A group of parents urged Encinitas officials Wednesday to quickly resolve a dispute between the city and the Encinitas Union School District over construction permits for the recently begun Paul Ecke-Central Elementary renovation project.
Read more El Cajon leaders weigh options for potential acquisition of Parkway Plaza, including eminent domain
Speaking at a City Council meeting, the parents said they didn’t care whether the school district or the city was at fault for the current conflict, nor did they care whether partisan politics was involved, as some people have contended. The parents, particularly those with children who would be sixth-graders next school year, said they just wanted their school to reopen in August 2027 as originally planned.
They asked city officials to “think outside the box,” put the issue on a future council agenda, and make the permitting issues the city’s highest priority.
“No one here is trying to put blame on anyone, there are probably mistakes on both sides,” said parent Allison Lantz, adding that she voted for the current council majority and its members would “really look great” if they could resolve the situation quickly.
Lantz, who is an attorney, said she wanted both parties to avoid litigation. Area taxpayers will “get hit twice” if the school district and the city continue spending money on lawyers and legal paperwork, she and other parents said.
“If we go to litigation, everybody loses,” said Mary Anne Mendenhall, who is a parent of two current Paul Ecke-Central students and a childhood friend of Councilmember Luke Shaffer.
She stressed that construction expenses are soaring and they’re likely to go even higher in the next year or two. If the project faces a two-year delay, the district’s $60 million construction project may increase by $9 million, said Mendenhall, who has relatives who’ve worked in the construction business.
Earlier this month, EUSD officials posted a project update on a school web page devoted to the construction work. The notice stated that there have been permitting delays, particularly with obtaining a city demolition permit this summer, and district officials now do not anticipate that Paul Ecke-Center will reopen in time for the start of the 2027-28 school year.
By the end of the summer, the district did obtain the permits it needed for the first phase of work, which includes site demolition, rough grading and underground utility work. Permits for the second phase, which includes all the building construction, plus some off-site work including roadway improvements, are “currently under review” by the city, and so no date has yet been set for that part of the project to begin, the district notice states.
“As with any major construction project involving multiple regulatory agencies, timelines can evolve as work progresses,” the notice continues. “Although it’s unfortunate we won’t be able to reopen in August 2027, we will keep pushing to return students back to PEC as soon as possible.”
Plans call for completely rebuilding much of the campus, but an old schoolhouse on the property is being preserved and renovated. Due to the construction project, the school’s kindergarten-through-third-grade students are attending El Camino Creek Elementary and the fourth-through-sixth-grade students are attending Park Dale Lane Elementary this school year.
Just before the parents spoke Wednesday, City Manager Jennifer Campbell told them that Encinitas is “absolutely committed” to getting the project going and added that city officials recently have said this to district officials. City employees have had at least a dozen meetings with district representatives since May to craft “safe, workable solutions to some of the issues we are having with this project,” Campbell said.
“Development in Encinitas is not necessarily easy, even for school districts,” she said.
The city’s issues include potential for traffic congestion on Vulcan Avenue during school drop-off and pick-up periods, and whether the project’s stormwater drainage plans are satisfactory, Campbell said. She added that Encinitas created its own Paul Ecke-Central project web page earlier that day and will be posting updates there.
After the parents spoke, Mayor Bruce Ehlers told them that he recently met with EUSD representatives and told them “how we’ve been bending over backwards” to resolve the permitting issues. However, he said, Encinitas does have various issues with the project. Among other things, the city wants to prevent a traffic backup problem on Vulcan Avenue similar to the one that’s plagued Orpheus Avenue since the Starbucks opened near Interstate 5 some years ago, he said.
Read more Outdoors: Energetic songbird an adorable sight to behold
