City Council
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Council Meeting Preview 11/12/25:
Two City Council meetings this week back-to-back. The first is a special joint meeting with the Arts Committee regarding Pacific View Arts Center. After that it’s the regular council meeting.
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Santa Fe Drive Showdown: The Road that Keeps Dividing Encinitas
Council Meeting Recap: The battle over Santa Fe Drive was back — and it’s still spicy. 🌶️ In May, the Council rejected city staff’s recommendations to complete the project and make minor adjustments. The Council instead directed staff to evaluate three alternative options. At Wednesday’s Council Meeting, more than 40 residents, including many San Dieguito Academy…
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Council work plan progress, proclamations recognizing veterans and first responders, street & rail safety, and public arts refresh.
Dishing Up Safety for Streets and Rails! 🏗️ Special Meeting: Progress Check! ✅ 65 of 76 city goals on track — the rest in progress, none delayed! 👏Council celebrated strong momentum across all priorities — from the circulation element update to homeless services contractsand the native plant ordinance. 📊 The full FY 25–26 Work Plan is online and will soon reflect…
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Public Safety, Mobility Upgrades, Ecofest & Environment Day, Wireless Facilities, Youth Commission x2, Habitat Stewardship Program, and the City Hall Shuffle
The highlights you need to know! Public Safety ⛑️ Mobility Upgrades 🚦 🌎 EcoFest & Environment Day 💭FFT: Do you support reducing opportunities to celebrate sustainability and environmental stewardship? 📡 Wireless Facilities (5G) Concerns over health impacts ⚡ from Councilmember Shaffer + public. Council voted to pause and hold a public workshop. 👧👦 Youth Commision x 2 💭 FFT (Food for…
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Council Meeting: Sister City Visit Recap, Public Comments, CDBG Grant Funds Review, and more!
Encinitas brought heart and only a little heat to City Hall on Wednesday. Sister City Visit 🇯🇵 Student delegates from our sister city, Amakusa, Japan, shared their endless Encinitas summer including surf + skate lessons, fiestas, and a BBQ with our firefighters. Pure community magic. Public Comments: Traffic Safety + Political Fire 🚦 Clark Apartments…
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Council Meeting Recap: Rules & Respect Reminder, Emergency Preparedness Month, Spicy Oral Comments, and School Resource Officers
Wednesday night’s City Council meeting was a packed house with heated topics 🌶️ 👩⚖️ Rules & Respect Reminder: With chambers overflowing, Mayor Ehlers kicked things off by reminding folks: be respectful, no shouting, no personal attacks, and no giant signs. 🚨 Emergency Preparedness Month Fire Chief Gordon + Emergency Manager Marie Jones Kirk rolled out tools to…
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Luke Shaffer briefly addresses his felony charges at City Council meeting
Councilmember Shaffer finally addressed the criminal charges filed against him:🚫 Not guilty.🛡️ Claims the accusations are false.💼 Says he won’t be deterred from serving. 🧑💼 Public comment? 🔥🔥🔥 A third: Cited past behavior—including a rifle comment and a previous assault on teens on ebikes—as a pattern. Time to go.
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90-Minute Council Meeting Delivers Maximum Drama
Wednesday night’s City Council meeting was short—but it didn’t lack fireworks. 💥 🗣️ Opening Act: Civility & Chaos Mayor Ehlers opened with a classroom-style reminder:🧑🏫 Be respectful, address the Council as a whole, and keep personal attacks out of it. 🎤 Councilmember San Antonio then jumped in, condemning the assassination of Charlie Kirk and criticizing the “angry tone” of August 20 public…
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Nine Hour Meeting: Encinitas Council Goes Spicy 🌶️ from Housing to Traffic Calming
August 27 was a long night with meetings spanning nine hours. Things continue to be spicy 🌶️ at City Hall! 🏛️ Special Meeting on REACH Codes: Council unanimously decided to keep local building rules that go above and beyond state code — covering fire safety, EV chargers, water-saving graywater systems , and energy efficiency . 🏛️ Regular…
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City Council Recap: ICE Emergency, Campaign Finance, Van Lifers and more
Emergency Item: ICE at Park Dale: City Hall overflowed after news broke of ICE detaining a man near Park Dale Elementary in front of school kids, including the man’s daughter. 200+ showed up to the Council meeting and nearly 40 residents spoke out, describing the trauma inflicted on kids who witnessed it. Deputy Mayor Lyndes…
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Encinitas City Council Scorecard
🤠 Encinitas City Council Scorecard (First Six Months in the Saddle – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly) January – June 2025 🤠 The Good — Tip Your Hat 🛏️ Retained Homeless Action Plan: Maintained previous plans to improve outcomes for unhoused residents, with an added emphasis on municipal code enforcement. 🏳️🌈 Continued Pride Recognition:Upheld the tradition of…
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City Council Meeting Recap: Aloha Shirts but No Action?
Pleas for Safety Fall On Deaf Ears, Climate Action Goals At Risk, and Tightening Screws on Unhoused 🚨 Aloha Shirts, But No Action?Encinitas City Council returned from summer break with leis around their necks—but left urgency at the door. 🌺 While Council showed up in Hawaiian shirts, 15 speakers—including the grieving parents of Emery Chelakian—showed up…
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Planning Commission Work Plan, Budget & Fees, Panhandling, and Another Monologue
Council is in the home stretch before their summer recess. Here’s what happened at their meetings last Wednesday. 📋Planning Commission Workplan — Code Rewrites In, Affordability Out: Council approved the Planning Commission’s workplan—with two big edits: Deputy Mayor Lyndes was the only “no” vote, warning that ignoring affordable housing could backfire. Mayor Ehlers argued housing…
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Homeless Action Plan Update, June 4, 2025 Meeting
In this week’s special council meeting, the city’s Homeless Action Plan (HAP)was discussed. Ultimately the council voted unanimously to keep the HAP—with sharper tools, stricter enforcement, and a side of neighborly love. Will it deliver? Stay tuned.
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Budgets, Santa Fe Drive project, fast-tracking Fire Station 6, and another DOGE attempt – Encinitas Style!
What a Council meeting! Here is this week’s Council Meeting recap in case you missed it. 💰 FY25-26 City Budget Introduction: How is budget planning going? First, the City Manager Jennifer Campbell praised Staff for presenting a balanced budget. City is in a stronger financial position than expected because $5 million additional revenue will result from…
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Budget Battles, Bike Lane Drama, Permit Parking & the Never-Ending Roundabout Rumble
We listened to all 8 hours of the Council Meetings this week, so you don’t have to! (If you fell asleep, we forgive you!) Our big takeaways: Budget Planning: How should the City prioritize public safety, infrastructure, and services when there’s more money—but not enough for everything? Sharrow Debate: Cyclists can legally ride these roads.…
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City Council Meeting Recap: Strong Support for the CRC
The City Council unanimously supports CRC! At Wednesday’s meeting, the Encinitas City Council finally and officially showed support for the Community Resource Center (CRC), rather than blaming them for attracting unruly unhoused people to Encinitas. In a unanimous 4-0 vote, they approved the CRC’s $30,000 grant application without the restrictions that were previously proposed.
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Budget Game, Mayor’s “Vision”, Arbor Day, and Sugarsweet Farm
💰 $8.5M Up for Grabs – Who Gets It?: At the first FY25-26 budget workshop, City staff reported our finances are in good shape with higher revenue than forecasted. With $8.5 million of unallocated general funds to spend, Mayor Ehlers laid out his spending priorities: The Hygeia roundabout? Snubbed again. Councilmembers Shaffer and O’Hara recommended a…
