Safonoff project, county to work on proposed redesign

Parcel owner Vladimir Safonoff and his consultants will be working with County of San Diego staff on a redesign of his proposed subdivision on Pala Mesa Drive.

On January 11 the San Diego County Board of Supervisors considered an appeal of the county Planning Commission’s denial of Safonoff’s tentative map. The supervisors gave Safonoff and his consultants 120 days to work with county staff on a redesign, after which the appeal will return to the Board of Supervisors.

“The denial is still under appeal,” said Christine Stevenson, a planner for the county’s Department of Planning and Land Use who is the DPLU project manager for the Safonoff subdivision. “They didn’t deny the appeal. It will go back to the board in May.”

The 3.11-acre site is located in the 4000 block of Pala Mesa Drive. Safonoff desires to subdivide that property into four residential parcels, each of which would have a lot of at least 0.5 acres.

The application for the tentative map was received in September 2004. In October 2004 DPLU informed Safonoff and his consultants that subdividing the property may not be feasible due to a wetland which flows through the length of the property. A revised tentative map was submitted in April 2005, but the North County Fire Protection District did not approve the fire protection plan. A biology report issued in March 2005 stated that the southern coast live oak riparian forest on the northern side of the property qualifies as a wetland, and in May 2005 county staff met with Safonoff and his consultants and advised them that subdividing the parcel was not feasible. Safonoff and the consultants opted to proceed, and an August 2005 Preliminary Notice of Decision denying the project was upheld by the Planning Commission denial in November 2005. Prior to that Planning Commission denial Safonoff’s attorney had requested a continuance of the appeal hearing so that the project could be redesigned to comply with the county’s Resource Protection Ordinance. A preliminary design was submitted in early November, but county staff’s review of the preliminary design concluded that extensive time and revised studies would be required for a redesign and county staff did not recommend a continuance of the appeal.

The proposed changes include a more precise identification of areas where wetlands and habitats must be avoided which will include wetland limits, a new fire management plan to take advantage of proposed changes in Board of Forestry regulations which may allow for reduced fire buffers with use of fire-resistive design and construction techniques and a change in the design of the houses to utilize a narrow shape elevated on pilings which would maximize the distance between the wetland and future development.

“We think we can work with staff on it. Staff has commented that they’re willing to sit down with us,” said Ralph Gonzales, the civil consultant for the project.

The redesign includes a proposed private access road which would parallel Pala Mesa Drive; that road would have a front yard setback requirement of 40 feet and unless a variance is granted homes would have to be constructed further north than shown on the redesign. The conceptual redesign also shows feasible house locations to be located between 54 and 75 feet from the wetland boundary; DPLU policy requires buffer widths ranging from 25 to 200 feet and county staff has determined that the specific wetland requires a minimum buffer of 50 feet. Fire clearing is not an authorized use within a wetland or wetland buffer under the Resource Protection Ordinance, and with the 50-foot buffer and the required setbacks there will be no remaining area for adequate fire clearing.

The Fallbrook Community Planning Group has also recommended denial of the project, citing too narrow of a driveway and road, inadequate circulation access for the homes and for service and emergency vehicles, a lack of adequate parking, use of driveways as a portion of front yard setbacks, biological concerns, the difficulty of maintaining proposed crib walls and incompatibility of the project with the neighborhood.

“The applicants showed a proposed redesign and the board recognized the constraints of the site and told them that it’s likely they could put more money into a project that still won’t work,” Stevenson said.

County staff will give Safonoff and Gonzales the chance to develop an acceptable proposal. “I think it’s fair for both sides,” Gonzales said of the supervisors’ decision. “I think we’re going to get to that point within 120 days where everybody feels comfortable.”