Plans for Route 680 Are Back Again in Encinitas--at Least for Now

Route 680, the paper road that had been on county maps for more than two decades until Encinitas city officials erased it, has been restored by a Superior Court judge who ruled that the city violated state environmental law.

Portions of the proposed four-lane highway were removed by Encinitas City Council before environmental studies were completed and before the effect of removing part of the route was aired publicly, Judge Herbert B. Hoffman said in ordering the highway route restored.

Encinitas Councilwoman Marjorie Gaines, a leader in the fight against the cross-county route, said she is not too concerned about the legal reversal.

“The judge did not rule on the merits of the matter,” Gaines said Monday. “Whatever the judge says that we have to do (to remove the highway route legally), we will do.”

Rancho Santa Fe Assn. directors brought suit against the city of Encinitas last year to restore the route, which would bypass their exclusive estate community to the north, relieving present cross-county congestion on narrow Rancho Santa Fe streets.

Walt Ekard, association manager, called the judge’s ruling a victory in the community’s fight to detour the bulk of commuter traffic from Rancho Santa Fe.

Route 680 would link Interstate 15 at Rancho Bernardo Road with Interstate 5 at Leucadia Boulevard. It would provide a new east-west route about mid-point in the 22-mile stretch between the present east-west arterials, California 78 and Miramar Road.

“I would hope that this does not become a fight between us and the city,” Ekard said. “I would hope that we can work together to find a solution, a compromise which would benefit us both.”

Gaines called the Rancho Santa Fe lawsuit unwarranted.

“They have been fighting for 20 years to keep 680 on the map,” Gaines said. “They sued the county when the Board of Supervisors tried to delete the road, and they seem willing and able to throw good money after bad.”

Jim Ashcraft, who heads the Rancho Santa Fe Assn. roads and traffic committee, countered that “no one, not the citizens of Encinitas certainly, wants to see us spending money on lawsuits. They want us to find solutions to the traffic problems that exist today. Encinitas Boulevard, El Camino Real and other roads are becoming nothing but parking lots. We all are suffering from traffic congestion and we should get together and find the solution.”

Judge Hoffman, in his opinion issued Friday, said the Encinitas City Council had violated the California Environmental Quality Act and committed an “abuse of discretion” by failing to proceed in a lawful manner and by taking an action (deleting a portion of Route 680) not supported by substantial evidence.

Hoffman also questioned whether Encinitas council members had made their decision before considering public opinion and the findings of an environmental impact report. In a footnote to his ruling, Hoffman cited the entire discussion that preceded the Encinitas council vote to delete a portion of the highway route:

“Mayor (Rick) Shea: ‘On to page 4. The issue here is Highway 680 extension east.’ (Laughter).

“Councilman (Greg) Luke speaks next: ‘I’d like to move that there be no 680 extension included.’

“Councilwoman (Anne) Omsted: ‘Second.’

“Mayor Shea: ‘Any discussion on that one?’

“Without further discussion, the motion passed 5-0.”

Hoffman said he was “particularly concerned with the substantial evidence presented suggesting that the city’s deletion of this portion of SA-680 was a foregone conclusion before the EIR process had been completed. The writing of a perfect EIR becomes a futile action if that EIR is not adequately considered by the public agency responsible for approving a project. Indeed, it is almost as if no EIR was prepared at all.”

The judge also ordered Encinitas to prepare a supplemental environmental study analyzing alternatives to the proposed route.