ENCINITAS – Encinitas City Council appointed Robert Prendergast to replace former Chairman Bruce Ehlers as the new Olivenhain / New Encinitas representative on the city’s Planning Commission.
Prendergast, a former real estate broker and investment sales director who has also served on the city’s Movement and Mobility Committee for years, was elected in a 4-1 vote at the council meeting on Wednesday.
Council members Tony Kranz, Kellie Hinze, Joe Mosca and Mayor Catherine Blakespear voted in favor of Prendergast’s nomination, while Councilor Joy Lyndes, the city’s third district representative, voted against.
The board considered three candidates for the role, including Prendergast, president of engineering firm Frederick Snedeker, and Dan Vaughn, a biopharmaceutical consultant who is acting president of Encinitas Residents for Responsible Development.
Lyndes endorsed Vaughn in this role, citing the overwhelming public support for Vaughn’s nomination. In public comments on an agenda item, 18 out of 19 residents asked the council to appoint Vaughn to the Planning Committee.
“I know the community’s excitement about this decision – it is very charged,” said Lyndes. “I feel quite compelled to hear what the community says about Dan Vaughn as the candidate they would prefer.”
However, other members of the board expressed that they felt as if Prendergast was the most qualified candidate for the position, considering not only his experience in the real estate industry, but also his experience as a traffic commissioner.
“It’s much easier for someone who has already served on the committee and understands how these committees work, who understands the reading you have to do, the research, the training you have to go through,” said Mosca. “A lot is going on in this position and I feel Bob has that commitment and I feel he has the experience, work experience in looking at the facts and understanding the details of every case he had before him.”
“(Prendergast) has distinguished himself as traffic commissioner and his experience is well suited to analyzing projects, some of which are quite complex, so he will generally be ready to step in and start working,” said Kranz.
One of the reasons the council said it did not choose Vaughn was his role in Encinitas Residents for Responsible Development, a group that filed multiple lawsuits against the city over Goodson’s controversial project, a proposed 277-unit development on Encinitas Boulevard.
“I love Dan Vaughn and appreciate his support on important issues such as homelessness and environmental protection, but he is also part of Encinitas RRD and is suing the city,” said Kranz. “So it seemed to me that this would be inconsistent with appointing the Planning Committee, given what Commissioner Ehlers and I have already gone through.
“There was the same can of worms we dealt with for Ehlers that would be present with a potential Commissioner Vaughn, so we were not interested in listing one set of perceived bias issues with a Commissioner with a different set of similar problems. “
Ehlers was relieved of his position as chairman of the Planning Committee in April after he overnight rejected Blakespear’s request for a voluntary resignation.
Blakespear and the rest of the board indicated that Ehlers’ alleged conflicts of interest prevented him from being impartial in the performance of his duties.
However, Ehlers and many others condemned the move, calling it “political clunky work” that was intended to harm his campaign on the City Council.
“It’s purely political. They take me off board, claiming I am breaking the rules, but they have not shown how I violated city or state law, ”Ehlers said at the time. “They do it and try to tarnish my reputation, and they are completely wrong.”
Blakespear denied that the council’s decision was political and instead insisted that by making public statements about certain housing projects and engaging in litigation against the city, Ehlers’ presence on the Planning Commission had become “a responsibility to the city of Encinitas.”
In comments to the council at Wednesday’s meeting, Vaughn denied that his participation in legal proceedings against the city would have created any conflict of interest if he had been elected to the planning committee.
“I know some on the council believe that my involvement in lawsuits against the city and my role in the RFD are disqualifying. I don’t agree, said Vaughn. “These suits showed that the city’s hands were not bound by the state. By complying with environmental laws, the city can mitigate the worst effects of these legitimate projects.
“In times of divisive guerrilla hostility, I offer my services as an impartial, pragmatic consensus maker. I call on this council to refrain from invoking this appointment solely on political affiliation and instead embrace the sloppy civil dialogue and the debate that results from the inclusion of opposing ideas. “
Ehlers praised his new replacement, calling Prendergast an “exceptionally competent” choice for the planning role. He also spoke of the challenges that Prendergast and other commissioners will face in relation to the R-30 relocation projects that the group will be examining in the near future.
“I know Bob very well, he lived in my neighborhood, he’s a very good person,” said Ehlers. “He has a programming background and is also very environmentally conscious. Basically I have no problem with Bob or Dan or Fred who are on commission, they are all great local people. As Commissioner, I hope Bob will continue to look at the details of these projects as it will be a lot of work. It will be all of these R-30 projects, making sure developers live up to their promise to deliver lower income units. “
In addition to serving on the city’s mobility and traffic committee, Prendergast is Managing Director of Investment Sales for Jones Lang LaSalle, the commercial real estate company he has worked for since 2008. Altogether, Prendergast has worked in the commercial real estate and investment banking industry for almost forty years.
“I believe I am providing… a skill set that is currently not on the committee. I have a lot of experience in real estate finance and understand the perspective of developers and candidates before the committee, ”said Prendergast.
Prendergast also expressed to the council that he is concerned about development projects that may not fit the nature and infrastructure of the community.
“New mandates and state-wide regulations are putting pressure on our city to get more housing with less impact on urban infrastructure including fire, traffic, noise and most importantly our quality of life,” said Prendergast. “I understand development performance and their capitalization, and can bring this knowledge to the review of their applications.
“I am familiar with the zoning regulations and the CEQA process, which gives me a unique perspective on the projects presented by the planning committee. I hope that I will be able to find solutions that will help our city develop, while maintaining the quality of our life, open spaces and our communal character ”.
