Meadowood approved for I-15 corridor - Local planning group member says 844 residential unit development is "a very drastic change from our way of life"

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved Pardee Homes’ proposed Meadowood development.

The supervisors’ 5-0 vote January 11 approves a vesting tentative map, specific plan and general plan amendments, a rezone, a major use permit, three site plans, and the Environmental Impact Report for the project. A second 5-0 vote directs county staff to work with Pardee Homes, the developers of the three other major projects in the area, and the Luiseno Indian tribes to determine an acceptable site for reinterment if Native American remains are found during the grading process and must be relocated.

The Meadowood development will include 844 units consisting of 397 single-family and 447 multi-family units. The project would also provide 13 acres for an elementary school which would be built by the Bonsall Union School District, four acres of park land, 128 acres of biological open space, 47 acres of agricultural open space, 5.9 miles of trails, and the wastewater treatment plant. “It’s been a long process, and we are truly excited to present to you this Meadowood neighborhood,” said Pardee Homes representative Jimmy Ayala.

The three other major projects in the area are Palomar College, Campus Park, and Campus Park West. Palomar College is under construction and has been issued a grading permit to construct Horse Ranch Creek Road. The county supervisors approved Campus Park in May 2011, and Campus Park West is proceeding through the application process. “Our planning process has been 1) comprehensive and 2) collaborative,” Ayala said.

“We are planning a community together,” Ayala said of Pardee’s work with the three other projects. “The outcome is an integrated community.”

The 416-acre Campus Park project consists of 521 single-family dwelling units, 230 multi-family dwelling units, a town center commercial area of 61,200 square feet, 157,000 square feet of professional office area, an 8.5-acre active sports park, six neighborhood parks, a community center, five miles of trails, and 197 acres of biological open space. A transit center is planned for Palomar College while the elementary school on the Meadowood property will serve the Campus Park and Campus Park West children as well as the Meadowood families.

The original Meadowood plans would have created 1,244 single-family and multi-family dwelling units. Pardee worked with community members at more than 300 meetings, including special meetings as well as planning hearings, since the 2003 application. “At the end of the day we’ve implemented a lot of the changes requested by the Fallbrook Community Planning Group,” Ayala said. “We believe we are here today with a better project.”

The Fallbrook Community Planning Group’s last action on the project was a 13-0 vote May 16 to recommend denial. First vice-chair Jack Wood represented the planning group at the Board of Supervisors hearing and noted that the opposition is based on specific elements. “We have never objected to the project,” he said.

Although the county’s general plan update allows for 1,200 dwelling units, the overall area was allocated 1,400 units during 2005 plans and the planning group believes that 650 units would be more compatible with the concept of managed growth. “This is a very drastic change from our way of life,” Wood said.

The average lot size meets the 6,000 square foot threshold of the new community plan, but the smallest single-family home lot size is 5,300 square feet while the smallest multi-family lots are 2,600 square feet.

The current map includes a 50-foot buffer from the wastewater treatment plant and 32 homes within 250 feet of the treatment plant. “Who wants to live 50 feet across the street from a sewage treatment plant?” Wood said.

The Valley Center Municipal Water District desires a 250-foot buffer between the treatment plant and the nearest residence. The project is in the San Luis Rey Municipal Water District, which is not part of the San Diego County Water Authority, and annexation to the SDCWA will be necessary to provide imported water. The CWA’s annexation policy prefers annexation to existing CWA member agencies rather than addition of new CWA member agencies, although the San Luis Rey district might still be able to exist as a retail agency which receives water from a wholesale district with CWA membership. The Local Agency Formation Commission will make the final determination about whether the area will be annexed to the Valley Center district or the Rainbow Municipal Water District as well as whether the San Luis Rey district would remain as a retail agency or be consolidated into another agency. LAFCO will not initiate an annexation proceeding until there is an approved project with a certified Environmental Impact Report, and the LAFCO process is the next step for Meadowood now that the Board of Supervisors has approved the project.

The Fallbrook Community Planning Group also fears that if the Bonsall Union School District does not purchase the property dedicated for an elementary school the land would be used to build additional homes. State law requires that a school district must purchase land dedicated for a school if the property has been under the same ownership for at least ten years. The standard language is that if the school district does not purchase the site within two years the dedicated land returns to the developer; the Board of Supervisors extended that period to six years with Ayala’s support.

Wood also noted slopes of 80 to 100 feet and the movement of 2.4 million cubic yards of fill material, and he expressed concerns that there would be inadequate park space for the number of multi-family units in the project.

On April 21 the I-15 Corridor Design Review Board voted 6-1 to recommend approval of Meadowood. On October 7 the county’s Planning Commission voted 5-1 to recommend approval with Adam Day in opposition and Peder Norby not present when the vote was taken approximately 4 1/2 hours after the hearing began.

When the county supervisors approved Campus Park they also adopted the project’s Environmental Impact Report which included a modification to reflect the January 2011 find of human remains which caused the California Native Heritage Commission to declare the area a “sacred site”, although monitoring protocols already existed and the county supervisors saw no need to realign Horse Ranch Creek Road to comply with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirements.

The Palomar College EIR anticipated the possibility of human remains or other tribal artifacts, and archeological monitoring provisions are in place. Work on Horse Ranch Creek Road has taken place north of the find but has stopped in the vicinity of the remains. Three September meetings with Pardee, county representatives, and Luiseno tribes failed to produce an agreement on the road, although additional cultural preservation conditions were added.

Members of the various Luiseno tribes noted that the project would disturb cultural sites of significance as well as resting places.

“They only looked at the archeology,” said San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians tribal legal counsel Merri Lopez-Keifer.

“This traditional cultural property plays a significant role in the Luiseno creation account,” said Pechanga tribal member Laura Miranda. “The environmental document is missing the picture of the cultural resources.”

“Our people are buried under these lands,” said Rincon Tribal Council member Laurie Gonzalez.

“It is not if but when you unearth our people, our families,” Gonzalez said. “It is our custom and the wishes of the Rincon people that the dead remain where they are located.”

“This is our beginning. This is where our people started,” said Pala tribal member Mona Sespe. “I just feel like our people are being attacked.”

Sespe noted that other projects such as the Gregory Canyon Landfill and the Rosemary’s Mountain quarry also threaten Luiseno sacred sites.

“I’m upset,” she said. “All of our religious places are being attacked.”

“The road is not the only problem. It highlights the problem,” Lopez-Keifer said. “Even if the road goes through the other locuses are not protected.”

“We cannot allow the continuation of grading and more bones to come up,” said former Pauma tribal chairman Chris Devers.

Pardee’s direct contributions include approximately $9.5 million in Transportation Impact Fee payments, $3 million in improvements to current road segments, and $1 million for the project’s fair share of improvements to the interchange of Interstate 15 and Highway 76. Benefits also include construction jobs and increased property tax revenue. San Luis Rey Band captain Mel Vernon noted that the tribes could match the money generated from the project.

“It’s not about money. It’s about our ancestors who are still here,” he said.

Rich Grunow, the chief of the Project Planning Division of the county’s Department of Planning and Land Use, noted that information on cultural resources was included as an appendix in the Environmental Impact Report. “We think that we’ve done a thorough analysis,” he said. “We don’t think there’s any new information that changes our conclusions.”

Grunow also noted that Palomar College would still construct Horse Ranch Creek Road even if the county delayed approval of the Meadowood project. “I don’t think that this project would change anything,” he said.

A public education facility is exempt from local land use jurisdiction. Although the county issued the grading permit to Palomar College for the off-site portion of Horse Ranch Creek Road, County Counsel told the county supervisors that the county had no legal grounds to revoke the permit.

“We really don’t have any jurisdiction over Palomar College,” said Supervisor Pam Slater-Price.

“I’m not sure if any more time here would resolve any of the outstanding issues,” said Supervisor Dianne Jacob.

Supervisor Bill Horn noted that the construction of Interstate 15 by the California Department of Transportation included tribal remains under the freeway.

“We don’t want to do that again,” he said.

The biological open space includes archeological open space sites, although confidentiality issues preclude Pardee from specifically designating archeological open space. One of the adjacent projects also includes cultural open space.

“If any remains have to be moved, I think they can be moved over to those spaces,” Horn said.

Lopez-Keifer was supportive about the follow-up vote to have county staff, Pardee, the tribes, and the four projects work on potential reinterment sites.

“Hopefully we’ll have our resolution,” she said.

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