A decision on whether to uphold the Planning Commission’s approval of a massive apartment project will wait until Feb. 12 — several months after the new City Council members are sworn into office. “The city’s experiencing leadership change, and I think it’s best that we not put (the new leaders) in a box,” Mayor Tony Kranz said, after making the motion last Wednesday to postpone debate and seek more information on the project. The council had been scheduled that night to vote on appeals filed by two opponents’ groups — the Supporters Alliance of Environmental Responsibility and the Encinitas Citizens for Responsible Development. The groups contend that the Planning Commission didn’t follow state environmental laws when it voted Oct. 3 to approve permits for the project. The four-story, two-building, apartment complex is proposed for a 12-acre site along Quail Gardens Drive, just north of its intersection with Encinitas Boulevard. Developer Baldwin & Sons is seeking permit approval under a state law that allows developers of higher-density projects exemptions from some city building standards, including height limits, in exchange for setting aside some of the housing for low-income tenants. Ninety of the planned 448 apartments are proposed to be set aside for low-income people. Known as Quail Meadows, the apartment project is one of a number of controversial, high-density housing proposals now working their way through the city approval process. Conflict over housing development was a key issue in the November election, and the makeup of the City Council is shifting as a result of the election. In mid-December, the city will swear in a new mayor and two new council members, who all campaigned together on a platform calling for Encinitas to do more to fight back against the state’s high-density housing mandates. Current Councilmember Bruce Ehlers has been elected mayor. When he’s sworn into his new position Dec. 10, his current council seat will be vacant. That vacant seat is the reason the council decided to pick Feb. 12 as the date for the continued hearing on the Quail Meadows project, Ehlers said. That’s is the soonest that there likely will be four people on the council who can hear the item, and that’s only the case if the new council decides to fill the vacant council spot by appointment, rather than going to an election, he said. The only council member who is keeping her current seat — Joy Lyndes — can’t participate in the Quail Meadows debate due to a conflict of interest. She lives near the project site. As they made their motion to postpone Wednesday, council members said they wanted the two groups who filed the appeals and the developer representatives to attend the Feb. 12th meeting with more information about state environmental quality act issues. “We’re going to have a wide open calendar, so we will have plenty of time,” Ehlers said as he encouraged the overflow crowd to return Feb. 12.