🏛️ Council Meeting Recap – September 9, 2026
The council voted to ask the governor to veto a bill tied to a former mayor. It was the longest and most contested item of the evening. First, an important remembrance…
Yesterday marks 25 years since September 11, 2001. We will never forget the nearly 3,000 lives lost, the first responders who ran toward the danger, or the families that forever carry the burden.
💬 Quote of the Night
— Councilmember Lyndes in council discussion on the mayor’s letter to Governor Newsom asking for line-item veto a budget trailer bill provision that would claw back / restrict $3 million grant for the Santa Fe Drive improvements.
“Is it fair to the rest of the state that we can take money and not be accountable for how we use it?”
🏛️ The City’s Council Meeting Rundown — with Encinitas Action’s notes
The City of Encinitas now publishes its own recap of council meetings. Below is their summary in full and our commentary.
⚡ Special Meeting — FY 2025-26 Annual Workplan Update
City Council Rundown: City Council received a report on the FY 2025–2026 Annual Work Plan Update. Staff completed 59 of 76 objectives during the fiscal year, with the remaining 17 objectives currently in progress and carried forward into the FY 2026–2027 Work Plan. Staff reported consistent progress and a high level of productivity throughout the year, with progress made on all objectives. The FY 2026–2027 Work Plan includes approximately 55 objectives, including those carried over. City Council will review Quarter 1 progress and final adjustments at its October 14, 2026 meeting.
📌 What Else? Let’s give credit where due: zero objectives had no progress at any point all year, and progress on temporary Fire Station 1 completed, pavement PCI above 75, storm drain mapping started, the Native Plant Ordinance, the Business Commission, and the $33.6M federal rail grant.
But the most newsworthy moment of this meeting was a barrier, not an accomplishment — and it isn’t in the City’s version. When asked by Councilmember Lyndes about Carlsbad’s position on a railroad quiet zone stretching to Leucadia Boulevard, City Manager Campbell explained that their city attorney won’t accept quiet zone liability. Their counter-offer — Encinitas can pay for the improvements and indemnify Carlsbad, which Encinitas is unwilling to do. Another challenge missing from the work plan was beach sand replenishment. Lyndes asked that unfinished obstacles appear on the work plan, not just the wins.
- 🌮 Food For Thought: Is a workplan that reports only completions sufficient transparency?
Several councilmembers thanked staff for culture change, noting they seem to be listening to what residents want. They did not acknowledge the tremendous turnover of staff (and knowledge) during the last 18 months or rumors of a fearful culture among city staff.
Regular Meeting
🎖️ Presentation – Matt Lucas. On May 22, Matt, an off-duty battalion chief, performed CPR on a person in critical condition until responders arrived. The person survived. Matt’s entire acceptance speech was a deflection: “The only reason I’m up here today, I feel like, is because on that day, I was wearing board shorts and flip-flops.” He asked council to recognize the first responders who do this every day. 👏
City Manager Report: Campbell said the city received questions about the $58 million roadway improvement figure cited in a Coast News article, and in response added a clickable itemized list of FY24-25 through FY26-27 roadway project, program, and initiative expenditures.
🔥 Letter to the Governor Requesting a Line-Item Veto. ✅ Vote: 4-1. Lyndes dissenting. Council voted to ask Governor Newsom to line-item veto a budget trailer provision restricting $3 million tied to Santa Fe Drive. This was the longest and most contested item of the night, and it does not appear in the city’s Council Rundown at all.
Ehlers laid out the procedural objection: the provision started as SB 569, a homeless encampment bill, and was gut-and-amended on June 11. He says he got the Assembly Transportation chair to state on the record it wasn’t retroactive. When that stalled, Senator Blakespear allegedly dropped SB 569 for a budget trailer bill modifying the 2023 budget. His objection: “Trailer bills on fiscal bills are supposed to be fiscal and not policy.”
Lyndes dissented on entirely different ground — not local control, but competitive state funding. Other cities applied and lost. She cited Active Transportation Program precedent for expecting funds to be used as promised.
- 🌮 Food For Thought: Both sides claim “fairness.” One means fairness to residents who didn’t want the design. The other means fairness to the cities that lost a grant we won by promising something else. Which obligation does a city actually owe — and why wasn’t this vote included in the official recap?
🌉 Bridge Structure Condition Assessment
City Council Rundown: City Council received and filed a report on the condition of the city’s bridge structures. Of the 46 structures evaluated, two were rated in poor condition; however, neither was considered unsafe or at risk of collapse. The Highway 101 Bridge over the San Elijo Lagoon was identified as the highest-priority structure and is already a capital project for rehabilitation with federal grant funding. Other priority improvements, including the Leucadia Oaks Westerly Pedestrian Bridge, are planned within the first five years. The remaining 44 structures are generally in fair to good condition; maintenance and rehabilitation needs over the next 10 years are estimated at $5.91 million.
During the discussion, City Council, staff, and the public brought up concerns about the El Niño weather pattern coming this fall. City staff will be doing a presentation for council with multiple departments involved, including fire, engineering, public works, risk, parks, and utilities discussing the preparations the city has completed and planned, as well as education for residents on how to protect their homes. This presentation will take place on October 21, 2026.
📌 What Else? This is good news: zero structures and zero components rated “serious.” A resident offered a missed opportunity: a Torrey Pine lost last week had enough board feet to rebuild every pedestrian bridge the city needs. And Councilmember Lyndes flagged that when the San Elijo lagoon bridge rehab returns, the “betterments” discussion is the city’s one realistic shot at adding pedestrian and bicycle access to that corridor.
- 🌮 Food for Thought: The city just learned it needs $5.91M over ten years for bridges. Every assessment comes back with a number. When does the conversation shift from measuring to actual funding? Also, the city appears eager to work with partners to secure funds for these infrastructure improvements, but why not for homeless-related funding?
🚦 Traffic Impact Analysis Ordinance. Vote: Unanimous ✅ — tabled. Returns October 14; second reading October 28; ordinance effective roughly December 1.
City Council Rundown: City Council voted unanimously to table the proposed Traffic Impact Analysis Guidelines and related Municipal Code amendments and directed staff to return with revisions at the October 14, 2026 meeting. Staff presented the proposed guidelines as a way to formalize and clarify the city’s process for evaluating transportation impacts associated with new development. During discussion, City Council requested additional clarification and revisions related to permit streamlining and density bonus guidelines, more rigid definitions for the timing and application of fair-share contributions, and how ADUs and JADUs are considered.
📌 What Else? A MTSC Commissioner commented that traffic analyses on new housing developments have been done by the developers and that there hasn’t been an analysis by the city on the cumulative impact. Also, the SANDAG trip generation guide Encinitas relies on is from April 2002 and doesn’t account for ADUs or a higher level of household car ownership. Councilmember Lyndes and Deputy Mayor O’Hara initially moved and seconded to receive the report as is, but Mayor Ehlers offered the substitute motion that passed 5-0 with heavy emphasis on assessing the impacts of ADUs on traffic and parking. Lyndes confirmed that this motion did not affect any other aspect of ADUs.
🎄 Holiday Village & Market
City Council Rundown: City Council approved a memorandum of understanding between the City of Encinitas and the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce for the Holiday Village & Market on December 4, 2026, at the Moonlight Beach parking lot. The free community event will complement the Heritage Tree Lighting and feature local vendors offering holiday merchandise, arts, and food. Under the agreement, the City will provide the venue, additional parking, staff coordination, and promotional support, while the Chamber will be responsible for planning, operating, promoting, and managing the event.
📌 What Else? Deputy Mayor O’Hara pulled this consent item only to acknowledge this is a “great step forward.” Mark it on your calendars: December 4 at Moonlight Beach, free, alongside the Heritage Tree Lighting.
📅 Coming Up
- September 16: Red Light Cameras (postponed from September 9)
- September 23: Special City Council Meeting on Climate Action Plan
- October 3: City of Encinitas 40th Anniversary Celebration
- October 6: Quail Gardens Park Design Workshop
Thanks for reading — and thank you for being engaged in local government!
—Encinitas Action