May 16, 2026

Council Meeting Recap: Back to 1989? Encinitas Council Rejects Circulation Element Update After Five Years of Work

Five years of planning were rejected in one meeting, and the skate committee debate went around in circles.

🏛️ Council Meeting Recap – May 13, 2026

💬 Quote of the Night: “We’re not going to stop because a couple of people just don’t want to hear some noise.”
– Councilmember Shaffer in response to residents’ concerns about adding skate features in neighborhood parks.

⚡ SPECIAL MEETING: Circulation Element Rejected After 5 Years of Work

Here’s what you need to know: the city’s circulation element is basically the rulebook for how traffic, roads, bikes, and pedestrians all fit together across Encinitas. The current version was written in 1989. Staff spent five years updating it — multiple workshops, public outreach events, and revisions required by new state and federal law. Public speakers and elected officials alike expressed nostalgia for the simple days when the city’s incorporation documents were drafted by a committee of concerned citizens.

Council sent it back. They want to start from the 1989 framework instead.

What staff actually presented: a legally-required modernization with stronger traffic tools, better safety planning, continued LOS analysis methods, and cumulative traffic review.

What the council heard: urbanization, loss of neighborhood character, developer giveaways, and weakening of traffic protections.

Most of the concern wasn’t really about what the document said. It was about trust, nostalgia, and anxiety about future growth.
🌮 Food For Thought: Is this council rejecting a legally required update because they genuinely disagree with its contents — or because it was developed under previous city leadership? Five years of staff work just got shelved. Who pays for that?

⚡ REGULAR MEETING

🎉 Presentations
🔥 Wildfire Awareness Month: Mayor Ehlers and the full Council proclaimed May 2026 as Wildfire Awareness Month in Encinitas. A timely reminder — especially with a super El Niño on the forecast. A shoutout to Fire Chief Gordon and the city’s fire safety team for their year-round work keeping the community protected. 🚒

👩‍🚒 21 New CERT Graduates: Since February, 21 Encinitas residents completed the Community Emergency Response Team academy — hands-on training in emergency preparedness, disaster medical operations, fire and utility safety, and search and rescue. These are your neighbors, stepping up to help when it counts. If you’ve ever thought about joining CERT, this is your nudge. 👏

🎤 Oral Communications

🔥 Houbeck: Residents returned with a documented pattern of Houbeck’s racist Facebook posts going back several years — and reminded Mayor Ehlers that examples were emailed directly to him on April 15th. “Calling out racism is not divisive. Defending and dismissing racism — and the residents who call it out — is actually what is divisive.” — Resident Marlon Taylor. The room is keeping receipts.

🌳 Arbor Day: UFAC Chair Tony Gurnoe thanked staff and residents for a successful celebration. A moment of goodwill in an otherwise tense meeting.

🌿 Cannabis: Youth access concerns raised again.

🏠 Homeless Action Plan workshops: First workshop had poor audio and video. Second drew only 20, just 2 of whom were business owners, despite being marketed to the business community. The feedback process needs work.

⛓️ Otay Mesa Detention Center: Resident Beth Whitaker invited community members to support detainees being held without due process — providing clean water, hygiene products, and connection to over 400 people currently detained.

🌳 UFAC Appointment: Simple Vote Turns Into a Whole Thing. One vacancy. Six applicants. Two withdrew, two didn’t show. One qualified candidate remained standing: Caitlin Kreutz. Should’ve been a 60-second vote. Instead, Deputy Mayor O’Hara moved to table the appointment and re-examine whether UFAC should exist at all — pointing out the city is hiring an arborist as one of its four new staff positions. Nobody seconded his motion. The mayor then amended to: appoint Kreutz and bring back a future discussion on UFAC’s role alongside a work plan. ✅ Vote: 3-2 (Yes: Ehlers, San Antonio, Shaffer | No: Lyndes | Abstain: O’Hara)
🌮 Food For Thought: O’Hara tried to stall a clean appointment to relitigate whether a whole committee should exist. Is this efficiency — or is something else going on?

🛹 Exposure Skate MOU ✅ Unanimous — Easy Yes. Exposure Skate is a nonprofit empowering women and girls through skateboarding. Their annual event drew 4,000+ attendees from 22 countries in 2025 — generating $1.4M in economic impact and $178K in local tax revenue. City cost: $17,707. Math checks out.

🏠 SD Rescue Mission Contract Amendment ✅ Unanimous. Small but important fix: rental assistance checks for people experiencing homelessness can now be cut immediately instead of making someone wait two weeks while a housing placement falls through. No new funding required — just faster access to money already approved.

🛹 Skate Feature Committee: Around and Around We Go. ✅ Council voted 5-0 to create a committee to identify city-wide locations for skate features. Getting there took… a while.

The skate community made their case — loudly and repeatedly:
Encinitas has deep surf and skate roots 🤙
Tourism is our economic engine
The skate community will help fund it
More facilities = more events = more revenue

Fair points. But critics raised fair questions, too:
Where does this fit in relation to an aquatic center, pickleball courts, and actual infrastructure needs? Past surveys show pickleball demand outweighs skating several times over
Who decides if skating bumps other community priorities?

The committee criteria were revised mid-discussion — originally required skate knowledge, now opened to include district representatives and community members. Councilmember Lyndes wants a seat on it.

What’s decided: Committee formed, no funding committed, city-wide search only — no predetermined locations.
🌮 Food For Thought: When the same points get repeated for an hour, and two councilmembers are visibly enthusiastic about one community’s wish list, it’s worth asking: whose input matters, and who decides what gets prioritized? Editor’s Note: We ask these questions while recognizing that skate is a big part of Encinitas ‘ history and future.

🌊 Swami’s Overlook Parking: Staff Study ✅ Approved 4-1. The unpaved parking area at Swami’s is dusty, rutted, inaccessible, and possibly sitting on contaminated soil. Residents want fixes. O’Hara drew a hard line at $60K and voted no — skeptical costs won’t balloon. Everyone else voted to let staff study options and come back with costs and recommendations.
🌮 Food For Thought: This is a beloved public overlook that’s been neglected for years. It took a councilmember-initiated agenda item to even get a staff study. Why wasn’t this already in the maintenance pipeline?

📅 Quick Updates

Thanks for reading and staying engaged in our city.

—Encinitas Action