Encinitas City Council Ousts Planning Commissioner

ENCINITAS, CA — The Encinitas City Council unanimously voted Wednesday to remove Planning Commission Chairman and City Council candidate Bruce Ehlers from his post, citing alleged conflicts of interest. The forced resignation is effective immediately. The move was controversial, with supporters packing the Council meeting and writing hundreds of emails in support of Ehlers.

Encinitas Mayor Catherine Blakespear privately requested Ehlers’ resignation in late March after she felt he should have recused himself from debate related to the Olivenhain housing site, since he is the treasurer of a group suing the city to prevent the housing, according to the city agenda report. Ehlers refused to resign.

“Through his public statements, Mr. Ehlers has demonstrated a consistent bias that prevents him performing the core functions that are required of him, and he is unable to be an impartial adjudicator of projects that are submitted,” Blakespear wrote in a statement she posted to her Twitter page Wednesday night following the vote.

“It is simply not acceptable to have a Planning Commissioner who proposes unlawful solutions, rejects housing projects without an adequate basis, has had financial and leadership roles in community groups that sue the city, self-creates conflicts that required his recusal from considering the only project sited in his district of Olivenhain, and uses the legitimacy of his title as Planning Commissioner to undermine and subvert the city’s goals.”

The move generated widespread and vociferous criticism, including from current and former city leaders. In public remarks, former Planning Commissioner Ruben Flores called the decision “one of the most outrageous political crimes in Encinitas.” Pam Slater-Price, a former mayor of Encinitas and county supervisor, told The Coast News she found the move “outrageous” and a “political witch hunt.”

Ehlers told The Coast News the move is “purely political positioning” and a “political hatchet job.” At Wednesday's meeting, he called the council’s decision “a sad day for Encinitas,” The Encinitas Advocate reported.

Several dozen Ehlers supporters packed Wednesday’s meeting, and accused the Council of trying to “silence” a viable Council candidate with opposing viewpoints. In public comment and in many emails sent to the city, several residents praised Ehlers as uniquely knowledgeable on city issues.

“As you are no doubt aware, there are reports that the Mayor/Council is planning to fire Bruce Ehlers as Planning Commission Chair on Wednesday,” Neil Hokanson wrote. “The fact that a planning commissioner has thoughts which differ from that of our presently lockstep City Council should not be grounds for disqualification. I would further point out that Mr. Ehlers has been working diligently on behalf of our City longer than many of you have lived here. Many municipalities are pushing back against coercive State housing mandates which may or may not hold up in the fullness of time. The projects I have seen do not fit the character of their respective communities, have significant negative neighborhood attributes and do little for affordable housing.”

Peter Stern, who initially wrote to the city arguing that Ehlers was guilty of conflict of interest, changed his mind after reading a Coast News report that Ehlers had recused himself from voting on the Goodson development project.

“If the above reporting is true and Bruce Ehlers was no longer participating with the organization suing the City and he properly recused himself from participating in matter regarding the Olivenhain project, then there is no apparent conflict of interest violation here. In fact, it seems that Bruce took express action to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest to preserve the integrity of the process,” Stern wrote. “What now becomes apparent is the political and curious effort to sack Bruce Ehlers. If there is not an apparent conflict of interest present then the shabby desire to remove an intelligent independent thinker who has served our community greatly is more of an affront to our local government and Committee system then the original alleged offense.”

During the meeting, Blakespear called a 10-minute recess after audience members clapped several times, which violated a rule she set about applause during meetings.