Escondido council approves ISKCON temple and 10‑lot subdivision after hours of public comment, 3–2

Escondido’s City Council voted 3–2 to approve a Conditional Use Permit, two resolutions and an ordinance allowing the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) to build an 11,700‑square‑foot temple and a 10‑lot residential subdivision on a roughly 24‑acre site off Rincon Avenue.

Principal Planner Ivan Flores told the council the project as proposed would subdivide two parcels into 11 lots (10 lots for residential use and one for the religious facility), provide 72 off‑street parking spaces, seek a one‑unit density bonus tied to two deed‑restricted low‑income lots, and include grading exemptions for cut slopes up to about 30 feet. Flores said the city prepared an initial study and a mitigated negative declaration under CEQA and recommended adoption of Resolution No. 2025‑144 (environmental document and residential subdivision), Resolution No. 2025‑145 (conditional use permit and design review) and Ordinance No. 2025‑07. "The project will provide 72 off‑street parking spaces," Flores said, and "the project has been conditioned to provide those spaces in perpetuity."

The applicant’s team described the current plan as a significant reduction from a prior approval in 2000, emphasized that many of the facility’s taller architectural elements would be non‑habitable, and said the project would add fire protection…