Encinitas
Is Suing the Residents Behind Controversial Housing Measure
By
Jesse Marx and Kayla Jimenez, October 21, 2019
Encinitas
is trying to clarify a conflict between state law and its
own local measure — a citizen-led initiative that allows voters
to veto major land use changes. In effect, the city is dragging
the most prominent backers of that measure, Proposition A,
into court.
After
years of defying California law, Encinitas is getting serious
about housing. So serious, in fact, that local officials are
suing as many as 100 residents behind a measure thats
prevented the city from implementing a new housing plan.
Encinitas
is trying to clarify a conflict between state law and its
own local measure a citizen-led initiative that allows
voters to veto major land use changes. In effect, the city
is dragging the most prominent backers of that measure, Proposition
A, into court.
That
measure is part of the reason Encinitas was for years the
only city in San Diego County not to have a state-approved
plan on the books identifying locations where new housing
units could someday be built.
In
2016 and 2018, voters rejected housing plans that could lead
to the development of more housing in their neighborhoods.
Now,
both state and local officials want to avoid another showdown
at the ballot box and the legal fiasco that would follow if
yet another housing plan fails to win enough support. Developers
and low-income tenants have sued the city in the past for
failing to comply with state law. Late last year, a judge
agreed that Prop. A was the main obstacle and suspended it
for the current housing cycle, which began in 2013.
Starting
in 2021, Encinitas will be legally obligated to send the state
another housing plan. But Prop. A will still be an obstacle.
Encinitas
is asking the court for relief, so that the City Council can
adopt and implement housing plans without a vote of the people.
In the complaint, officials say theyve tried to work
with residents for years, and subsequent lawsuits have been
extremely costly.
In
February, Gov. Gavin Newsom summoned Encinitas Mayor Catherine
Blakespear and dozens of other leaders from cities across
the state that were also out of compliance with state housing
law. He told reporters that he wanted to stress upon local
officials the importance of doing their part to ease the housing
crisis. But the event also functioned as a kind of shaming
exercise.
In
a newsletter last week, Blakespear wrote that officials were
compelled to go to court by the state as a condition of getting
the latest housing plan certified and needed to name someone
as a defendant, so they chose Preserve Prop A,
whose members conceived of the initiative and have fought
to keep it in place.
This
isnt a case of Encinitas suing its citizens
for damages, she said, likely referring to this local
blog post. The reality is that were asking a judge
to decide as a matter of law how we should proceed,
and inviting both perspectives to officially weigh in.
The
groups attorney, Everett Delano, who helped write Prop.
A, sees it differently. He described the citys lawsuit
as an affront to democracy and said the city was
using its own residents as scapegoats. He may try to get it
thrown out, he said, on the grounds that it unfairly censors
its own citizens.
His
group has long maintained that, despite the findings of the
California Department of Housing and Community Development
and a Superior Court judge, Prop. A and state housing laws
are not incompatible. As proof, theyve pointed to other
cities with housing plans on the books that also allow residents
to veto major changes to zoning rules.
The
city agrees. Its not trying to kill Prop. A outright.
Instead, its trying to exclude the housing plan process
from going to the people in the future. If successful, Prop.
A could still be triggered but only for individual
development projects that are seeking special permission to,
say, build more units on a site than the housing plan allows.
But
from Delanos perspective, by taking away the ability
of residents to vote on housing plans and to serve
as a check on the City Council the lawsuit could effectively
undermine Prop. As key component.
Every
eight years, California requires municipalities to prove that
its officials have zoned enough land to accommodate housing
at all income levels. The plan acts more like a blueprint.
It highlights specific sites for development, describes the
density thats permitted there and states how many units
it could hold.
Thats
important because the state has determined San Diego County
must plan for the construction of more than 170,000 new homes
over the next decade. By helping to develop the formula used
to divvy units across the region as vice chair of the San
Diego Association of Governments board of directors, Blakespear
is playing a key role in the production of new homes
a remarkable development given her citys history.
For
many years, Encinitas had either been unwilling or unable
to plan for new housing. Yet one of its elected leaders is
now leading the push publicly for more housing by urging fellow
leaders to stop shrugging off their responsibilities.
Not
surprisingly, the new housing numbers are generating a great
deal of controversy. As KPBS reported, cities with more jobs
and transit are getting a higher allocation of units than
in years past, with the hope of shortening peoples commutes
and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
At
a forum in San Diego last week, Blakespear said she feels
confident standing her ground on housing now that there is
stronger pressure and possible enforcement coming from the
state.
There
are some things that have been taken out of our hands, like
by the courts, whove said, You have to have a
housing plan and we dont care that your voters rejected
it twice. You have to do it. And theres something
about that thats very freeing, Blakespear said.
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