Commentary: Encinitas needs local control

By Tony Kranz

As reported by The Coast News, the Encinitas City Council declined to support my proposal in favor of the “Brand Huang Mendoza Tripartisan Land Use Initiative,” a statewide petition drive which would secure in the California Constitution the right of municipalities to make their own choices regarding land use and zoning. 

All four of the other council members expressed opposition to the potential ballot measure.

By opposing this drive the others are communicating that they prefer conversations about land use in Encinitas to be dominated by the state. 

I prefer that local interests be given the dominant voice.

Over the years, the state legislature has passed housing laws that interfere with local land use and diminish the ability of local governments to determine what — and how much — should be built.

These laws give the Attorney General’s office the power to enforce the building of unwanted and potentially harmful projects.

This aggressive posture means that cities have been forced to decide whether to fight an uphill battle in court or cede land use decisions to a distant state bureaucracy.

The resulting loss of local control creates significant community consternation and directly affects our quality of life.

The newest state housing laws are premised on the notion that the solution to skyrocketing housing costs is to just build more housing.

But these measures are crude and blunt, like insisting that a surgeon use a butcher knife instead of a scalpel to remove an appendix.

The prevailing model, exacting from developers the construction of deed-restricted affordable units and allowing the construction of more market-rate units to pay for that exaction, is flawed.

A principal effect of this approach is to shift the construction costs of the inclusionary housing to the market rate units, compounding the problem of housing affordability. 

This perverse effect applies to 80% of the new units, while only 20% get built for lower income earners.

Furthering the surgeon analogy, our community does have a sort of housing “appendicitis.”

During my almost 10 years of service on the Council, I have sought to promote housing plans which create a diverse housing stock, so that people who are starting their careers — or are engaged in the many jobs in our community that do not pay a high wage — may have a chance to make a home here. 

Assuming that the law of supply and demand will make housing more affordable in Encinitas is a mistake.

Yes, we can increase the supply of new housing, but we can’t regulate demand. And if new housing is mostly high-cost housing, the result will be more gentrification, not a diverse mix.

As we’ve seen lately, when housing prices continue to skyrocket, the difference between the “haves” and “have nots” is exacerbated.

We should turn away from the state’s housing policy, which is to give developers a big bonus for projects that push prices higher and that weigh heavily on our already stressed infrastructure.

“One-size-fits-all” dictates from Sacramento don’t work, especially in land use matters.

The state should bring its resources to bear to support the choices made by local governments and voters, including not only housing but also transportation.

Perhaps, with the state’s help, we could develop voucher or subsidy programs to help lower income workers, with an emphasis on housing and/or transportation solutions for people who work here.

But the key point remains:  local voters, elected officials, and staff are far better positioned to develop solutions for Encinitas than are legislators and regulators in state government.

The Our Neighborhood Voices initiative will re-establish local control over land use matters. Please add your signature to a petition.

Tony Kranz is a sitting member of the Encinitas City Council, serving continuously since elected in 2012.  Contact him at [email protected].