s a big difference between the current rebuilding efforts and those of previous natural disasters – one leading regional high-end custom home builder, Stonefield Development, put together a plan considered the national prototype in natural disaster areas.

The rebuilding plan was so attractive to fire survivors who lost their homes that 81 of them in the Whispering Ridge neighborhood of Scripps Ranch signed up with Stonefield, and construction is underway. Industry experts maintain rebuilding of that many homes in one neighborhood following a natural disaster is the largest ever undertaken by one builder in the U.S.

In previous natural disasters, such as the Oakland-Berkeley Hills fire of October, 1991, and Hurricane Andrew in Florida in August, 1992, homeowners made individual deals with contractors. Now, Stonefield’s model is setting a new blueprint nationally for rebuilding homes following natural disasters such as fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, or earthquakes, building industry experts say.
Stonefield executives, including founder and owner Robert C. Pack, only recently learned of the revolutionary dimension of their model while attending the recent Pacific Coast Builders Conference in San Francisco.

There, they talked with many other builders about the Scripps Ranch effort, concluding there never before in history has there been a similar program to rebuild an entire neighborhood following a natural disaster.“Our Scripps Ranch program is destined to be a textbook case for the nation’s building industry. We’re proud to share this model with other builders,” Pack says.

The Stonefield prototype is unique in many ways. For example, it reigns in construction costs. In the aftermath of the Oakland-Berkeley Hills fire, thousands of upscale homes needed to be replaced, and there weren’t enough contractors to handle the volume. Construction prices skyrocketed. A similar situation took place in South Florida following Hurricane Andrew, which left tens of thousands of homes obliterated. Construction costs also shot through the (missing) roofs, according to news accounts.

Stonefield’s prototype completely changes the construction cost dynamic – which was a major concern to Scripps Ranch homeowners. Now, thanks to Stonefield’s program, construction costs are fairly fixed at a reasonable rate.
Custom developers quoted costs as from approximately $150 to $200 a square foot, whereas Stonefield as a merchant builder offered pricing between $93 to $98 per square feet, including front yard landscaping, fire sprinklers, overhead copper plumbing, a 2-10 home warranty plan, and more.

In addition, Stonefield is promising to build one-of-a-kind homes and that no two homes on any street will look the same. To achieve this, Stonefield commissioned four separate architectural firms to design seven different floorplans, each with four architectural elevations – traditional, French, English, and Italian.

“We believe it creates value when no two homes on any street look the same. Homeowners appear to agree,” says Pack.
“This program was created specifically for Scripps Ranch rebuilding, and now we’re finding that it may serve as a foundation for future disasters of this nature,” Pack adds.

Stonefield’s model solves still another problem that arose following Hurricane Andrew – contractor scams. A headline in the Naples (FL) Daily News read: “Beware of scams when rebuilding after hurricanes.” The article points out example after example “of people who were scammed out of their money after Andrew,” such as “the contractor who took (the woman’s) insurance money and ran.”

Since Pack started the firm in 1986, Stonefield has earned a reputation for the highest standards of quality craftsmanship and providing customers with great satisfaction and maintaining loyal long-term relations with subcontractors. Stonefield builds custom and one-of-a-kind homes throughout Southern California in the $800,000 to $6 million price range. Currently, its San Diego division has four developments in San Diego County -- three in Rancho Santa Fe and one in Olivenhain.

For more information, call Stonefield Development at (858) 759-6115 or visit www.stonefielddevelopment.com


GROUND BROKEN FOR SYCUAN TOUR d’ELEGANCE
September 26 , 2002

Groundbreaking ceremonies were held Sept. 26 for the Sycuan Casino & Resort Tour d’Elegance Luxury Home Tour, a public walking tour of five multi-million-dollar premier estates hosted by the Building Industry Association of San Diego County at The Woods by EastLake in Chula Vista, announced Paul Tryon, BIA executive vice president.

The Sycuan Tour d’Elegance will be open to the public for five weeks next summer. The spectacular site is a picturesque water-view enclave surrounded by the San Miguel and Jamul Mountains and overlooking Otay Lakes. EastLake has been voted San Diego’s best new-home community six years in a row.

Using the scenic site as a dramatic backdrop, the builders of the five ultra-luxury residential masterpieces presented renderings of their homes for the first time, reviewed Tour site plans, and champagne-toasted the Tour d’Elegance.

Participating builders are ColRich Communities, Cornerstone Communities, CDGI, Johnson/Beucler Communities and Shea Homes.

“We are pleased to have Sycuan Casino & Resort as the title sponsor of the BIA’s Tour d’Elegance, and we believe that our affiliation is a natural fit to introduce families to a major entertainment event with appeal for all ages,” stated BIA President Mike Neal of H.G. Fenton Co.

Presenting sponsors are Wells Fargo Bank and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. Site host is The EastLake Company while other sponsors and their affiliation are The Corky McMillin Companies, ticket/coupon; Cox Communications, cable; The United Auto Group (Mercedes, Lexus and BMW of San Diego), automotive; Grand Pacific Resorts, travel; First American Title, concessions; Henry’s Marketplace, Inc., retail grocer; Howard Associates, Inc., landscape architect; Palomar Mountain Spring Water, water; and Dixieline Lumber, home improvement.

The Sycuan Tour d’Elegance will bring together respected homebuilders, noted architects, prominent interior designers and notable landscape architects at one awe-inspiring location for the benefit of all San Diego County residents, Tryon noted. “Sycuan Casino & Resort Tour d’Elegance is the largest community entertainment event in the 64-year history of the BIA,” he said.

More than 55,000 people are anticipated to visit the five residential showpieces at EastLake, a 3,200-acre master-planned South County community, according to Debra A. Dorsee, Tour director. Selected events at the Tour will benefit The EastLake Educational Foundation, Chula Vista Boys & Girls Club and BIA Cares for Kids.

Each of the showplace homes will embrace an architecturally distinctive theme, offering breathtaking lake and mountain views.

The Woods by EastLake offers semi-custom and custom homes on lots ranging from 7,500 square feet to 1.5 acres with home prices estimated from the mid-$500,000s to more than $1 million. When completed, The Woods will include 344 estate-sized homes and 64 custom homesites.

Meticulous attention is being paid to every detail at The Woods, including a custom-crafted entry bridge and hand-crafted iron entrance gates for cul-de-sac custom home sites in The Gates, the precise Tour location. Seventy-six-year-old Eucalyptus trees line an entrance to The Woods, showing the preservation of the original landscape. The stately clubhouse, inspired by legendary architect Addison Mizner and designed by Doug Mansfield of Laguna Beach, captures the influence of 1920s Florida mansions in every inch of its detail.

The EastLake community features a wide variety of residential housing options as well as retail, commercial and industrial areas, and amenities including lakes, a golf course and several private residential recreation facilities. EastLake is home to the nation’s first year-round warm-weather U.S. Olympic Training Center.

Kathy Courtney, director of sales and marketing for William Lyon Homes, serves as chair of the Tour d’Elegance committee. William T. Ostrem, president and chief operating officer of The EastLake Company, one of the largest master-planned communities in San Diego County, is the Tour committee co-chair and site host.

Sycuan Tour d’Elegance producer, the BIA, is a non-profit 1,351-member building trade and community outreach organization founded in 1938. Further information may be obtained from the BIA at (858) 450-1221 or at www.biasandiego.org.