Encinitas planning commissioners ultimately denied permits for a 199-unit subdivision just east of Interstate 5 after hearing from more than two dozen naysayers and attempting to design their own traffic congestion solution .
The project’s developers, Western National Properties, were to appeal the decision to the city council.
It was not the design of the proposed development that appalled them, the planning commissioners said before voting. This was the impact the project was likely to have on nearby roads, which are ageing, narrow and rutted – and will not be upgraded as part of the proposed development.
“We are making a bad situation worse by adding a lot of housing,” Commissioner Susan Sherod said.
Sherod said the apartment building design seemed “appropriate”, while Chairman Kevin Doyle said he had “no problem” with the proposed design, adding that he neither liked it nor liked it. hated.
However, Doyle said: “I think it’s going to be a disaster unless we do something along Union (Street).”
Commissioner Steve Dalton agreed, saying: “It seems like a terrible road to get there.”
The three-story, 15-building Clark Avenue Apartments is proposed on a 6.22-acre site just east of Interstate 5 and just west of Poinsettia Park in an area dubbed “Avocado Acres” and ” Tortilla Flats”.
Ken O’Neil, a representative for Western National Properties, told commissioners his company chose the site because it was near Interstate 5.
“We looked at a number of sites and this one jumped out at us,” he said, pointing out that his company plans to build and then later manage the apartment complex.
Western National tried to allay neighborhood concerns by agreeing not to use Puebla Street as an access point, O’Neil said. He also highlighted the investments the company was making, including additional landscaping along the Interstate 5 side of the property and road improvements immediately adjacent to the site.
However, commissioners and area residents said the area’s main thoroughfare – Union Street – was not being improved and was in desperate need of it.
Doyle said developers would pay to create a “nice little roundabout to nowhere” at the end of a road, while the main access road would get no upgrades.
“I’m just flabbergasted that we’re going to spend a lot of your money fixing this roundabout that nobody’s going to use unless it gets lost,” he told the developers.
Fellow commissioner Dalton said he shared Doyle’s frustration but felt the commission’s hands were tied.
The proposed apartment site is one of 15 locations listed in a state-approved citywide housing plan as locations to accommodate higher-density housing, he noted. If developers meet state requirements, proposed projects for these sites are considered “by right” and there is little the commission can do to stop them or compel developers to do more than meet basic requirements. did he declare.
Developer representatives also pointed this out and urged the commission to make the decision that night. The request came after commissioners asked if they would be willing to accept a two-week postponement and use the time to work with nearby residents to reach an agreement on funding for some additional road improvements.
In the end, the commission voted 4-0, in the absence of Commissioner Robert Prendergast, to deny the project a boundary line adjustment, as well as design review, minor use, and permits. coastal development it needs to move forward. In their denial, the commissioners said they viewed the project as a subdivision that should be required to do a full-scale environmental impact report. They also said advertising outreach efforts were insufficient because the developers failed to reach out to Spanish-speaking residents in the area.
