The City of Encinitas and the Encinitas Union School District have settled every outstanding dispute holding up construction on the $60 million rebuild of Paul Ecke-Central Elementary School, clearing the way for permits that could be issued as soon as late November. The agreement ends a months-long standoff over drainage, traffic queuing, and right-of-way issues that had left the demolished Leucadia campus sitting as an empty, unpaved lot since August.
City Manager Jennifer Campbell said construction permits could be issued by November 23, pending a state Coastal Development Permit hearing scheduled for October 27, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. A joint announcement from the city and the district said the two sides had settled disagreements over drainage, grading, vehicle drop-off and pickup traffic queuing, roadway frontage improvements, and right-of-way dedications that had stalled the project for weeks.
The resolution follows negotiations that City Manager Jennifer Campbell described as near-daily. City employees and school district representatives met almost every day for several weeks to iron out the technical disputes, the Union-Tribune reported.
A Century-Old Campus Reduced to Dirt
Paul Ecke-Central had been known as Central School 99 years earlier and had served roughly 520 students before its aging campus buildings were demolished, according to The Coast News Group. The campus predates most of Leucadia’s urban planning. With the campus gone, kindergarten-through-third-grade students began attending El Camino Creek Elementary in August, while fourth-through-sixth graders were sent to Park Dale Lane Elementary, per the Union-Tribune.
The rebuild itself amounts to a near-complete reconstruction of Paul Ecke-Central, funded by Measure Z, a voter-approved $60 million bond. The measure passed in 2024, according to Ballotpedia.
Zoning Exemption Sparked Litigation Fears
Permitting Dispute Raised Litigation Fears The dispute involved permitting and discretionary issues surrounding the rebuild. The Encinitas City Council held a closed-session meeting on September 15 to discuss potential litigation. City officials had raised concerns about stormwater drainage, traffic queuing on Vulcan Avenue, and right-of-way dedications before agreeing to issue building permits.
Those same traffic and stormwater concerns surfaced again in the Union-Tribune's account, with city officials worried about stormwater management and potential backups on Vulcan Avenue once the rebuilt school reopens. Mary Anne Mendenhall, addressing the dispute, put the stakes bluntly: “If we go to litigation, everybody loses.”
Parents and Girl Scouts Pushed for a Deal
A parent coalition called PEC ♥ ASAP launched an online petition amid concerns about rising construction costs and a forecast El Niño, per the same Coast News account. Parents argued that delays cost taxpayers twice, through both inflation and potential legal expenses. At the city council's September 23 meeting, parents asked officials to resolve the conflict quickly, hoping to keep the district's original plan to reopen the school by August 2027 on track, according to the Union-Tribune. About a dozen Paul Ecke-Central Girl Scouts also addressed the council, pressing officials to keep the project moving.
EUSD officials had reported in September that permitting delays, particularly for the city's demolition-work permit, led them to anticipate the campus would not reopen by the start of the 2027-28 school year, the Union-Tribune reported. The original project plan had called for students to return in August 2027.
Financial Oversight
The EUSD's seven-member Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee monitors Measure Z expenditures, according to the Encinitas Union School District. The committee's duties are outlined under California Education Code Section 15278(b).
The Paul Ecke-Central rebuild is the latest flashpoint for a district that has faced scrutiny on multiple fronts this year, including a $175K gender-identity lesson settlement last month. With the city-district agreement now in place, the next milestone is a Coastal Development Permit hearing set for October 27; construction permits could follow if all goes well.
