ENCINITAS — The Encinitas City Council voted to remove controversial features along a stretch of Santa Fe Drive, redoing a recently completed overhaul that will cost more than $3 million after months of back-and-forth debate between residents and public officials.
The changes affect approximately two-thirds of a mile of Santa Fe Drive, between Interstate 5 and Evergreen Drive, running directly south of San Dieguito Academy, the largest high school in Encinitas.
On Wednesday, the City Council voted to widen vehicle lanes from 10 to 11 feet; eliminate the roadside planter boxes and the separated bike lane on the south side of the road (although the protected lane on the school side will remain); and convert the 46 back-in parking spaces into 44 to 47 parallel spots.
City staff presented three redesign options and will return with a final plan for approval at a future meeting. The council selected “Option B,” the most expensive of the three, at an estimated cost between $3.4 million and $3.6 million, according to city documents.
Between state grants and city general funds, Encinitas has approximately $4 million available for construction.
Since its installation, the Santa Fe Drive project has been a local flashpoint and political football. State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, a former Encinitas mayor, helped secure $3 million in state funding for the project, which was completed in April.
In August, Blakespear hosted an event supporting preservation of most of the roadway changes.
During the event, Blakespear said tearing up Santa Fe Drive would be “totally misguided” and a “tremendous waste of general fund money.”
“The city should focus on real problems and prioritize the other things that are happening in the city that are very important,” she said.
Current Mayor Bruce Ehlers said redoing the project could ultimately save money if the new design prevents “multi-million dollar lawsuits potentially.”
“This really comes down to if the current council believes something is not properly designed or executed, how long do we have to wait after something’s built to fix it?” Ehlers asked rhetorically. “I can answer that question: we don’t have to wait at all. Prior councils cannot bind our actions at all.”
Deputy Mayor Joy Lyndes cast the lone dissenting vote in the 4-1 decision. She is the only member of the current council who also served in September 2022, when the Western Phase Improvements project was unanimously approved.
At that time, Lyndes said, “the safety and continuity of pedestrian and bicycle circulation near the school was my top priority.”
On Wednesday, Lyndes said she opposed widening the vehicle lanes because it would increase speeds and create less safe conditions near a busy high school.
“I want to keep this just the way it is because that’s the safest for the kids,” she said. “Kids are over cars in my book.”
The hours-long public comment period drew a nearly even split between residents who wanted to retain the current design and those supporting the changes.
Rimga Viskanta, a trustee for San Dieguito Union High School District, said the yearlong construction caused “significant traffic disruptions” and that not enough time had passed to assess its safety impact.
“Our primary request is simple: please maintain Santa Fe and its current design for now,” Viskanta said.
Steve Linke, a former member of Carlsbad’s Traffic Safety and Mobility Commission, identified 14 conflict points — intersections and driveways — on the north side of that stretch of road and 19 on the south side.
Linke said that the density was too high for separated bikeways and that the overall design was too cramped for drivers, potentially creating a cascading effect.
“Drivers tend to make poor safety decisions when there’s congestion,” Linke said.
Councilmember Marco San Antonio said he had heard of three recent accidents and that the council could not delay action any longer “because that’s more time for accidents to happen.”
Councilmember Luke Shaffer said the current back-in parking design relies too heavily on driver timing and competence. He added that one oversized van could significantly impair visibility along the road under the existing layout.
Councilmember Jim O’Hara said cost concerns were exaggerated and that when it comes to child safety, “anyone in this city” would spend the money “to get rid of that injury in a heartbeat.”
“Let’s get away from politics and get away from pushing the fear button,” O’Hara said.
2 comments
Fixing this fiasco is worth every penny.
The De-Blakespearing of Encinitas continues, it’s time to quicken the pace.
If “drivers tend to make poor safety decisions when there’s congestion,” doesn’t it make more sense to lower speeds rather than raise them? Like, to reduce crash severity?
“The current back-in parking design relies too heavily on driver timing and competence,” stated Councilmember Luke Shaffer, renowned expert in back-in parking.
And when it comes to child safety, Councilmember Jim O’Hara said, “anyone in this city” would spend the money “to get rid of [a potential] injury in a heartbeat.”
Just not San Dieguito Trustee Rimga Viskanta. ‘“Our primary request is simple: please maintain Santa Fe and its current design for now,” she pleaded.
Now, $3.6 million of our tax dollars will go to removing a just-completed $4.1 million safe street design in in front of a 2,000-student school, in order to start over from zero.
That equals $7.7 million in evaporated tax dollars, plus an unknown amount for the obstetrician-designed replacement to come.* Likely an easy 10 mil.
Mayor Ehlers hopes to prevent some potential “multi-million dollar lawsuits.” Mr. Mayor, how about putting that $3.6 million-plus into a money market fund to cover these speculative lawsuits? Did your attorney not suggest that removing a world-class street safety design and raising speed limits in front of a school might actually increase the city’s financial liability?
Here’s hoping this foolish decision hits some speed bumps so the approaching campaign season can bury it.
* https://thecoastnews.com/safety-concerns-delays-plague-santa-fe-drive-project/