Tony Kranz
Encinitas Mayor
We are grateful to the candidates who responded. We received responses from Destiny Preston, Allison Blackwell, Tony Kranz, and Jim O’Hara. We did not receive responses from Bruce Ehlers and Luke Shaffer. We will post their responses if they provide them.
Issue #1
Slower speeds reduce injuries and fatalities. Encinitas has been rolling out infrastructure treatments around town, such as roundabouts and speed humps as well as lowering speed limits following the passage of AB43. Other measures for reducing speed include traffic enforcement, stop signs, and traffic calming, including lane narrowing, striping, speed tables, chokers, and chicanes.
Do you think reducing speeds should be a city goal?
Yes
If yes, what do you think are the most effective ways of reducing speeds?
A combination of traffic calming and enforcement.
Which streets do you think are in the highest need of reduced speeds?
The ones with the most cars. As we see the effects of the speed reductions recently adopted as a result of AB 43, there will need to be data gathered to see which areas need more focus.
Issue #2
The El Camino Real corridor south of Santa Fe is constructed essentially as an in-town highway. A high schooler’s recent fatality there indicates how unsafe it is for those not in motor vehicles.
Do you think changes are warranted for this corridor?
Yes
If yes, what would you propose?
It needs the focus of the City Traffic Engineer and other experts to reimagine what can be done to make it less of a high-speed corridor and more inviting for other modes of travel (biking and walking).
Issue #3
Mixed-use developments combining residential and light commercial, such as retail, have the opportunity to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMTs) by making destinations closer to where people live.
Are there any areas in Encinitas in which you support changing zoning in order to facilitate this type of development?
Mixed-use zoning is allowed in the 101 corridor under the existing Downtown and North 101 specific plans. There are also two new state laws, AB 2011 and SB 6, that have made it possible for mixed use development on several other major arterials, such as El Camino Real.
Issue #4
Encinitas’s city code identifies parking minimum mandates for different types of development. Parking mandates eliminate the ability of businesses to right-size their parking allotment, often leading to unnecessarily wasted land and more dispersed facilities that are less conducive to walking and biking. State law prohibits parking mandates within 1/2 mile of a major transit station (in Encinitas, this includes only our downtown transit station), allowing local businesses to determine how to best use their property while increasing the bikeability, walkability, and transit mobility of the area.
Under what conditions and at what other locations would you support the removal of parking minimum mandates?
The removal of parking minimum mandates for residential development has effectively happened as a result of most projects using Density Bonus law, which greatly reduces the requirements.
Issue #5
The restaurant street-side eateries (streeteries) add to the vibrancy and people-friendliness of downtown and have been economically beneficial to the restaurants, but have been objected to by some non-restaurant businesses due to loss of street parking. One method that cities have used to manage parking is the implementation of Parking Benefits Districts (PBDs), in which metered parking rates are set at a price to encourage turnover and parking availability while feeding revenue back into the immediate neighborhood.
What is your opinion about such a program?
Paying for parking is controversial and a difficult subject for the Coastal Commission, but there is a high cost for free parking. (See book by Donald Shoup.)
How would you manage parking better in downtown Encinitas to enhance its people-friendliness and vibrancy?
I would work to add more parking at the city hall site and enhance pedestrian movements into downtown from there.
Issue #6
The El Camino Real Specific Plan calls for converting parking lots to community gathering spaces, pocket parks, greenbelts, and multi-use residential and commercial re-development.
What do you like about this plan?
The opportunity to encourage greater connectivity between shopping centers and improve the biking and pedestrian experience.
What do you disagree with?
Nothing comes to mind.
Issue #7
The city has made many infrastructure improvements for bicyclists and pedestrians since incorporation, though bicycling and walking are still challenging for the 8 – 80 group of bicyclists.
For your district (or for the Mayor, the entire city), what is your top mobility infrastructure improvement that you will champion?
More separated bike facilities that serve the east/west arterials.
Issue #8
The cycle track along south Coast Hwy 101 from Cardiff to Solana Beach has increased coastal accessibility via bicycle for families and slower riders. However, it has generated a lot of controversy in the road-cycling community and was the site of a recent bicyclist fatality.
Do you believe this facility needs improvement, and if so, how?
I think the long term plan should be to continue the two way cycle track south of Chesterfield Drive to Solana Beach.
Issue #9
Encinitas will vote on whether to add a 1% sales tax to help fund the infrastructure improvement projects identified by the Infrastructure Task Force, many of which will enhance mobility around town.
If the tax doesn’t pass, how will you fund these projects?
Without an increase in revenue, most Capital Improvement Projects will not be easy to prioritize given the many projects that cost 10’s of millions of dollars that are critical infrastructure.