Fire access road amendment approved for Peppertree Park Bond delay denial will likely doom bridge

One of two proposed amendments for the Peppertree Park subdivision map was approved during the December 8 San Diego County Board of Supervisors meeting.

The amendment regarding the construction of a temporary fire access road was adopted, while the proposed amendment to align a performance bond requirement with the phase when that work would actually be performed was not accepted.

Peppertree Park has been in the processing stage since 1985, and in August 1991 the Board of Supervisors approved a specific plan for the Peppertree Park Planned Residential Development. The specific plan for the 162.9-acre site called for 267 single-family detached dwelling units, or a density of 1.65 dwelling units per acre. The 1991 approval also included a rezone, a tentative map, and a Major Use Permit.

Construction began in the late 1990s. Six of the ten phased units have been recorded as final maps. A tentative map becomes a final map when the conditions of the tentative map, other than those for which permits cannot be issued until a final map is recorded, are met. A subdivision must have a final map before building or grading permits can be issued.

The most recent revision to the tentative map for Units 7 through 10 was approved by the county’s Planning Commission in November 2007. Those changes included a realignment of Pepper Tree Lane so that it would cross the Ostrich Farms Creek drainage with a bridge approximately 450 feet south of Peppertree Park’s northern boundary. That change resulted in the redesign of lots in Units 7 and 8 and also required security for improvement of the bridge with Unit 8, which was the subject of the proposed revision regarding the security bond.

The remaining four units cover 48 homes and 54 total lots on 59.63 acres. A construction lender has expressed interest in providing financing to build Unit 7, which will consist of 25 homes, and Peppertree Village VI, LLC, requested the two revisions to the conditions of the tentative map.

The tentative map conditions require an interim fire access road between the eastern bridge abutment of Pepper Tree Lane and the intersection of Pepper Tree Lane and Loch Ness Drive. The conditions had required asphaltic concrete paving and a standard base for the temporary road, while the approved amendment now requires only the base provided that it is sufficient to support the weight of a fire truck and that the plans are to the satisfaction of the North County Fire Protection District.

(While the substitution will allow for cost savings, it will also eliminate asphalt which could not be re-used. The base material will have other usage once the temporary road is no longer needed.)

The conditions which are required before a final map can be recorded include the posting of a performance bond to ensure the completion of infrastructure improvements if the developer defaults as well as a labor and materials bond to ensure timely payment for labor and materials for the project.

Peppertree Village VI, LLC, is currently required to improve the Ostrich Farms Creek Bridge within two years after recording the final map for Unit 8 or prior to the approval of rough grading for Units 9 or 10, whichever is earlier. The proposed change would have moved the requirement to post security for the bridge construction from Unit 8 to Unit 9 or 10, although it would not have affected the requirement to post security for road improvements and a traffic roundabout associated with Unit 8.

The financial industry crisis of 2008 led to stricter criteria for both lending and bonding. Peppertree Village VI, LLC, principal and manager Duane Urquhart was unable to find a bonding company which would bond a phase not associated with the construction being performed. “They’ve regulated themselves,” Urquhart said of the bonding companies.

Urquhart sought the amendment regarding the bonding as well as the amendment on the temporary access road condition. Staff from the county’s Department of Planning and Land Use supported the change to the access road condition but not to the bonding phase.

In December 2009, the county’s Planning Commission voted to amend the access road requirement but not the security stipulation, and Urquhart appealed the decision to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. On May 19, the county supervisors expressed concern that the county would be responsible for completing the infrastructure in the event of a default as was the case with a Rancho San Diego project.

“Peppertree is legitimately a victim of the failure of other developers in other projects in other parts of the county,” Urquhart said.

The Rancho San Diego project was abandoned when a national developer became insolvent. “The big boys aren’t performing, and we’re being penalized,” Urquhart said. “County staff has chosen to lump us all together and take a one-size-fits all approach.”

Urquhart and the county were not able to find a mutually acceptable solution prior to the continuance date. “We cannot obtain the bond the way the condition’s written. The bonding company requires the bond go with the improvement,” Urquhart said. “We will not be able to find a bonding company which will be able to fulfill that condition because the condition itself is fundamentally flawed.”

If Units 8, 9, and 10 were built concurrently, a bonding company could provide security for the bridge, but the need for a construction loan makes such a scenario impossible for Peppertree Park. “You can’t get that many phases financed by a construction lender,” Urquhart said.

The cost of processing the amendment exceeded the cost savings of the amendment to the temporary road condition. “Changing that condition was very costly to Peppertree,” Urquhart said.

The previous map called for an earthen fill crossing over Ostrich Farms Creek. Requests from community members led Urquhart, who has lived in Fallbrook since 1958, to change the map in order to realign the crossing and create a bridge. The change increased the cost of the crossing for Peppertree Village VI, LLC.

“The only solution, the alternative that we have available to us, is to consider a less expensive crossing which could be secured by some other means other than a traditional improvement bond,” Urquhart said. “It will require Peppertree to have less expensive forms of crossing.”

The earthen fill crossing met all county and environmental requirements while the bridge exceeded those requirements. “We’re just going back to the standard requirement,”

Urquhart said.

Peppertree Village VI, LLC, will be responsible for the processing costs of the map amendment to return the crossing to its earthen fill version. “We’re going to have to go back in and process another resolution amendment,” Urquhart said.

The need to fund the county’s processing fees will likely delay the request for such an amendment until after Unit 7 is complete and the lots are sold, although the earthen material for the bridge will likely be obtained from future phases. The design for Unit 7 has a balanced cut and fill. Additional fill may be obtained from Unit 10, and the elevation of the Unit 10 pads may be lowered if fill from Unit 10 is required to complete the crossing.

The most recently built Peppertree Park homes were finished in June 2006. The current plans are to break ground on Unit 7 by the end of the second quarter of 2011. “We’re hopeful that we can meet that target,” Urquhart said.

The outstanding prerequisites before ground can be broken on Unit 7 include Board of Supervisors approval and subsequent recording of a final map along with the grading and building permits. Urquhart expects the Unit 7 homes to be complete within two years of groundbreaking.

Urquhart expressed his appreciation to the Fallbrook Community Planning Group, the North County Fire Protection District, the Fallbrook Land Conservancy, and the neighborhood residents for their support of the proposed amendment to delay the security requirement for the bridge.

“The most unfortunate part of this is we don’t get for Peppertree an improvement for the community,” Urquhart said.

To comment on this story online, visit http://www.thevillagenews.com.