Encinitas adopts updated engineering design manual; council asks for clearer limits on staff discretion

The Encinitas City Council unanimously adopted revisions to the city's Engineering Design Manual (EDM), a document that sets technical standards and procedures for land development engineering, grading, sewer and water design, drainage and stormwater controls. The manual had last been adopted in October 2009.

Senior engineer Ben Stryker told the council the update was an in-house effort that took nearly two years and multiple rounds of public and industry review. "We feel like it's in a better state now that reflects sort of our current policies and guidelines that we utilize in our, you know, our new, like, electronic submittal process," Stryker said during his presentation. The revisions modernize submittal procedures, reflect electronic plan submissions, update references to regional standards…