Tale of Incorporation: How Encinitas Became an Entity Onto Itself 25 Years Ago

In six short weeks, the incorporated city of Encinitas is scheduled to celebrate its silver anniversary, 25 years of growth and maturity.

On Oct. 4, 1986, the new mayor and four city council members were sworn in to serve Encinitas, which at the time, was still the surfing and flower-growing capital of the world.

The first question a newcomer might ask is: “Why did Encinitas tear itself away from the county and determine its future to be a General Law city?”

Perhaps the first official collective action of the new Encinitas city council might answer the question succinctly.

Because, almost immediately, the new council proclaimed a no-growth ‘moratorium’ that put the breaks on the a variety of developmental projects both commercial and residential that, it was believed at the time, were dangerously proliferating the remaining ten percent of open space in Encinitas and that the County of San Diego seemed never to meet a developer’s project that it didn’t like. So, after October of 1986, local control was finally achieved.

Here’s another fact that might interest or amuse a curious newcomer to Encinitas: There was even a good chance that the newly incorporated city wouldn’t be named ‘Encinitas’ (‘Little Oaks’, in Spanish). That’s right, there were three names on the ballot for voters to choose from. In fact, if the voters of Cardiff-By-The-Sea had their druthers, we’d all be living in the city of San Dieguito! The Cardiff voters overwhelmingly preferred San Dieguito to Encinitas, but citywide voters much preferred Encinitas to San Dieguito and Rancho San Elijo.

And newcomers might be amused to learn that much of what they enjoy in New Encinitas not only didn’t exist—but the property that the Encinitas Ranch Golf Course and the Encinitas Ranch Town Center are located on were long stretches of the Ecke Poinsettia Ranch that were not incorporated along with the rest of Leucadia, downtown Encinitas, Village Park, Cardiff-By-The-Sea and Olivenhain in June of 1986. The Ecke Ranch properties were subsumed into the incorporated City of Encinitas in 1994 as part of Proposition K, that voters passed, allowing much of the Ecke Ranch to become part of Encinitas. They might also be surprised to learn there was a hard-fought battle over whether or not to allow Home Depot to come to town. No joke.

Now, as the city continues to grow and mature, updating the General Plan 2035, the residents will come together on Saturday, Oct. 1^, on the grounds of the San Dieguito Heritage Museum, in concert with the 3^rd Annual Lima Bean festival; the City Fathers, Mother, Sons and Daughters; six or seven generations of farmers and surfers, will gather together to celebrate 25 years of self-rule.

This article is the first of a series for Encinitas Patch that will seek out the folks who tried to incorporate Encinitas and failed several times; only to succeed in June of 1984. 

For more information about the 25^th Anniversary Celebration, please call Nick Buck, Recreation Supervisor at the City of Encinitas 760 633-2760.