San Diego county real estate
City: Encinitas


A Costal-Inland city that mixes th old with the new. Situated between Solana Beach and Carlsbad.

School rankings generally in 80th and 90th percentiles, indicating strong support for education. Opening schools as population increases.

Older kids attend schools in San Dieguito Union High District, which has rankings hitting the 99th percentile, tops in state, and serves several towns. La Costa Canyon High School opened in 1996 in Carlsbad but it draws many Encinitas students. It includes library, performing arts center, two-story gym. Views of hills. Cost $43 million. Encinitas Elementary district recently passed bond to renovate schools and wire them for high tech.

Mira Costa Community College runs a satellite campus in Encinitas, a nice plus for the town. Community colleges offer many classes and activities at low paces, about $36 for average class.

Crime rate low. One homicide in 1997, two in 1996, zero in 1995 and 1994, one in 1993, three in 1992, reports the San Diego Association of Governments. The counts for the previous years are three, zero, three, four, and zero. Patrolled by sheriff's deputies. Sheriff's substation is located in town. Between 1993 and 1997, crime rate dropped 39 percent.

In California, cities, as legal entities, rarely spring out of the blue. Usually they start as hamlets or villages governed from the county seat by the board of supervisors—politicians representing the whole county. By and by, the locals start disagreeing with supervisors over the quality of municipal services or, more than likely, planning and the pace of development. The villages then incorporate as cities, a legal entity in California, and take over their own planning and services or contract with agencies to provide certain services.

Encinitas incorporated in 1986, drawing together the towns of Cardiff-By-The-Sea, Leucadia, Olivenhain, and old and new Encinitas. To soothe feelings, the old towns were encouraged to keep their identities and frequently you'll run across brochures or news articles that talk about Cardiff or Leucadia as if each stood alone. To be accurate, these are now neighborhoods of Encinitas. In many ways, the coastal neighborhoods are similar: They share the same thoroughfares and, to some extent, the same housing styles, a mixture of cottages, custom homes and suburban models, many old, some new. Also mobile homes, townhouses and apartments. But there are differences.

Leucadia, founded in 1885 by English settlers who were fond of Greece —some streets have Greek names—tends to narrow streets and cottages and ocean view homes. In Cardiff, the lots are smaller and the bluffs disappear.

The neighborhoods have attracted retirees and artists and everyday people who want to live by the coast. Many of the homes are small, many lend themselves to remodeling. Antique shops, restaurants and grocery stores line First Street, the Old Coast Highway 101. The state has purchased much of the beach for park land. Batiquitos Lagoon marks the northern boundary, San Elijo Lagoon (a regional preserve), the southern border. Occasionally a few of the homes (or parts of them) built close to the Pacific slide into the Pacific.

Moving east, the terrain rises and, between the railroad and the freeway, many of the homes command ocean views. Going further east, beyond the freeway, hills and mesas take over and the Pacific ambiance fades, to be replaced by suburban countryside. Thousands of homes. Landscaped, well cared for, one and two-story, with two or three car garages, utilities undergrounded, many homes with views—upper-middle-class.

Of the 20,782 residential units counted in Encinitas by the 1990 census, about 70 percent of them were built between 1970 and 1990. Here's where you'll find the new. On the eastern edge of the city, the housing eases off into large lots and horse country. Some mansions. The state in 1998 counted 22,803 housing units, of which 12,174 were single-family detached, 4,377 single attached, 5,530 multiples, and 722 mobile homes. Population in 1998 was estimated at 58,915. Shops and malls at El Camino Real and Encinitas Boulevard. Home Depot and Circuit City (electronics). Good employment base: about 20,000 jobs.

Commute to downtown San Diego is 22 to 26 miles. When traffic is congested, those are long miles. Commute got better in 1995 with start of commuter rail between Oceanside and downtown San Diego. Stops at Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Beach, Sorrento Valley (near La Jolla). At Oceanside, connection can be made to commuter service to Orange and Los Angeles counties. Called the Coaster.

On summer days, many tourists will be found in the coastal sections, spending dollars but also twanging a few nerves. City Hall is sprucing up old downtown in effort to attract more visitors. Waves have stripped sand from beach. Voters in 1998 raised hotel tax to buy sand. Some complaints about internal traffic.

Eleven parks, 10 public beaches, trails, Boys and Girls Club, large YMCA, skateboard park, sports programs for kids and adults, Little League, soccer, etc. Small museum. Quail Botanical Gardens. Marine life refuge. About six miles of coastline. New city golf course gives discounts to residents.