Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Special election wins power for the people of Encinitas

They, not councilmembers, will decide density and height zoning matters

With an extremely high voter turnout for a one-issue special election, over 40 percent of Encinitas’ voters turned out on June 18 to express their opinion on Proposition A — the Right to Vote Initiative.

A classic fight between community activists and developers, the initiative requires the city to put to a vote any proposed “up zoning” and maximum-building-height increases in development plans.

The initiative passed with 51.85 percent of the vote. The slim victory is not expected to change much when the remaining provisional and absentee ballots are counted.

The initiative’s signature-gathering campaign began last year when the then–empaneled, pro-development city council began working on updating the city’s general plan. The proposed plan would have allowed the addition of mixed-use residential and offices, primarily as second stories on top of existing shopping centers along the El Camino Real corridor. It would have doubled the density around the major arterial roadway.

Sponsored
Sponsored

As the signature gathering began, voters in last November’s 2012 general election replaced two of the four pro-development councilpersons with pro-community-rights candidates. The bigger-is-not-better sympathizers then had a three-to-two council majority.

But the signature gatherers continued their efforts with the objective to write into law the requirement for a public vote on zoning issues pertaining to density and height, thus removing authority from the five-person council.

The grassroots organization’s success in getting the initiative to the ballot caused a bit of a rift between the new councilmembers and the voters that elected them in November. All five councilmembers, upon the advice of the city’s legal council and staff recommendations, came out against Prop. A. This surprised the voter base that had just put their two new councilpersons into office.

Lots of money from shopping-center owners, developers, and out-of-area real estate political action committees was dumped into the “No on A” campaign. The Encinitas Right to Vote organization hung out in front of those same shopping centers, encouraging a “Yes on A” vote.

Former Encinitas mayors Pam Slater-Price, Sheila Cameron, Dennis Holz, and Gail Hano all endorsed Prop. A. As retired San Diego County supervisor Slater-Price stated, this was the most important election in the city’s history, next to the 1986 incorporation vote.

Former mayors Christy Guerin and Jerome Stocks opposed Prop. A.

Jim Kydd, publisher of the weekly Coast News, took a big gamble in editorially endorsing Prop. A. In times before the 1980s incorporation, when former local newspaper the Coast Dispatch would endorse a slow-growth candidate or issue, every one of the city’s real estate agencies would boycott the paper and pull their advertising for two weeks. No such protest is planned this time around.

The special election cost the city around $400,000. Law mandated the special election because the initiative petition was signed by more than 15 percent of the city’s registered voters. Had the tally been between 10 percent (minimum to qualify) and 14.9 percent, the initiative would have had to wait for a general election in June or November of 2014.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Two poems by Marvin Bell

“To Dorothy” and “The Self and the Mulberry”

With an extremely high voter turnout for a one-issue special election, over 40 percent of Encinitas’ voters turned out on June 18 to express their opinion on Proposition A — the Right to Vote Initiative.

A classic fight between community activists and developers, the initiative requires the city to put to a vote any proposed “up zoning” and maximum-building-height increases in development plans.

The initiative passed with 51.85 percent of the vote. The slim victory is not expected to change much when the remaining provisional and absentee ballots are counted.

The initiative’s signature-gathering campaign began last year when the then–empaneled, pro-development city council began working on updating the city’s general plan. The proposed plan would have allowed the addition of mixed-use residential and offices, primarily as second stories on top of existing shopping centers along the El Camino Real corridor. It would have doubled the density around the major arterial roadway.

Sponsored
Sponsored

As the signature gathering began, voters in last November’s 2012 general election replaced two of the four pro-development councilpersons with pro-community-rights candidates. The bigger-is-not-better sympathizers then had a three-to-two council majority.

But the signature gatherers continued their efforts with the objective to write into law the requirement for a public vote on zoning issues pertaining to density and height, thus removing authority from the five-person council.

The grassroots organization’s success in getting the initiative to the ballot caused a bit of a rift between the new councilmembers and the voters that elected them in November. All five councilmembers, upon the advice of the city’s legal council and staff recommendations, came out against Prop. A. This surprised the voter base that had just put their two new councilpersons into office.

Lots of money from shopping-center owners, developers, and out-of-area real estate political action committees was dumped into the “No on A” campaign. The Encinitas Right to Vote organization hung out in front of those same shopping centers, encouraging a “Yes on A” vote.

Former Encinitas mayors Pam Slater-Price, Sheila Cameron, Dennis Holz, and Gail Hano all endorsed Prop. A. As retired San Diego County supervisor Slater-Price stated, this was the most important election in the city’s history, next to the 1986 incorporation vote.

Former mayors Christy Guerin and Jerome Stocks opposed Prop. A.

Jim Kydd, publisher of the weekly Coast News, took a big gamble in editorially endorsing Prop. A. In times before the 1980s incorporation, when former local newspaper the Coast Dispatch would endorse a slow-growth candidate or issue, every one of the city’s real estate agencies would boycott the paper and pull their advertising for two weeks. No such protest is planned this time around.

The special election cost the city around $400,000. Law mandated the special election because the initiative petition was signed by more than 15 percent of the city’s registered voters. Had the tally been between 10 percent (minimum to qualify) and 14.9 percent, the initiative would have had to wait for a general election in June or November of 2014.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The danger of San Diego's hoarders

The $1 million Flash Comics #1
Next Article

Big swordfish, big marlin, and big money

Trout opener at Santee Lakes
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader