Recent lawsuits from California’s attorney general indicate a new reality for housing development in San Diego County that could significantly reduce local control of land use.
Attorney General Rob Bonta threatened legal action against Encinitas in 2022 after the city failed to approve a housing project in Olivenhain. The city eventually complied, and grading on that project began this year.
“It took years to work through state housing law and how the city could comply with that,” Encinitas Mayor Tony Kranz said of the Olivenhain project. “Virtually nobody was happy with the outcome.”
Critics argued the development could increase traffic density to an unsafe level in the event of wildfire evacuation. Nonetheless, the attorney general pressured the city to approve the project or risk getting tied up in court.
“We spent millions of dollars on attorneys in litigation over our lack of a state-approved housing element,” Kranz said.
Ultimately, the city decided to approve the housing project to end the litigation.
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