A legal settlement has protected rare maritime habitat along the northern San Diego coast.

The City of Encinitas has not yet formally adopted its portion of the San Diego Multiple Habitat Conservation Plan (MHCP), yet its General Plan wisely calls for consistency with it. A proposed condominium project near the Batiquitos Lagoon exceeded the plan’s guidelines for loss of a rare coastal habitat, southern maritime chaparral. 

After project approval, EHL brought litigation under CEQA. We are pleased to report that the developer and City were open to a project redesign. A settlement agreement was reached that reduces impacts to rare habitat, keeps development on one side of a small canyon, and forms an acceptable MHCP preserve segment. With off-site restoration of non-native grasses to coastal sage scrub, we expect that the local gnatcatcher population will be maintained. 

On December 4, 2024, a revised project went before the City Council, this time with EHL support, and was approved. The project will help Encinitas meet is housing goals, and with use of a state density bonus, affordable housing was included.

EHL was represented in the litigation and negotiations by the Chatten-Brown Law Group.