LAFCO eliminates northern Pala area from NCFPD sphere of influence

San Diego County’s Local Agency Formation Commission updated the spheres of influence for the North County Fire Protection District and the Vista Fire Protection District, including removing approximately 2,815 acres in northern Pala from the NCFPD sphere.

“There really is no practical way for us to reach that area and provide service,” said NCFPD fire chief Bill Metcalf. “We don’t anticipate ever being able to service that area.”

A municipal service review evaluates services and anticipated needs. A sphere of influence study determines boundaries best served by a particular agency. Updates to both the municipal service review and the sphere of influence are prerequisites to any boundary change including an annexation or consolidation, and LAFCO also periodically conducts sphere of influence updates for all districts. LAFCO’s 6-0 vote May 5, with County Supervisor Dianne Jacob and San Diego City Council representative Lorie Zapf not present, approved the updated municipal service reviews for the two fire protection districts as well as the reduction in the NCFPD sphere and the reaffirmation of the existing Vista Fire Protection District sphere.

The North County Fire Protection District is the successor to the Fallbrook Fire Protection District, which was the Fallbrook Local Fire Protection District when it was founded in 1930. In 1986 the Fallbrook Fire Protection District and County Service Area No. 7, which provided fire protection to Rainbow, merged to become the North County Fire Protection District, and that reorganization also included the annexation of the Gavilan Mountain area. Current LAFCO chair Andy Vanderlaan was the Fallbrook agency’s fire chief at the time of the reorganization.

The 1986 reorganization led to a combination of the spheres of the two former agencies. That sphere was larger than the district area itself, which is 85.9 square miles. The sphere of influence included three areas outside the NCFPD boundaries: DeLuz, an area east of Interstate 15 extending to the Pala reservation, and the 2,815 acres along Pala Temecula Road.

In 2007 a municipal service review and sphere of influence update reaffirmed the NCFPD sphere. In 2008 LAFCO created the San Diego County Regional Fire Authority as a zone of the county service area established for the Regional Communications System; although DeLuz was part of the original SDCRFA boundaries it remained within the NCFPD sphere. Areas with overlying jurisdictions are designated as special study areas, and if development in DeLuz occurred to the point that a greater level of emergency response was needed the planning process would include conclusions about whether NCFPD or the SDCRFA could provide the appropriate level of service. The initial SDCRFA boundaries included all unincorporated land not within the boundaries of a legal fire protection agency, so the other two sphere of influence areas outside the NCFPD boundaries also became special study areas with the creation of the SDCRFA.

On April 7 LAFCO voted 7-0, with no City of San Diego representative present, to approve the annexation of the proposed Meadowood development into the North County Fire Protection District, the Valley Center Municipal Water District, the San Diego County Water Authority, and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. That action, which also detached 243 of those acres from the San Luis Rey Municipal Water District, annexed the entire 390 acres into the North County Fire Protection District while detaching that area from the San Diego County Regional Fire Authority. Because that area was already within the NCFPD sphere, no sphere amendment was necessary.

The 2,815 acres removed from the NCFPD sphere are also within the SDCRFA boundaries but had not been a component of NCFPD operational or capital planning actions and would have obstructed rational planning. “The district requested the change,” Metcalf said.

“The property in question is not accessible,” said LAFCO governmental consultant John Traylor. “It basically is not accessible by road based on terrain.”

The residents receive fire protection and emergency medical service from the Pala and Pechanga reservation fire departments. “We really have no role up there,” Metcalf said.

Bonsall is served both by the North County Fire Protection District and the Vista Fire Protection District, which also includes unincorporated Vista. The Vista Fire Protection District was established in 1944, although its area diminished in 1963 when Vista became an incorporated city. “When incorporation occurred it fragmented much of the district,” said LAFCO executive officer Mike Ott.

The non-contiguous district currently encompasses approximately 31 square miles. In 1970 the City of Vista fire department and the Vista Fire Protection District entered into a joint powers agreement which merged the two agencies’ assets; under the agreement the fire protection district contracts with the City of Vista for fire protection and emergency medical services.

A sphere larger than the district boundaries was approved in 1984 and reaffirmed in 2007 as well as by the May 2014 LAFCO vote. Preliminary discussions about detaching 221 acres from the Deer Springs Fire Protection District and annexing that area to the Vista Fire Protection District have occurred as part of the planning of the proposed Panoramic Estates development, and the spheres of those two districts can be amended should further action on the proposed development lead to a jurisdictional reorganization.