Encinitas

Encinitas City Council members have lifted a ban on sewer hookups in the southern portion of the city, conceding that the moratorium they imposed in the Cardiff Sanitation District in October was based on faulty information.

The sewer hookup ban was imposed after reports indicated that the district had exceeded its capacity at the San Elijo sewage treatment plant--which it shares with Solana Beach--by 420,000 gallons a day.

On Monday, however, consultant Matt Tibbetts said his research showed that the district was not over capacity. Instead, the city has as many as 450,000 gallons a day of available capacity. Tibbetts, who conducted a six-week study on operation of the plant, blamed the trouble on an inaccurate effluent flow meter in the Cardiff system.

The council’s unanimous action late Monday clears the way for the release of more than 300 sewer connection permits held up by the ban. But developers still will be unable to proceed with projects unless they are exempted from the citywide building moratorium, also imposed Oct. 1, the day Encinitas officially became a city.

Mayor Marjorie Gaines said that moratorium, put in place to give the newly incorporated city time to establish a design review system, could be lifted as soon as next week.