Vote postponed on Encinitas subdivision
ENCINITAS —- Bowing to the Fire Department’s concerns over access, the Encinitas Planning Commission postponed

action Thursday on a proposed nine-home subdivision on Hermes Avenue.

ENCINITAS —- Bowing to the Fire Department’s concerns over access, the Encinitas Planning Commission postponed action Thursday on a proposed nine-home subdivision on Hermes Avenue.

The commission voted 4-0 to continue the hearing to March 15. Commissioner Doug Avis was absent.

Anita Pupping, senior deputy fire marshal, told commissioners that planters at the entrance and in the cul-de-sac of a private road could hinder fire engines from reaching two of the nine planned homes.

The matter now is in the hands of developer Jed Staley and the Fire Department.

A landscaped circle in the proposed cul-de-sac was a “really nice element” of the proposal, Commissioner Gene Chapo said, adding that he wanted to review an alternate plan before voting on it.

Throughout the two-hour hearing, commissioners and Staley debated that and other elements of a project that exceeds local zoning by applying the so-called state “density bonus law.”

Local zoning would permit six homes on the 0.97-acre site, but the density bonus entitles Staley to build nine, as long as one of them is set aside for a low-income household.

Enacted in 2005 with heavy support from real estate interests, the law allows developments to exceed local limits by up to 35 percent. In so doing, the law allows for smaller yards, less parking and other relaxations of local ordinances.

Commissioners noted that the low-income home would be the smallest in the subdivision, would occupy the smallest lot and would be the only one with a one-car garage.

The project, Chapo said, “should not show any discrimination from one unit to the next.”

Staley, a Cardiff resident, defended the proposal. He told the commission that landscaping would capture some stormwater runoff before it washes onto Hermes, a road without storm drains.

He also said that he had originally applied for a 10-lot subdivision, but was forced to reduce the count to nine when the Planning Department changed its method of computing the density bonus. For months, the department had assured him that a 10-lot project would be permissible, he said.

“It seemed terribly unfair at the time,” said Staley, who appealed the matter unsuccessfully to the City Council.

Michael Murphy, who lives on the same block on Hermes, was unsympathetic.

In stating his opposition, Murphy said: “My hands are tied by (the density bonus law). I see it as a shoehorned project, where we’re cramming as many places as possible onto the property.”

“I find it really hard when my dream impacts a neighbor,” responded Staley. “It’s an unpleasant experience because I see it so differently than Michael does. It’s not my intention to destroy the neighborhood. It’s my intention to make it better.”