A budget improvised on the fly, the council looking to allow time-limited parking on all our roads, and a crumbling road nobody wants to own. Just another Wednesday at Encinitas City Hall.
🏛️ Council Meeting Recap – May 20, 2026
💬 Quote of the Night:
“If we can’t find a way to continue with the [bike] training through the schools, then I think we have failed. So I want to call us out on this. If we can’t fund kids, I will be shocked.”
Councilmember Lyndes on the City Council dragging its feet on continuing to support school bike and e-bike safety programs.
⚡ SPECIAL MEETING: FY26-27 Work Plan
Council reviewed the draft work plan — 6 focus areas, 35 goals — but didn’t adopt it. That happens June 17. Tonight was about alignment, additions, and a road nobody can figure out who owns.
Cole Ranch Road stole the show. 48 families depend on it. It’s crumbling. Bringing it up to standard: $4 million. The city’s official position: not our problem until it’s formally accepted into the city system. Mayor Ehlers publicly pushed back on that — noting the city’s own repair history creates a liability gray area. The city attorney will need to sort it out.
Other notable direction: return with SMART* objectives (many current entries are vague), add a Parks Master Plan review as a new goal, and confirm wayside horn language in the Leucadia at-grade crossings objectives. Resource-dependent items need cost clarity by December 2026 to inform next year’s budget.
*Specific, Measurable, Achievable (or Attainable), Relevant, and Time-Bound (or Time-Based)
⚡ SAN DIEGUITO WATER DISTRICT (SDWD) REGULAR MEETING
Feel-Good Opener: Winners of the North County Water Agencies 4th Grade Water Awareness Poster Contest were recognized. Young artists, big smiles, well-deserved applause. 👏
The business portion was quick but not uneventful. The board unanimously readopted two state-required plans, reported a manageable 4% staff vacancy rate, and introduced the FY2026-27 budget — $158.5M in revenue upholds the previously approved 12% rate increase, while operating costs grow roughly 14%.
Then Board Member Shaffer dropped a grenade and walked away from it. Pointing to an $11 million cost jump over four years, he announced flatly that “the per-gallon rate model is not working” — and then moved on.
- 🌮 Food For Thought: If the per-gallon rate model isn’t working — and costs are climbing 14% year over year — what is the plan? Ratepayers deserve more than a diagnosis with no prescription.
⚡ REGULAR MEETING
🎤 Oral Communications — Quick Hits
- 🚗 Two residents flagged traffic increases on Cornish Drive and in Pacific Pines — both asking for speed reductions.
- 🔥 Fire Safe Council expanding citywide — Olivenhain has had one for years; the rest of Encinitas is finally getting coverage. Watch for volunteer recruitment.
- 🌿 AB 2697 would allow cannabis drive-throughs. A resident asked Council to oppose it and consider a preemptive local ban. Worth watching.
- 🏗️ Resident on a recently approved development: “Why do we have a planning commission? They all wanted to vote no but had to vote yes under duress.” The project is rife with issues. Her suggested requirements for developers: adopt a school, fix up an existing community, build a fire station.
🚰 Sewer Rates Upheld ✅ Unanimous. Wastewater Capital Improvement Plan update approved; previously approved FY26-27 sewer service charges upheld. Routine but necessary.
💰 Development Impact Fees Updated ✅ Unanimous. Fees hadn’t been updated since 2015. Fees being increased ~200%. Encinitas will have the second-highest fees in the region — only Carlsbad is higher.
Councilmember Shaffer made bold accusations: he claims the city missed out on $30 million because previous staff and council let developers skate on outdated fees for years, and that those same developers rushed to lock in applications the moment this update was announced. In truth, the Development Impact Study was initiated before this council was seated, and Shaffer offered no substantiation for his allegations.
Really, now – if you’re going to bring the heat, you gotta bring the receipts.
🌮 Food For Thought: Fees are locked in at permit issuance but collected at project completion — sometimes years later. Meanwhile, the developer earns interest on that money, and the city absorbs cost increases. Should these fees be held in escrow?
🅿️ Timed Parking Policy: First Hearing. New proposal allows time-limited parking zones between 20 minutes and 4 hours — currently capped at 20 minutes only. Property owners can apply for green curbs; joint applications allowed. Staff surveys and recommends; Council decides.
Councilmember Lyndes flagged a significant problem: the scope quietly expanded the day of the meeting — from business-focused to any property owner — and the change was noticed and posted to the website the same day as the meeting. That’s not proper notice.
- 🌮 Food For Thought: If residents near the beach pool together and apply for 1-hour parking on their street — and meet the requirements — should the city enforce it? Does time-limited parking near our beaches and parks restrict access for residents who can’t afford to live nearby?
💵 FY26-27 Budget: $158.5M In, $149.1M Out. ✅ Passed 3-2 (Shaffer, Ehlers voting no). Solid numbers. The chaos was in initiated by a resident who happens to be surf report and forecasting company Surfline’s CEO — no staff review, no demonstrated need, approved on a handshake. A substitute motion (3-2) kept the $33K and stripped the Surfline money pending review. Final budget approval on June 17.
🌮 Food For Thought: In one night, council nearly handed $50K to a CEO with no staff review and gave $33K to groups that never asked for it. Is this fiscal stewardship — or just spending other people’s money on friends?
🚲 Bike Safety, Turned Into Theater. ✅ Tabled 4-1. This should have been simple: renew bike and e-bike safety education MOUs with Encinitas Union and San Dieguito Union school districts. Combined cost: $47,550. Program works. Kids benefit. Instead, O’Hara turned the absence of district staff into a pretext for grievance. Shaffer piled on. Ehlers and San Antonio went along. Item tabled and shipped to committee. Councilmember Lyndes — the lone no — said what needed saying: the training works, she’s watched it, and manufactured outrage risks failing kids.
🌮 Food For Thought: Four councilmembers just stalled a proven children’s safety program over a procedural grievance. What exactly was accomplished — other than the performance?
💰 Federal Grant Applications: A Genuine Win. ✅ Unanimous. Council unanimously authorized staff to pursue federal grants for the North 101 drainage project and four rail projects, including the Leucadia at-grade crossings, the E Street quiet zone, and the Verdi undercrossing. Cost: $75K from the general fund plus $34K already in the quiet zone fund. Credit where it’s due: staff caught the funding windows and did the work. 👏
📢 State of the City: A Policy or a Swipe? ✅ Passed 4-1 (Lyndes dissenting). O’Hara initiated a policy requiring the mayor’s State of the City address to be delivered first at a council meeting — framed as expanding resident access. It also reads clearly as a dig at the Chamber’s annual event, where Mayor Ehlers traditionally delivers it. Ehlers admitted he had no idea how the policy would work — then voted for it anyway. Lyndes called it government overreach.
📅 Quick Update
- 🏖️ Grandview Beach stairs opened Friday, May 22. Summer is here! 🌊
Here’s wishing you a meaningful Memorial Day as we honor the heroes who gave everything for our country,
—Encinitas Action