ENCINITAS — The City Council approved plans for a native plant demonstration garden at a Leucadia park while sending proposed changes at Wiro Park in Olivenhain back for additional public input.
The project marks one of the first visible implementations of the city’s recently adopted native plant ordinance, part of a broader push to reduce water use, replace turf and encourage drought-tolerant landscaping across Encinitas.
Earlier this year, Encinitas adopted a historic native plant ordinance and approved plans for the Leucadia Oaks Native Plant Demonstration Garden, with further development assistance to come from the community.
David Norgard, the city’s parks operations manager, said Leucadia Oaks Park is a “well-loved park” with many different spaces for a variety of uses.
Plans for the park call for modeling the use of native plants and creating an educational opportunity for community members to see how their homes might incorporate similar features. The approved fiscal year 2024-25 budget included $150,000 for the design and installation of the garden, according to city documents.
Howard Pierce, a landscape architect with MW Peltz and Associates, said the native plants would be divided into three communities — oak woodland, transitional areas and pollinators — to take advantage of the site’s varying conditions.
“The oak woodland plants are typically plants that are found in forested or highly treated areas,” Pierce said. “They grow well under oaks. They adapt well to the shade that they receive because of the trees. A transitional plant would be somewhere in between — that going from full sun to part shade so they can accommodate both. And then pollinators are usually a plant that requires full sun, but that’s where all the flowers spring yearly and every year they attract butterflies, lots of wildlife, hummingbirds, that sort of thing.”
The plans also call for removing much of the turfgrass. Pierce said, “turf is highly intensive from a maintenance standpoint and also requires a lot of water — two things that are in direct contrast to what we’re trying to achieve with native plants.”
He added that several non-native trees would be removed, along with portions of an existing post-and-rail fence. The design includes new fencing and a pathway to guide visitors through the garden.
Pierce said his team would “be very careful about the existing root systems” of trees that will remain and that the irrigation system can “isolate the garden on its own system so that we can control irrigation in the native garden.”
He added that elements of the final plans are still in progress.
Mark Wisniewski, a local advocate, used additional donated time to suggest changes during public comment at the April 22 meeting when the plans were discussed.
He advocated for expanded educational components, three benches instead of the planned two, and the inclusion of a water feature for birds and other pollinators.
Wisniewski said he hopes two mature southern live oaks can be preserved, noting they are estimated at about $40,000.
“They do provide shade at different times of the day — the park bench, the table and benches are shaded,” he said. “The plant underneath it — that snapdragon, the firecracker — the Calscape website says it’s a great plant for underneath oaks and hummingbirds love it, other birds and butterflies. So, it’s already making a demonstration native plant garden just by leaving it in place at no cost.”
Wisniewski also noted the plan did not call for preserving existing native plants.
“We feel confident in being able to work with Mark if that’s an acceptable direction to council,” Norgard said.
In response to a question from Council Member Marco San Antonio, Norgard said he believes the proposed changes can be completed within the existing budget.
Deputy Mayor Jim O’Hara asked that, in addition to Wisniewski, other community members be allowed to collaborate on the final design, including members of Native Plants for Encinitas.
“I just want to expand who gets the invite to work with staff,” O’Hara said. “Not just to isolate it to one person, as much as that person has done a ton of work and deserves a ton of credit. This is a community garden.”
Wiro Park
At the same meeting, the council sent proposed changes to Wiro Park in Olivenhain back to the Planning Commission to gather more public feedback.
The plans call for replacing the existing sand play area with a rubberized surface and upgrading the climbing structure and swings, according to city documents.
Kristi Clark, one of the first residents of the surrounding neighborhood, said Wiro remains a “gathering spot and a celebration location and a place for my community, my children, and now my grandchildren to enjoy.”
Clark said few nearby residents were notified or aware of the proposed changes. She said the neighborhood, which frequently walks to and uses the park, would like a more active role in shaping its future.
“What we’ve had has been superb and we want to make sure that the next 30 years gets that same kind of treatment for the next group of families and stuff that are coming through,” Clark said.
Based on a recommendation from O’Hara, Mayor Bruce Ehlers moved to send the discussion to the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission.
Ehlers, an Olivenhain resident, said he would also help notify neighbors.
“I’ll help get that neighborhood notified because I’m nearby,” he said. “I just want to make sure we do it right.”
San Antonio said that as a parent of young children, he has visited the park and wants to see more local input moving forward.
“I definitely think that we should bring this back just so the residents all around the park are able to at least put their two cents worth in,” San Antonio said. “I know we’re never going to agree on everything, but we can make sure that we find that nice, even compromise.”
