Conservation to Start 2020

By Frank Landis, Chair Conservation Committee

Happy New Year! It’s going to be a busy spring.  Here’s what’s going on.

CalFire’s Vegetation Treatment Program (VTP)

The lovely, thoughtful people at the Board of Forestry issued the final EIR for the VTP the day before Thanksgiving, presumably so that it would be certified by the Board of Forestry at their December 11 meeting, presumably (again) so that anyone contemplating litigating it would have to work through the holidays, since you’ve got 30 days to sue on an EIR once it has been certified. Ruining holidays is normal behavior for the VTP campaign, and I’ve lost track of how many I’ve had trashed by them pulling stunts like this.  

Oddly enough, the flood of negative testimony and lengthy letters that reached the Board of Forestry caused them to put the VTP decision on hold until the end of the year. That was kind of them. Presumably they’ll pass it as the legislature requires them to do.  

After that some environmental organization may well file suit.  Considering that the CEQA problems get much worse if the VTP is passed (basically, dozens of poorly documented, hard-to-fight projects every year hereafter), I strongly urge you to donate to any group that is fighting this. Unfortunately, I can’t be less cryptic than that right now.

No on Newland Sierra in the March 3 Election

This shouldn’t be a surprise, since CNPS is a co-litigant against the Newland Sierra project. The critical point here is to remember to vote NO on Newland Sierra, since the referendum is phrased to ask voters to approve the project that the County Board of Supervisors put on the ballot. CNPS recommends YES on SOS (see below), NO on Newland. Here’s the scoop. First, the referendum (Measure B on the March 3, 2020 ballot) was radically amended by the County Supervisors on November 19 to read as follows: “Shall the San Diego County General Plan Amendment PDS2015-GPA-15-001, approved by the Board of Supervisors for the development of the Newland Sierra Project, be approved? The existing General Plan allows 99 homes and up to 2,000,000 square feet of commercial with open space. General Plan Amendment PDS2015-GPA-15-001 would authorize up to 2,199 homes and 1,777,684 square feet of commercial. The approved Newland Sierra Project includes a planned community of 2,135 homes, a school site, 81,000 square feet of retail, 36 acres of parks and 1,209 acres of open space.”

Three of the Supervisors (Gaspar, Desmond, and Cox) thought this language clarified what the measure was about. I happened to disagree, but it’s hard to argue with three people who are so radically pro-development.

In any case, I urge you to vote NO. In case you haven’t gotten past the holiday political discussions with family, the reasons are as follows:

On the CNPS side, it does cause damage to native plants, including several sensitive species. It also blocks the wildlife corridor up the west side of the I-15, which will become increasingly important for plants migrating to deal with climate change (migrating in the sense of their seeds being borne by animals in the corridor). While the project site hasn’t burned in a while, if it does burn, getting everyone out safely will be quite challenging, as the exits are going to jam fast. Also, since there’s little local employment, every resident will have to drive to work, which will emit greenhouse gases.

On the planning side, there are numerous problems. First off, there’s no affordable housing, because it’s difficult to build inexpensive buildings in a steep-sided canyon. It may actually decrease affordable housing in the area, since the proposed expanded access to the I-15 might well destroy an existing trailer parkwhere people of low incomes currently live.Speaking of the I-15, the Newland  development would jam the highway at Deer Springs Road, but that part of the project got piecemealed off (possibly illegally) as a separate CalTrans project that’s kind of slinking along under the radar right now. 

I could go on, but the general point is that the General Plan has a lot of affordable housing slated. Newland Sierra is a General Plan Amendment to put in a lot of high-end housing. I’d suggest simply voting against Newland Sierra to tell the County to follow its own general plan and build more affordable housing.

Save Our San Diego (SOS) will be Measure A on March 3

The measure you will be asked to vote on (and I hope gets approved) is “Shall this Initiative be adopted for the purpose of amending the San Diego County General Plan to require voter approval for General Plan amendments that increase residential density for property designated by the General Plan as Semi-Rural or Rural?” This will be Measure A on the March 3, 2020 ballot.

That’s pretty straightforward. Supervisor Desmond had the interesting idea that this was actually confusing. He wanted something like the following motion approved at the December 11 meeting, for a last-second update to the voting guide: “Shall this initiative amending the San Diego County General Plan to require a countywide vote, in addition to the current county approval process, when any General Plan amendment seeks to add 6 or more homes in rural or semi-rural areas, effective through 2038, excluding purely non-residential developments and developments in villages, located in areas such as Julian, Ramona and Alpine; to prohibit density transfers from higher to lower density parcels; and, to prohibit new Specific Plans through 2038, be adopted?”

Isn’t that special? I mean, two semicolons in 80 words definitely improves readability. I could continue with the snark for quite some time, because I was preparing to troop down and speak against it. Fortunately for us all, Supervisor Semicolon pulled it the day before the meeting, so we get to vote on the relatively straightforward original version. 

SOS is a citizen’s initiative that’s run by some really passionate people who are not among the super-rich.  They’re up against a well-funded disinformation campaign by the developers, and they’re not stopping at inserting semicolons. If you’re looking for worthy causes, donating to help pass Measure A (SOS, see above) is definitely one of them.

Lilac Hills Ranch, Otay Village 13, and Harvest Hills 

I expect the County Supervisors to vote on Lilac Hills Ranch and Otay Village 13 before March 3, for the simple reason that, if they wait until after March 3, these General Plan Amendments may well have to go to a vote of the people, if Measure A passes.

Lilac Hills Ranch was voted down back in 2016 (Measure B) when the developer tried to get it past the voters.  In fact, here are the vote totals:

    District 1        YES:   44.74%    NO:   55.26%

    District 2        YES:   35.54%    NO:   64.46%

    District 3        YES:   35.21%    NO:   64.79%

    District 4        YES:   34.51%    NO:   65.49%

    District 5        YES:   34.04%    NO:   65.96%

        TOTAL         YES:  36.46%    NO:   63.54%

Note how the conservative District 5 (currently Desmond’s district, formerly Horn’s), where Lilac Hills Ranch is located, had the lowest vote for it?  

The reason I’m publishing these stats is that, when it comes up in front of the supervisors, I’m going to ask everyone who can to send in a message quoting these stats, and to ask the supervisors to follow the will of their constituents and turn this down. It’s only through bureaucratic finagling that the developer gets a second shot at this project, and the supervisors really should respect the bipartisan will of the people on this one and turn it down. Let them know that.

As for Otay Ranch Village 13, it’s got most of the same problems as Otay Ranch Village 14. The biggest problem isn’t about plants, it’s about the very rare Quino Checkerspot butterfly. The biggest population is apparently in the Village 13/14 area, so if these two get developed, it’s likely that the Quino Checkerspot will go extinct. That’s not directly a CNPS issue, but it is a major conservation issue that we need to be aware of.

Harvest Hills in Escondido is the rebranded Safari Highlands, without major changes. The Mayor of Escondido, after initially opposing the project, now seems to be sliding towards approving it sometime this spring.

If you’re a resident of Escondido, please speak up and let your City Council know how you feel about this. If you happen to be active with the San Diego Zoo, you’ve got a role too. Harvest Hills is right uphill to the north of the Safari Park. Now’s a good time to gently put pressure on the Zoo management to be more vocal in their opposition to this mess. The project will cause them problems, and with their End Extinction campaign, they need to speak up about local problems, like this project on their border.

Happy 2020 all. If you’ve been active in conservation, THANK YOU!