Coast News:
Nearly a year after the council suspended its web-based Housing Element outreach efforts, the City Council agreed they need professional assistance as its housing element efforts hit a critical set.It's way too late for the November election cycle to develop a new plan that incorporates new public input, so this is really about persuading the public to accept the current plan, which is a fourth plan developed by staff after the three plans discussed in public last year were deemed inappropriate for traffic and other reasons.
The council voted on Feb. 24 for city staff to search for an election consultant that would, among other things, potentially conduct scientific polling that would help them develop a strategy for public outreach on the Housing Element, which voters will be voting on in November.
“I think understanding what the needs are is important and the only way to get there is through a scientific approach that looks across demographics and communities,” Mayor Kristin Gaspar said.
Looks like they are getting desperate. Could be they realize that Encinitas voters are smarter than the average bear.
ReplyDeleteThis is the same plan that Teresa Barth and Patrick Murphy cooked up 6 years ago. It is about high-density, market-rate dwellings that will serve as vacation homes or rental properties for rich investors and will do nothing for low income residents. Jeff Murphy and Manjeet Ranu have added a new wrinkle since they have claimed that residents WANT three story buildings. When did that happen? I don't know anyone who wants that or the added burdens of traffic, noise and the loss of privacy.
ReplyDeleteWho would benefit if this plan were to pass? Encinitas staff, developers, and that's about it. It doesn't seem worth it to ruin our quality of life and community character just to make city employees and a few builders rich at the expense of everyone else.
Vote no on the HEU
Hopefully the voters will send this plan packing.
ReplyDeleteCouncil wants to hire an election consultant to use fancy wording that will be extremely confusing in order to garner YES votes.
The people have spoken. We do not want three story buildings, over development and more traffic congestion. What part does this council not get?
Voters, be sure to vote NO on this developer ridden Housing Element supported by five idiot council members.
No, No and Hell No.
Remember the Carlsbad Measure A and where it went. The Encinitas City Council is using tax payers' money to try and convince them that this bogus plan somehow serves their interests. Vote NO and dump council incumbents.
ReplyDeleteLisa is hoping to carve another notch on her bedpost with her support of this one. She will still tell people how great this will be.
ReplyDeleteIt is like the "welcoming" of refugees from Syria. These things may sound good to her on paper, but what will they look like in action?
The housing element update has had to be addressed for many years. It has been addressed for many years, too.
ReplyDeletePlanning for the future is prudent.
Just saying NO NO NO to everything, particularly without knowing the issues is silly.
The General Plan update will not go away.
Get to know as much as you can about this.
Planning wisely for the future is wise. Just trying to thwart everything and halt any change will result in stuff happening beyond your control.
Decission by indecision.
5:13. The council could have followed recommendations of residents and proposed a few sites. Instead, the council spent millions to create a misleading zoning documentioned that does away with resident control of Prop A and proposes high density throughout the city with overlay zones. The council sadly ignored voters, wasted money and will see the plan defeated in Nov. Barth and Stocks share the blame
DeleteThe Council's problem and, I suspect, 5:13's problem too is residents DO know the issues.
DeletePlanning killer profits for developers and calling it "providing affordable housing" is not planning wisely, but I suspect 5:13 knows that.
Voting this thing DOWN will change "stuff" for developers, that's for sure.
Good bye.
5:13 You can stuff your so called logic. People are well aware of the issues and what is being planned.
DeleteThat is why we are saying HELL NO to the HEU.
It will be voted down as it should be. It is council beholding to developers interest with no gain for community. Like Carlsbad and prop A we will be ready to vote against this in November. Bad idea, bad plan, resounding NO.
ReplyDeleteDrop the three stories, drop the made number of units, and get real(as in fire the entire planning staff). No amount of our tax money used to hire spin whores can convince me of anything else. That is not going to happen so a big fat NO vote from me and everybody in my hood.
ReplyDeleteThe HEU is going down with a big thud.
ReplyDeleteThis council lacks vision and long range planning capability.
Vote NO on the HEU and NO on all incumbents.
It was interesting that Council wants the consultant/HEU density lobbyist/propagandist to document what will happen if our housing element is not updated. No one knows what will happen. So far, we are better off with our existing housing element. None of the scare scenarios have played out.
ReplyDeletePeople are not buying into Council and staff's and will not buy into the consultants' "sky is falling" scare tactics. We are not going to be bullied on this, just as the people of Carlsbad could not be bought and tricked by development interests.
It was misrepresented that our city never has had an approved housing element. That's false. We don't have an approved housing element update. The rules were changed, ostensibly for affordable housing, but the public realizes the reality:
1. The State Law was designed, with the help of lobbyists and crooked lawyers to make greater profits for monied interests, and does not necessarily guarantee an increase in actual affordable housing.
2. Previous Planning Director Jeff Murphy lied about existing affordable units already having been counted, with the Census. The Census counts residents, and does not track affordable residences.
3. State Code currently encourages accessory units as a de facto form of affordable housing. Accessory units should not have to long term covenants to be counted as affordable housing. They can be considered affordable "by proxy" just as R-30 density is.
The State had told Jeff Murphy that it would count affordable dwelling units, with covenants toward the required number of affordable units that SANDAG has speculated are required, because staff convinced state reps that these units had not been counted previously.
3. Not only has the City failed to make an accurate count of existing affordable housing, including uncounted accessory units, which accessory units are permitted BY RIGHT in all residential zones, City staff has also failed to work with SANDAG to realistically project accurate population increases. The number of new affordable units required has been artificially increased due to over-counting potential population increases and under-counting existing affordable units.
5. The City has allowed in-lieu fees for affordable housing paid by developers of new units to subsidize developers who simply apply those City subsidies to existing affordable units. There is no actual gain in new affordable housing, rather a loss, as in the loss of affordable units on Hermes, when that new development replaced existing affordable housing.
Why cant we overturn the Cultural Marxists housing law? You know the one that no one can cite or source? Communists trying to force equality down our throats is unAmerican. It would be American to vote the State law away.
Delete12:29 AM (3/4)
DeleteThe Census counted all units that they could find whether they were legal or not. They are prohibited by law from revealing unit addresses, so if they identified an illegal unit, they wouldn't tell you. However, the units are included in the Census counts.
If the city identified (counted) illegal units they would have to require the owners to make them legal which often means bringing the units up to building code. We can send code enforcement door-to-door to hunt and identify every illegal unit. I'm sure that will make those owners very happy that they can now come out of the shadows and spend money bringing their unit up to code.
The population estimates/forecasts that RHNA used were impacted by the Great Recession which hadn't happened yet when the estimates/forecasts were created. By the way, the SANDAG estimates weren't much different from the Dept. of Finance which are the official estimates (they were a little high as well).
State law is very clear on what cities are required to do. HCD has never agreed that any version of the city's Housing Element is fully compliant with State law but you're right that years ago things were looser then. While the law doesn't explicitly require HCD confirmation of compliance, the courts have looked upon HCD confirmation (certification) as the gold standard for judging compliance.
12:41,
DeleteIt's not just the Great Recession.
SANDAG has been horribly overestimating population growth for decades.
http://encinitasundercover.blogspot.com/2015/05/sandags-population-growth-estimates-are.html
I really don't care about those who have been getting away without paying the fees and taxes honest folk pay. And I really won't upzone so much as one unit if we have illegal ones to bring up to code and count.
Delete12:41 seems to advocate upzoning the hell out of town to protect illegal flat owners. We owe these evaders nothing. They owe us our quality of life.
Amnesty program a failure? Thank Jeff Murphy, who designed it that way.
Ammesty my ass, looked into the program, f-ing joke. All,of planning needs to be locked out of city hall before they do more damage. Every property owner that has been affected should sue the city and the planners personally. Collusion at this level is very serious and putting these turds under oath would send them all running.
DeleteStaff is going against the goals of our citizens to keep a quaint family oriented beach town.
ReplyDeleteJust say NO to the Housing element update and any candidate that supports it.
Just sayin NO, NO, NO to this element of the General Plan update
Deletewill continue to thwart opportunities for grants that would help fund very worthy projects that are beneficial to our community.
Grants that are used to increase density and thwart our quality of life are not beneficial.
DeleteNO means NO.
9:14,
DeleteWhat grants have our neighbors in Carlsbad and Solana Beach received in the past several years that we were ineligible for?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Grants for things like rail underpasses/underpasses, Leucadia streetscape, flooding solutions, safer bike path, ped paths, transportation, etc, etc can not proceed without the city completing the housing element and complete the general plan update.
DeleteCarlsbad and Solana Beach has compled their housing and general plan update.
Solana Beach has undergrounded their rail and Carlsbad has begun the plan to have at grade crossings all along their rail corridor.
With the assistance of grants.
Carlsbad and SB are better cities than Encinitas. Better staffs, council members and citizens. That's why they get things done.
DeleteEncinitas can't even fix the streetlights that flash on and off all night long. Lazy trash....
12:45,
DeleteI think you're misinformed.
We're getting grants for things like the Santa Fe underpass and the Cardiff Rail Trail while we're out of compliance.
So what grants specifically are Carlsbad and Solana Beach getting that Encinitas is not eligible for?
Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
There have been no grants awarded to this City because of NO HEU. That's another ruse that the City wants you to believe. Again do a CPRA request. Ask for grants asked for and grants received from SANDAG; or the State of Calif. If this were true, we would not have received a grant for the Rail Trail from SANDAG. -Former city employee
DeleteThe rail trail is a SANDAG PROJECT.
DeleteThe city did not apply for a grant.
OK, how about these grants?
Deletehttp://encinitasundercover.blogspot.com/2015/09/leucadians-applaud-state-grant-for-rail.html
I'll ask again. What specific grants have Carlsbad and Solana Beach gotten that Encinitas was ineligible for because of the HEU?
Why can no one answer this simple question?
No one wants to answer the question because the truth would show very few grants are tied to the HEU. Back to SANDAG Board Policy 033, the carrot and stick approach approved by the councilmembers from 18 cities and one county supervisor to entice cities to have to provide an HCD substantial compliance HEU. Very, very few grants come under this policy 033. These are the grants that don't come under that policy.
DeleteEXHIBIT 2
TABLE 2
FUNDING PROGRAMS NOT
SUBJECT TO BOARD POLICY NO. 033
Funding Programs
Federal1
Regional Surface Transportation Program (RSTP)2
Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality (CMAQ)2
Transportation Enhancement (TE) Program2
Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Urbanized Area Formula Program (Section 5307)
FTA Fixed Guideway Modernization Program (Section 5309 Rail Mod)
FTA Section 5310 Elderly & Disabled Program
FTA New Freedom Program
FTA Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) Program
State2
State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) – Regional Improvement Program (RIP)2
STIP – Interregional Improvement Program (IIP)
State Highway Operation and Protection Program (SHOPP)
TDA Article 4 – General Public Transit Services (Fixed Transit Route Services)
TDA Article 4.5 – Community Transit Service (Accessible Service for the Disabled)
TDA Article 8 – Special Provisions (Express Bus and Ferry Services)
TDA Planning and Administration
State Transit Assistance (STA)
Local
TransNet Senior Transportation Mini-grant Program
TransNet Congestion Relief Program – Major Transportation Corridor Improvements
o Highway & transit capital projects
o Operating support for bus rapid transit (BRT) & rail transit capital improvements
TransNet Congestion Relief Program – Transit System Services Improvements & Related
Programs
TransNet Congestion Relief Program – Local System Improvements & Related Programs
o Local Street & Road Program
Environmental Mitigation Program (EMP)2
TransNet Administration and Independent Taxpayer Oversight Committee (ITOC)
_________________________________
1 There are a variety of federal and state discretionary funding programs allocated directly by Caltrans that provide
funding to local jurisdictions (e.g., Highway Bridge Repair & Replacement (HBRR), Safe Routes to School, etc.) Because
SANDAG does not have decision-making authority over these funding programs, they would not be subject to the Board
Policy No. 033.
2 With the exception of the EMP funds, these funds (STIP-RIP, RSTP, CMAQ, TE) are being used to match the TransNet Early
Action Program (EAP) and other high-priority regional projects. If, however, some portion of these funds were allocated
by the SANDAG Board of Directors to local jurisdictions through a competitive process, they would be subject
to Board Policy No. 033.
Go to the SANDAG website to read the policy 033.
http://www.sandag.org/organization/about/pubs/policy_033.pdf
2:21 Thank you. I was too lazy to do the work you just did. I think that if people really knew what was going on in our City they would be up in arms. Check out how many people lived here before incorporation, when we had no city staff, when we first incorporated and had city staff (very few I might add) and then compare to now (lots of dead weight). It happens in every bureaucracy. As for SANDAG, you can thank Lisa Shaffer for the money that came from them. And, the idea for the trail came from our NCTD representative, Kranz. Former City employee
DeleteNot true.
DeleteThe rail trail 'idea' came way before Tony. The rail trail 'idea' came before Solana Beach even designed theirs.
But Tony pushed it to this point with NCTD. Tony, Tony, Tony. The local boy...myeah.
Delete12:29...nailed it!
ReplyDeleteno no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no
ReplyDeleteNo No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!
NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
11:31 childish
DeleteBarth still trying to influence city politics, much like Romney she needs to go away. GO AWAY!!!! Take you fucking park and GO AWAY!!!
ReplyDeleteBarth wants the Syrian refugees to camp in her park and eat fruit from the trees. Move them into her house.
DeleteSelf-loathing and it ain't even Vegas!
DeleteGraft, larceny, fraud - what is it?
ReplyDeletePlanning department allows property owners to pretend that a neighbor's use permit belongs to them and asks for a modification. Planning Commission approves the fraud.
OK, so on the grants we're "missing out on by not having an approved HEU" is a base canard in a string of them. What we are missing out on is COMPETING for grants. Just a little more fine print the City doesn't care to point out.
ReplyDeleteNo, not guaranteed grants, just allowed to line up alongside 17 other cities to hope we get lucky. SANDAG estimated the potential grant money to be about $7M. And $7M is not enough to ruin this town over.
So if we were to hypothetically get our fair share of this $7 million, we'd be getting a few hundred thousand dollars?
DeleteThat's far less than the council has blown on multiple iterations of the failed HEU. Heck, Barth blew a million on MiG before they got run out of town!
We could potentially win the entire pot, but that would still be far less than what the city spends, on a regular basis, on ill-fated Council ventures.
DeletePeople, attack politicians on their positions not on their personal lives!!
ReplyDeleteI find it disheartening that Barth is still trying to influence city politics, unlike Stocks she doesn't hid it.
How will she and Kranz and Shaffer defend the refugees that come and attack, molest, rape the school girls and BOYS that run and play at Moonlight beach every summer. Better keep watch on those bathrooms...
Pacific View will be a refugee reception center.
DeleteGot goats?
Got bigotry?
Delete8:06 PM Classic projection syndrome.
DeleteThese council people don't seem to be aware of their supposed responsibilities. They should deal with domestic civic matters, not Syrian refugees or climate change. We've got Federal stooges who pretend to be concerned with those issues. Barth is an idiot - she doesn't realize she has had her 15 minutes of fame. Tell her to go to the park and eat some fruit.
ReplyDelete10:34am. Do you have any idea how Barth got this fruitcase tree memorial without first going through the Planning Commission and our Council, like the Mizels naming rights are now having to do?
ReplyDeleteHow was this slid by without a public comment period? Pretty damn sneaky, as the public would been all over this, given the chance. We were not given the chance and now we will have an onslaught of selling out our public treasures that will be never ending, if this practice is not stopped i its tracks.
The Maggie Dog Park was vetted and deserved. The Barth fruitcase was not. How was this approved without the publics input. Mim and her friends in Cardiff 101 pulled a fast one on us and we should all want to know how this was done with so little public participation.
If this was not brought before the Planning Commission and Council and I don't recall that it was and I have been paying attention, we should all want to know why, before this is repeated. Counci should not have the right to sell out our public treasures on their own without the residents having a say.
Please, someone fill in the blanks on how this memorial was allowed in such a sneaky way. Closed session perhaps? If so, why? We should have been permitted to voice our concerns about this newly adopted practice.
I believe you're correct that it skipped the commissions because the Barthist majority wanted to honor their leader. It was on the agenda but Gaspar and Muir knew it would pass and didn't want to look petty so went along with it.
DeleteCould anyone be more undeserving of a tribute? If you really dissect her record it was only damage to Encinitas. Bitter fruit.
ReplyDeleteThanks EU. It looks like I missed that agenda item and the vote whenever it was voted on.
ReplyDeleteDo you happen to know what week that was approved by council?
Thanks EU for being our most reliable source of up to date info.
Even with the trolls trying to mislead the public, you are our provider for the many truths that we won't ever get from our council and their free running staff that know no bounds.
It is anyones guess how much staff will spend trying to sell the HEU but it is all for naught. The costs of them fighting this losing battle should fall on those who refuse to see the error of their ways. Yea right.
At the least, it should cost them their jobs. It is going to be a long expensive year wasting OUR limited funds on such a hopeless pursuit.
No amount of expensive outside consultants are going to change the publics perception of this faulty urbanization attempt that this community knows does not belong here and that we don't want any part of, and they darn well know it.
The designs staff put forward belong in Irvine or some such sardine can city, Encinitas, not a chance. We have a few developments around here that are and will be cursed by many every time we drive by them. Letting more of those come here is the reason this fight will only gain more and more traction until city hall reverberates with packed halls full of outraged citizens. They won't be able to deny the packed halls as the silly season goes on.
Urban designs are not for Encinitas. Perhaps a new council make up will get the message, if we can get the right candidates to form a united front for the majority we so desperately need to make any progress.
Looks like Sep 23, 2015:
Deletehttp://encinitasundercover.blogspot.com/2015/09/fruit-forest-to-honor-teresa-barth.html
Also a new Planning staff and a new Engineering staff. They are a disgrace.
ReplyDeleteReviewed the traffic impacts in the HEU EIR.... pathetically incompetent. Basically states that increased traffic from higher densities would gridlock streets, but not to worry.... that would force more people to bike and walk.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing good about increasing density in our City. all it means is more pollution, more traffic, more kooks on the beach, more profit in developers pockets at the cost of existing residents.
Developers in Rancho Sante Fe and Del Mar say no to higher densities in their neighborhoods..... I say hell no to higher densities in our City.
Encinitas is getting to be a traffic madhouse as it currently is - stop the high density development. In the Summer, there is no longer adequate parking for the beach crowds. Downtown is a disaster. The small town atmosphere is going, going, .........
ReplyDeleteVote for any candidate other than Muir or Kranz. These guys have proven themselves to be worthless and need to go.
ReplyDelete8:14, Lisa has an answer for you: parking meters! Move it along people, and here's a lovely parking ticket for you to enjoy while you're circling for another spot.
ReplyDeleteKranz bought a $10 million dollar coastal property to house Iraqee and Syrian refugees, terrorist backers? Possibly whos to say and others... Way to go Tony.
ReplyDeletethats not exactly what I thought Encinitas was about in keeping its quaint family oriented beach community. I think I'll be voting for someone else next election . You and Shaffer are clueless.
Dump Muir too!
Deleteback to the basics.... I don't want to live in an Encinitas that looks like hungtington beach, I will be voting no on increasing the density and height of proposed landuse zoning.... NO on the housing element update!!!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have a link to where people can see the 4 housing element maps and how to comment? Can't find on City website.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.athomeinencinitas.info/progress/housing-plan-alternatives/
ReplyDelete