Nelson appointed to Bonsall Sponsor Group

Kirk Nelson has been appointed to a seat on the Bonsall Sponsor Group.

The sponsor group had recommended Nelson as the replacement for Donald Burns to fill Seat No. 6 on the sponsor group, although the appointment to fill the vacancy was not official until it was approved by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on June 19. Nelson’s term will expire on January 3, 2011.

“I look forward to it,” Nelson said.

Nelson moved to Wrightwood Road from Morro Hills in October, but he moved to Fallbrook from the Washington, DC, area six years ago. He grew up in the state of Washington and spent six years in the United States Navy; his final duty station with the Navy was in Washington, DC.

Nelson is currently a civilian employee at Camp Pendleton; he is a deputy public works officer whose duties include master planning. When Burns submitted his resignation effective June 6 (the day following the sponsor group’s June meeting), Nelson expressed interest. “It seemed like a good opportunity to actually get involved,” he said. “For me it’s also going to be a great learning opportunity.”

Not only will Nelson be performing volunteer planning activities as well as professional planning, but he’ll also be experiencing the differences between planning by the US Government and local planning. “It will be interesting to see how the situation’s different and the same,” he said. “We both look at the same things. We just look at them a little differently.”

Nelson was a project engineer at Camp Pendleton prior to his current position, and he has also been a design engineer with the National Park Service.

Nelson’s goals for the sponsor group focus on ensuring consistency with the community plan. “I think the main thing is just making sure that we’re consistent with the master plan for the Bonsall community. The whole intent is to have a rural feel,” he said.