Encinitas City Council Aims to Increase Public Input in General Plan Update

In September, a draft of an update to the , a blueprint that will guide development plans for the next three decades, was unveiled to the public.

Reflecting a continuing backlash, more than half a dozen Encinitas residents and business owners voiced their concerns regarding the draft at the meeting Wednesday night.

The most common complaint leveled by : Most redevelopment (including low-income housing) is disproportionally concentrated on a small cluster of El Camino Real, which could increase already heavy traffic and hurt businesses. Additionally, among other complaints, they contend the public wasn’t involved with or informed of redevelopment.

“If you were to conduct to a public opinion survey today, about a draft of the update to the general plan, you would must likely get a majority of people who have no clue, or don’t know enough to have an opinion of the plan,” said Encinitas resident Denise Martin.

In response to discontent over a lack of public voices in the current draft, the City Council voted unanimously in favor of a resolution to create an advisory committee made up of 23 stakeholders from diverse backgrounds representing Encinitas. Stakeholder committee meetings would tentatively begin in February.

Additionally, as part of the same resolution, the City will hold open house meetings in five parts of Encinitas to let the public weigh in on changes to the General Plan Update. The City will take stakeholder recommendations and public input from the open houses into consideration when updating the General Plan.

Before the vote, with cautious optimism, critics of the current draft welcomed the proposed resolution.

“I’m here to speak in favor of the proposed changes,” said one Encinitas resident. “If the council truly wants to represent the Encinitas community, including those that live in New Encinitas, they should support this. Also, to fix what is right and generate more turnout at public meetings, the council should distribute announcements that communicate very specifically what’s at stake to residents.”

Some parts of the resolution, including whether business owners who live outside Encinitas could be part of the stakeholder committee, have yet to be decided. Open house meeting dates for the public have also yet to be set in stone, but Encinitas Patch will keep you posted as that information becomes available. 

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