Letters: Encinitas housing task force a campaign stunt or real plan?

There’s only one word to describe the Affordable Housing Task Force: WEIRD.

What would citizens of Encinitas say to high density housing at the Self Realization Fellowship? In our parks? At the Pacific View Art Center? All three are included along with churches and schools on the “Consolidated Potential Sites List.”

The Affordable Housing Task Force was hastily created for unknown reasons, proposed by appointed (not elected) Deputy Mayor Allison Blackwell, District 1 candidate, and Mayor Tony Kranz, mayoral candidate. We have a state-compliant housing plan, so why were they in such a rush now to plan yet more high-density housing?

The issues with many of the locations are obvious. We just spent $6.5 million renovating the Pacific View Arts Center to great fanfare, yet it is on the list to upzone. The burn site, located just east of El Camino Real, is loaded with contaminants and would cost millions to mitigate before making it buildable.

The Self Realization Fellowship’s multiple properties, including the original bluffside home site, are on the list for upzoning.

According to Blackwell, some properties may be eliminated from the list altogether or dropped to the bottom of the list as unsuitable. If this is the case, why are they on the list at all?

The city claimed that all private property owners were contacted to gauge their interest in selling. Task force members asked to see these communications but never received them. One of the churches on the list was not approached and was shocked to find itself on the list to upzone for housing.

How many other private property owners are similarly unaware that they were named for development but never contacted by the city?

To add to the strangeness is the performance of the task force under co-chairs Blackwell and Kranz. Meetings are loosely run with little adherence to agendas. Side conversations during presentations are common, and site suitability criteria subject to change on the fly. The site selection process itself was haphazard, with people calling out locations without discussion.

The real question is whether this task force is a campaign season stunt gone wrong or a real plan that the city is planning to submit to the state. Exactly why is the city doing this?

Robert Smith
Encinitas