Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma
Did I miss something? When I drive along Highway 76 east of Highway 15, I see shipping containers, tons of large pipes and just plain construction “junk” stored on the banks of the San Luis Rey River, right in the habitat for the endangered Arroyo Toad and dozens of other endangered and threatened species.
I assume this unsightly heap is for the garbage dump that hasn’t been permitted yet. How can this happen? An area that is zoned agricultural by the San Diego County becomes an open storage area for the Herzog Construction Company? No other developer in the county can get away with this. Is there a “cozy” relationship between the developer and/or contractor and San Diego County’s Code Enforcement Department that we should know about?
Even though the County Code Enforcement has determined that the activity is a violation of the zoning code and has served notices of violation, it has “elected” not to pursue enforcement against this illegal act. If the dump was eminent to begin construction within the next couple of months I could understand what is going on here. But it isn’t. Gregory Canyon Limited still has to satisfy the Waste Discharge Requirements from the Regional Water Quality Control Board, the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permit from the State Water Resources Control Board, Section 401 Water Quality Certification from the Regional Water Quality Control Board, Air Quality Permit from the San Diego Air Pollution Control District, Section 404 permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers, Section 7 Consultation with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Streambed Alteration Agreement with the California Department of Fish and Game and the Water Appropriation Permit from the State Water Resource Board. This is all years away! What about all those court challenges, which are still pending?
I’m back to the beginning: “Did I miss something?” I don’t think so. I think that once again they are circumventing the process, just like before when they took it to the ballot box after the Gregory Canyon landfill site had failed the county’s site process three times! Now they are jumping the gun with the next part of the process and we all have to live with an eyesore and zoning violations.
Why are we tolerating this? If you agree that the North County Code Enforcement Officials ought to be doing their job, like enforcing code and requiring that the construction “junk” be cleared from the area, please contact them at (760) 940-2893. Ask them why the code for the current zoning is not being enforced. Ask them to notify you in writing on the outcome of your phone call. Our County Supervisors, Bill Horn at 1-800-852-7335 and Pam Slater-Price at 1-800-852-7334, should hear about this too. Maybe they’ve got some pull that you and I don’t have.
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