Encinitas--The Northern Reaches

San Diego magazine piece about north county's growing pains:

The Northern Reaches By Lillian Cox

Relevant excerpts:

Like Howard Beale in the 1976 movie Network, many North County residents are shouting, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” The maddening issues are interchangeable: growth, illegal immigration and gang violence.

A week before Christmas, Gemway Jewelers in the Weigand Plaza Shopping Center on El Camino Real in Encinitas was having a going-out-of-business sale. One shopper asked an employee the reason. The clerk replied, “Our landlord doubled our rent to $75,000 a year. They don’t care if we’re moving. They want to redevelop the shopping center and put shops on the first floor and apartments above. It’s all the Encinitas City Council’s fault.”

Politicians are finding themselves between a rock and a hard place, trying to please their constituents and a higher power.

“All cities are being driven by state mandates for additional housing,” says new Encinitas Councilwoman Teresa Barth. “The El Camino corridor is the next place for mixed use. Many developers are going that way.”

Last November, Barth joined Maggie Houlihan as the newest pro-environment member of the council.

“The pressure to develop and redevelop is huge,” Houlihan says. “People are salivating to tear down and rebuild Leucadia. Without the original beach cottages, the houses on Third Street that are built in the shape of boats and the Self-Realization Fellowship, Encinitas would cease to exist.” The councilmember says there’s even been discussion on exploring the possibility of developing on protected habitats.

The drive to strengthen city coffers by inviting new business has resulted in communities such as Carlsbad and Encinitas stepping on each other’s toes.

“Today, each municipality robs from the other,” Barth says. “We’ve seen it here in Encinitas Ranch, where the income is flat because of the Forum. We have Linens & Things and Barnes & Noble on our side of Leucadia Boulevard. And the Forum has Bed, Bath & Beyond and Borders on the other side.”