{"id":146,"date":"2015-10-06T21:12:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T21:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esconeighbors.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=146"},"modified":"2015-10-06T21:12:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-06T21:12:00","slug":"lafco-ignores-community-concerns-and-approves-oak-creek-housing-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/?p=146","title":{"rendered":"LAFCO Ignores Community Concerns and Approves Oak Creek Housing Development"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nOn October 5, 2015 LAFCO unanimously supported the annexation
\nof the Homeland property into the city of Escondido.<\/span>  <\/span>This action will allow a high-density, walled
\ndevelopment to be constructed on existing farmland and open space, adjacent to
\nFelicita Park.  It will result in the destruction of hundreds of oak trees and the rural character of our neighborhood.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nThere are many concerns Escondido Neighbors United raised
\nabout this project and few of them were ever addressed.  Reasonable development alternatives and protective
\nmitigations put forth by the neighbors were rebuffed.   <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nThe Commissioners negotiated a while over the inclusion of 565
\nfeet of Hamilton Lane that will remain in the County while the rest of the
\nstreet will be in the City.  In the end,
\nSupervisor Horn tried to secure commitment by the city to maintain the road
\n(which makes sense) but others didn\u2019t support him.  It leaves only about 5% of the Lane in the County jurisdiction (rest in the City) and no one really willing to maintain the road.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nCommissioner Abed, unfortunately, once again took aim at
\nEscondido Neighbors United accusing us of opposing \u2018all development everywhere
\nin Escondido\u2019.  This is not true.   ENU had proposed more than one reasonable alternative
\nto this project and there are many developments we have not opposed in the city.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nWhat is true is that we oppose (or try to improve) inappropriate
\nand poorly planned development\u2014like Oak Creek.  <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nAt the hearing, there seemed to be an inability to distinguish between theory
\nand common sense reality on several issues.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nFor example, while in theory, the County General Plan allows more dwelling
\nunits on the site (80), in reality, only up to a maximum of 20 units or less
\ncould actually be built there due to sewage constraints.  The County does not offer sewer hook-ups in
\nthis area so any housing would have to be on septic (like the rest of the area)
\nor the developers would have to build an on-site sewage treatment plant that
\nwould take up a lot of land.  <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nNo matter what the theoretical number is for the area, in
\nreality only around 20 could be built under County rules therefore, i<\/span>n
\nreality Oak Creek is a significant increase in density enabled by the sewer
\nservices of the city.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nENU
\nexpressed the point that what we really have here is another case where
\ndevelopers are merely shopping around to see which jurisdiction can give them
\nthe highest density and easiest permitting.  This is not good planning. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAs another example, annexations are not supposed to create
\njurisdictional islands.  In theory, the Monticello
\nneighborhood is shown on the map as linked to the County– across I-15.  The reality is that there is no way to access
\nthe neighborhood physically from County land after the annexation because I-15
\ncannot be crossed.  <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nIn reality, the annexation leaves this neighborhood completely surrounded
\nby the City.  The reality of the new city
\ndevelopment is that it is surrounded by the County on all eight sides.  The only link is the width of Felicita
\nroad.  This annexation leaves a jurisdictional mess in the area.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nWe were very disappointed when City staff told the Commission
\nthat the project’s “Proposed
\nstormwater management design creates a better situation for downstream property
\nowners along Felicita Creek by moderating peak flows.\u201d<\/i>  We beg to differ.  One of our highest concerns is that increasing
\nthe hardscape of an area by around 60% and widening the culvert will worsen the
\nsituation for us downstream.  It may stop
\nthe flooding of the road, but only by directing the water into the creek and down on us.  <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nWe will be ground-truthing this claim over time.   Everyone who lives along the creek, is
\nencouraged to take photos and video of the creek during the rains this winter
\nso we have a baseline to compare future conditions once the project is
\nconstructed.<\/b> <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nIn the ‘needs-better-information’ category, one staffer represented the Chatham
\nBrothers Barrel Yard as being a location where they \u2018made barrels\u2019<\/i>.  Apparently,
\nwe need to do more education of governmental staff about the Chatham site.  (Chatham Brothers took barrels of toxic industrial waste to ‘recycle’ in a still that didn’t work and then let it flow into an on-site pond–polluting the groundwater for over a mile from the original site.  This pollution plagues us today). <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nIn
\nthe end, LAFCO easily approved an annexation that does not meet LAFCO basic
\ngoals of orderly development and preservation of open space and prime
\nagriculture lands, does not resolve County staff concerns related to the park, has
\nnot resolved many community issues.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIt
\nwas a sad day for all of us and for our rural community.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIt
\nis also a warning for other neighborhoods about the damage this City Council
\ncan do to your neighborhood and quality of life.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nWe
\nlook forward to supporting other communities in their struggle. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On October 5, 2015 LAFCO unanimously supported the annexation of the Homeland property into the city of Escondido.  This action will allow a high-density, walled development to be constructed on existing farmland and open space, adjacent to Felicita Park.  It … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Escondido Neighbors United","author_link":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/?author=1"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/escondidoneighbors.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}