ENCINITAS – The Encinitas City Council on Wednesday approved a high-density residential area in Leucadia, as detailed in the city’s Housing Element Update, quashing the Planning Commission’s unanimous denial of the apartment project last month.
The council voted 4-0, with councilor Kellie Hinze absent, to approve the 199-unit Clark Avenue Apartments project, rejecting the committee’s previous denial of the project based on its determination that the project is a subdivision. for which an environmental impact statement was required under the California Environmental Quality Act.
The committee also found that the developers, Western National Properties, had not provided adequate public information to Spanish-speaking residents in the surrounding neighborhood.
But despite emotional appeals from the public pleading with the council to deny the controversial project, Mayor Catherine Blakespear said “voting your heart” was not an option in this case.
“When the council received a court order to adopt a housing element, this was one of 15 locations chosen,” Mayor Catherine Blakespear said. “And ultimately, as long as the developer follows city standards, the council doesn’t have the discretion to say ‘no’ to it.”
By the time of the vote on Wednesday, most of the audience, which consisted of 16 public speakers and five who had written opposition letters, had left the council chambers. Someone was heard to say, “It is hopeless,” as the council began its deliberations.
“I just can’t believe it got this far,” said resident Sheri Armendariz, who emotionally recalls having nowhere to go after the 2008 fires. “This is a call. If I were in your position, I’d listen to my planning committee. They took all the facts and said that this particular place was wrong, too close and a dangerous place. You have the right to change your mind today.” A view of the proposed Clark Avenue apartments in Leucadia. Screenshot
The Clark Avenue apartments will consist of 15 buildings, 20% of which are for low-income housing on six lots of more than 6.22 hectares. The complex will replace two single-family homes and nurseries with 150 market-leading and 40 affordable homes in the 600 block of Clark Avenue and 500 block of Union Street. Prospective residents enter through Union Street, with exits on Union and Clark.
The concerns of many residents remain the same, including that the entry and exit routes are inadequate to support the weight of 199 additional units.
Chairman Kevin Doyle said he was disappointed the council didn’t ask for more concessions from the developer and hoped there would be an environmental impact statement that would require more road improvements, particularly as they exit Union Street before “a dangerous left turn into Saxony.” Road” is created. to reach the highway.
“I was hoping the city council would fight harder for concessions from the (developer),” Doyle told The Coast News. “I expected some backlash, but the feeling we’re getting from the state is that developers don’t have to change anything — they don’t feel (developers) need to make concessions — and the city is shy about losing its housing Element certification.
“It (California Department of Housing and Community Development) really has too much power in my opinion. I feel there are ways the project could have been handled differently. I feel sorry for the people who live there, because their lives will change. New residents don’t know how to get out of there. Hopefully the city will stand up and tackle dangerous intersections before the people live there.”
Attorney Marco Gonzalez, representing Western National Properties, argued that the municipality could not deny the housing development without evidence that the project violates objective design assessment standards.
Gonzalez said the public’s problem with the site arose in 2018 after the Encinitas City Council removed a controversial city-owned lot, known as “L-7,” just a week after the vote to keep it. housing plan had been removed.
“The problem is you shouldn’t have classified this, right? That’s basically what you’ve heard?” said Gonzalez.
But Gonzalez argued that the issue for the council was whether Clark Avenue Apartments broke measurable, clear-cut standards within the city’s general and planning codes.
“Nobody does that because they can’t,” Gonzalez said.
Rebuttal to Subdivision Claims
Clark Development Action Group, represented by attorney Craig Sherman, alleges that the Planning Commission did not go far enough in its denial and demanded more “appropriate legally and factually supported findings” – citing the developer for his lotline issues.
“These roads cannot support the project,” Sherman told the city.
Sherman focused on the perceived subdivision to initiate deeper traffic and public safety analysis. The applicant’s traffic study showed that the expected increase of 1,200 car journeys per day would have no adverse effects on the streets.
Sherman claimed this was a misreading and that the city used the wrong classification — calling the road a residential collector rather than a rural road — to determine travel capacity.
According to city officials, that was not an accurate representation of the traffic investigation.
However, residents claim that the project will overload the already blocked roads and pose a danger to pedestrians due to insufficient capacity. An aerial view of the proposed Clark Avenue Apartments project. Commissioners refused permits for the development citing traffic problems. Image Courtesy of Clark Development Action Group
In response to residents’ concerns about road safety, Gonzalez told the municipality that Western National Properties is open to improvements to roads and traffic after construction.
Sanjum Samagh, a Union Street resident and co-chair of the Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas Orthopedic Surgery Division, said “objectively” he has seen an increase in pedestrian and bicycle accidents.
“It’s not a question of ‘if’, it’s a question of when someone ends up in a hospital if these units are allowed to be built with the minimal infrastructure that has been proposed,” Samagh told the council. “I understand the need for affordable housing in Encinitas. But this location – with no pedestrian, bicycle or car passage with restricted sidewalks – will lead to further injuries or fatalities for members of our community.”
Cindy Cremona, an outspoken opponent of the project, reiterated that Samagh and other residents agreed with the city’s demand to provide affordable housing.
“Why don’t our housing policies require a higher percentage of units to be set aside as affordable? We could meet the state’s goals for affordable housing with thousands of fewer units and an overall impact,” Cremona wrote in a letter to the municipality.
Cremona said the project is failing to provide affordable housing and infrastructure improvements to the community while giving developers ample financial incentives to pursue “cram-and-jam” projects.
Former planning chairman Bruce Ehlers, a District 4 candidate, criticized Blakespear’s comments that hands were essentially tied.
“That’s (Blakespear’s) standard excuse — her hands are tied with every decision,” Ehlers told The Coast News. That’s distasteful. The truth is… (the council doesn’t fight anything). If we are going to blindly implement state policy, why do we need a local government? If the local government’s hands are tied, why are we paying for them? That is a bad excuse for a municipality.”
Craig Campion called on the council to give in to a compromise in the project that would better suit current residents, and questioned the definitions of ‘subjective and objective’.
“Subjectively or objectively, we need to approve the project to meet our housing numbers,” Campion said.
Campion then showed Blakespear’s campaign mailer supporting her bid for state office.
‘Always standing up for us’, Campion read from the mailing. “I thought the mayor finally believes in our community and stands up for Encinitas.”
However, Campion also drew attention to real estate donors and PAC money that Blakespear received during her candidacy.
“Tonight we will find out whether ‘standing up for us’ is the people in Encinitas or the people in power,” Campion said.
