The Encinitas City Council postponed plans Wednesday to put a vehicle barrier on a Coast Highway 101 roundabout due to liability concerns, but gave the green light to renovating downtown’s “Encinitas” sign.
In June, the council had voted to put protective metal bollards around part of the roundabout, which is located at El Portal Street’s intersection with Coast Highway in Leucadia. Those bollards were to get a special beautification treatment — wooden sleeves would cover the green metal posts — because the roundabout is within the Leucadia Streetscape renovation area.
“Any fixed object, I would recommend against” putting between the curb and sidewalk area of the traffic circle roundabout because it could become a flying projectile in a collision, city engineering department director Dan Nutter told the council.
Nutter suggested using a low, brown-colored metal guard rail around the edges of the roundabout, saying it would better deflect vehicle collisions and keep vehicles in the roadway.
Council members were divided over that idea. Councilmembers Joy Lyndes, Jim O’Hara and Marco San Antonio said they weren’t supportive of it in part because of appearance issues, while Mayor Bruce Ehlers and Councilmember Luke Shaffer said they thought it was a better approach than the bollards.
Ultimately, the council unanimously decided to continue exploring the city’s options, plus look into the cost of placing lighting within the roadway pavement to alert night-time drivers about the approaching roundabout.
The roundabout saw at least 18 vehicle collisions in the first year and a half after it opened in 2022, and records indicate that the vehicle accidents primarily occurred late on weekend nights. They often appeared to involve drunken drivers, city officials have said.
In other action Wednesday, the council approved, without comment, plans to renovate the lighted “Encinitas” sign that has hung over Coast Highway 101 at the entrance to the city’s downtown for more than two decades. The sign is a replica of one that hung over the roadway in the 1920s and 1930s.
The renovation plans call for replacing the sign’s corroded letters and converting the lighting to an LED system. Replacing the lettering is estimated to cost about $47,600, while the LED conversion is expected to be about $123,400, a city staff report states.
The contractor for the job will be YESCO, a 100-year-old company known for creating the iconic “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign in the 1950s.
Also on Wednesday, the council:
Agreed to table a request by Ubicquia Inc. for a 25-year licensing agreement that would allow the company to install small wireless communication equipment on top of the city’s light poles. Company representatives did not attend the council meeting, and council members said they had many unanswered questions about the proposal.
Voted 3-2, with O’Hara and San Antonio opposed, to back the city Youth Commission’s unanimous recommendation that opposed adding alternate members to its board. O’Hara said adding alternates would foster mentoring and permit a middle schooler who attended Wednesday’s council meeting to gain a spot on the commission. The change would have required amending the city’s municipal code, a multi-month process.
Voted 4-1, with Lyndes opposed, to delay executing a memorandum of understanding with the organizers of the annual Encinitas EcoFest. O’Hara said he would like the city to run the event — currently planned for May 3 at Encinitas Community Park — instead of the current private nonprofit. Ehlers said he would like to combine EcoFest with a city-run, sustainability event, and possibly also with the car-free Cyclovia event.
Originally Published: October 16, 2025 at 2:06 PM PDT