ENCINITAS — After withering public debate and a monthslong hiatus spent reevaluating the controversial Quail Meadows Apartments, the developer has revised its plans for the largest residential complex in the city’s history.
Developer Baldwin & Sons’ previous version comprised 485 apartments within a pair of six-story buildings, described by a resident as “subpar Soviet-style architecture,” resting atop a 12-acre plot along Quail Gardens Drive.
However, after hours and weeks of community feedback about everything from increased traffic along an already congested two-lane road to large buildings blocking residents’ ocean views, Baldwin & Sons has dialed back its initial proposal to include fewer total units, more affordable housing, reduced building heights and improved design aesthetics.
According to documents released earlier this month, the latest version of Quail Meadows Apartments will consist of 448 units, 37 fewer than the original. The proposal increases the number of affordable units to 90 while reducing the buildings’ size from six to four stories.
Under the revised proposal, the project will consist of two main buildings: Building 1 will contain 44 affordable and 168 market-rate units, while Building 2 will have 46 affordable and 190 market-rate units. Each building will now have two levels of underground parking. A separate two-story fitness center and community amenity building with an outdoor pool will be located north of Building 1 along Quail Gardens Drive.
The project will also include a roundabout (which still requires final council approval) at the intersection of Kristen Court and Quail Gardens Drive, marking the primary entrance to the complex. The secondary access point is located off Quail Gardens Drive, which is a right-in/right-out only at the property’s south end.
The site on Quail Gardens Drive, formerly utilized as a commercial plant nursery, is surrounded by neighborhoods of duplexes and single-family homes. A commercial office and the future Sunshine Gardens Apartments site are situated between the property and Encinitas Boulevard to the south.
Resident Steve Gerken, who opposes the project, said he gives the developer credit for reducing the project’s overall height and footprint, creating variations in roofline height, and mitigating noise and light pollution by taking the parking lot underground.
However, Gerken’s concerns about the project’s size and location remain firmly in place.
“We have a desire to see affordable housing in Encinitas,” Gerken said. “And we also have a desire to make safe projects that don’t impact every person in the city. We’re grateful they did a redesign, but it’s not enough. We need Baldwin to be a good neighbor and realize this is not the site to build the largest apartments in the history of this city. It doesn’t fit; it doesn’t work.”
During the Planning Commission’s Feb. 1 meeting, the last time city officials, residents and developers openly discussed the project, opponents suggested the developer rework the plans to make it more consistent with the surrounding area and compatible with the land.
Baldwin & Sons COO Nick Lee has consistently argued that despite residents’ concerns, the project would help to address the city’s housing shortage, enable more Encinitas workers who commute from outside to live there, and help younger residents attain housing where they grew up.
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The speaker at the Planning Commission was right. The buildings are “subpar Soviet-style architecture,” and they are not appropriate for the canyon area in a narrow two lane country road. As for the word “affordable” the wiggle word that gets developers extra market rate housing; many of these projects don’t meet the state requirements of low income and very low income. Do the readers make $25,000 a year. Then you need very low income housing. It isn’t available because they are being sold to friends of the developers. Does California really need 3 million more low income housing units? No, not according to some other articles out there. Those 3 million housing units translate in high end apartments or condos that we don’t need either. In fact, it is closer to one million units or less across the state as needed housing units. Remember when you hear the “affordable” word it means at least $3,000 a month. You can thank Bonta the attorney general, Newsom, and the rest of the legislature that voted for something called the density bonus which should be rescinded now. Senator Blakespear, when mayor didn’t fight for the Encinitas community. Now the council has Tony Kranz, with Kelli Hinze, Blakespear appointee, Joy Lyndes, Blakespear appointee, and Allison Blackwell, a Tony Kranz appointee. No more appointees. Encinitas needs a new council that cares about the residents.