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Encinitas mayor urges reclaiming local land‑use control, makes homelessness and infrastructure top priorities
Summary
Mayor Bruce Ehlers used the Encinitas Chamber’s State of the City to call for restoring local control over housing decisions, expand homelessness outreach and boost investment in basic infrastructure including pavement and storm drains.
Mayor Bruce Ehlers on Tuesday told the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce that his top priorities for the coming year are regaining local control of land use, addressing homelessness through enforcement and services, and investing in basic infrastructure such as pavement and storm drains.
Ehlers said state housing mandates, including recent changes under S.B. 9, have limited the city’s say over zoning and threatened the character of Encinitas. “It does not include lower income housing requirements,” Ehlers said of S.B. 9, reiterating a point of concern about the law’s lack of affordability mandates.
The mayor framed the issue as one of democratic control and local fit. He said the city will work with regional groups including neighborhood associations and SANDAG to seek changes to the regional housing needs allocation (RHNA) process and that the new council majority will lobby against state laws that “usurp our local control,” as he put it.
Why it matters: Ehlers said state-driven zoning changes risk large developments that, in his…
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