Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Becerra moves against Otay Ranch Resort Villages

"Very high fire hazard severity zone.”

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra surprised developers, planners, and community activists when he came out against the county’s approval of the 23,000-acre Otay Ranch development, east of Chula Vista.

Surprised, because starting with former Governor Jerry Brown’s administration, and continuing with Governor Gavin Newsom’s, the state has slowly been chipping away at local municipality’s growth controls, in the name of helping the state’s housing crisis.

The state has forced cities into housing planning elements that require a mandated number of low-income units to be built each year – a mandate that is changing some community’s character by forcing condos or apartments into predominantly single-family residential neighborhoods. Offering of density bonuses to developers for including some low-cost housings in their plans is state mandated, overriding local cities long-term planning.

Sponsored
Sponsored

On March 17, Becerra filed motions on behalf of Californians to intervene in lawsuits challenging the County of San Diego’s approval and certification of the Environmental Impact Reports for Otay Ranch.

Specifically Becerra noted in the planned Otay Ranch Resort Village 13, Resort Village 14, and future planning areas 16 -19, that the project is “located in a very high fire hazard severity zone.”

“The Otay Ranch Village 13 project site has experienced numerous fires, including the October 2003 Mine/Otay Fire, which burned the entire project area and nearly 40,000 acres overall,” Becerra posted to media. In 2007, the Harris Fire burned 90,440 acres, including the majority of the Otay Ranch project site.

Becerra argued, of the undeveloped area, “The County of San Diego's EIRs repeatedly underplay the severity of the wildfire risk, concluding despite all scientific evidence to the contrary that the introduction of structures and people will not increase wildfire risks,” Becerra stated.

Located one mile east of Chula Vista’s city boundary in Eastlake, and 12 miles southwest of rural Jamul, Otay Ranch would be San Diego County’s largest development to date. In Otay Ranch’s area 13 and 14, around 3,000 homes are planned, along with the needed infrastructure of roads, schools, businesses, and public safety for thousands of new residents.

Attorney General Becerra stated he intervened because his action will ensure “the County of San Diego does all it can to mitigate the risks of the Otay Ranch projects before they are built.” The Attorney General claims he had a responsibility to enforce CEQA – the California Environmental Quality Act.

On the next day, March 18, Xavier Becerra was sworn in as President Biden’s new Secretary of Health and Human Services.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Live Five: Rebecca Jade, Stoney B. Blues, Manzanita Blues, Blame Betty, Marujah

Holiday music, blues, rockabilly, and record releases in Carlsbad, San Carlos, Little Italy, downtown

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra surprised developers, planners, and community activists when he came out against the county’s approval of the 23,000-acre Otay Ranch development, east of Chula Vista.

Surprised, because starting with former Governor Jerry Brown’s administration, and continuing with Governor Gavin Newsom’s, the state has slowly been chipping away at local municipality’s growth controls, in the name of helping the state’s housing crisis.

The state has forced cities into housing planning elements that require a mandated number of low-income units to be built each year – a mandate that is changing some community’s character by forcing condos or apartments into predominantly single-family residential neighborhoods. Offering of density bonuses to developers for including some low-cost housings in their plans is state mandated, overriding local cities long-term planning.

Sponsored
Sponsored

On March 17, Becerra filed motions on behalf of Californians to intervene in lawsuits challenging the County of San Diego’s approval and certification of the Environmental Impact Reports for Otay Ranch.

Specifically Becerra noted in the planned Otay Ranch Resort Village 13, Resort Village 14, and future planning areas 16 -19, that the project is “located in a very high fire hazard severity zone.”

“The Otay Ranch Village 13 project site has experienced numerous fires, including the October 2003 Mine/Otay Fire, which burned the entire project area and nearly 40,000 acres overall,” Becerra posted to media. In 2007, the Harris Fire burned 90,440 acres, including the majority of the Otay Ranch project site.

Becerra argued, of the undeveloped area, “The County of San Diego's EIRs repeatedly underplay the severity of the wildfire risk, concluding despite all scientific evidence to the contrary that the introduction of structures and people will not increase wildfire risks,” Becerra stated.

Located one mile east of Chula Vista’s city boundary in Eastlake, and 12 miles southwest of rural Jamul, Otay Ranch would be San Diego County’s largest development to date. In Otay Ranch’s area 13 and 14, around 3,000 homes are planned, along with the needed infrastructure of roads, schools, businesses, and public safety for thousands of new residents.

Attorney General Becerra stated he intervened because his action will ensure “the County of San Diego does all it can to mitigate the risks of the Otay Ranch projects before they are built.” The Attorney General claims he had a responsibility to enforce CEQA – the California Environmental Quality Act.

On the next day, March 18, Xavier Becerra was sworn in as President Biden’s new Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Operatic Gender Wars

Are there any operas with all-female choruses?
Next Article

San Diego beaches not that nice to dogs

Bacteria and seawater itself not that great
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader