Upzone for two DeLuz parcels slated for EIR

The Environmental Impact Report which will evaluate the update of the general plan for properties which had been covered by the Forest Conservation Initiative will include increased density for two DeLuz parcels.

Three DeLuz parcels will be included in the EIR. Two will have densities of one dwelling unit per 10 acres while the third parcel remains at one dwelling unit per 40 acres.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 June 25 to use the county Department of Planning and Development Services (PDS) staff and county Planning Commission recommendations as the preferred alternative in the EIR. Dave Roberts voted against that overall motion and Ron Roberts was absent.

“I wanted FCI to be used as the baseline to evaluate the draft EIR,” Dave Roberts said. “FCI is what the voters said.”

Roberts made an alternate motion to use the FCI designations as the baseline, but that motion did not receive a second.

The supervisors voted on the staff and Planning Commission recommendations for each community involved before casting the vote for the overall motion. The supervisors’ ratification of the recommendations for the DeLuz parcels was a 3-1 vote with Bill Horn opposed due to the recommendation that the third DeLuz parcel remain at one dwelling unit per 40 acres.

“I don’t agree with that. That’s why I voted against the general plan,” Horn said of the 40-acre minimum. “The largest anybody should have to have by requirement is 20 acres.”

Horn’s opposition is only to the government requirement for large parcels and not to large parcels or contiguous parcels themselves with the support of the land owner. “If a private party wants to have 100 acres set aside, let them have five parcels,” he said. “I just don’t think they should be required to do that.”

In November 1993, the county’s voters approved the Forest Conservation Initiative (FCI) which stipulated a density of one dwelling unit per 40 acres for lands within the Cleveland National Forest boundary but outside of existing community town areas.

The FCI prevented General Plan land use designations from being changed until the FCI’s expiration date of Dec. 31, 2010. The hearings on the update on the county’s General Plan began prior to the expiration date, so the FCI lands were not included in that update which was approved in August 2011 although during the update process county staff began a separate effort on new maps for FCI land based on the principles of the general plan update. PDS staff did not pursue significant changes, and most of the planned additional development is near the Viejas Indian Reservation in Alpine.

PDS staff also identified alternatives, and the Board of Supervisors supported the map PDS and the Planning Commission recommended. The environmental analysis of that map will be followed by a return to the Board of Supervisors for adoption which is expected this winter. A Planning Commission hearing is still to be determined.

The Planning Commission recommended the rezones in November on a 5-1 vote with Michael Beck opposed due to concerns regarding Alpine and Lake Morena land and John Riess absent.