The City of Encinitas violated the Coastal Act and its own land use plan in approving a development project.

This past summer, a local activist alerted EHL to a project in Encinitas, a small city along the San Diego coast. The applicant proposed to pave over southern maritime chaparral, occupied by threatened California gnatcatchers. This now-rare vegetation occurs in the narrow coastal fog belt.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had written to the City pointing out the inconsistency with Encinitas’ draft portion of the Multiple Habitat Conservation Program, a regional plan to reconcile biological and development needs. However, the applicant and the City did not redesign the project to shift density to other portions of the site, as is commonly done.

Furthermore, this habitat is strictly protected under the Coastal Act, in which it is termed Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area, or ESHA. The City – completely without basis – claimed that it was under no obligation to identify ESHA.  Rather, the courts have held that the CEQA process must be used for this purpose.

Also, instead of turning to less sensitive infill locations, the City chose to rely on this rare habitat as a place to meet its regional housing requirements.

Despite comment letters and calls for re-design, the City approved the project in September 2023. Represented by the Chatten-Brown Law Group, EHL filed suit under CEQA and other statutes. As always, EHL will seek solutions with the City and the applicant to serve both environmental and housing needs.