Economy

Montecito Development Near Ramona Up For Vote Today

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published August 4, 2010 at 3:00 AM PDT

This story was published more than 13 years ago.

A major new housing development near Ramona, called Montecito Ranch, comes before the County Board of Supervisors today. The project would put 417 homes on a 900-acre site just north of Ramona.

It’s a project that has been in the works for more than a decade.

Erik Gibson, director of the County’s Planning and Land Use Department, says the Supervisors’ rejection of another new development earlier this year is not an indication the County is blocking growth in unincorporated areas. That project, the Merriam Mountains development, would have built 2,000 new homes west of Interstate 15, north of Escondido.

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Gibson says that, unlike Merriam Mountains, the Montecito project is consistent with the County’s General Plan Update that will absorb thousands of new homes needed for an expanding population.

“Our General Plan Update is a plan for growth,” Gibson said. “We take our proportionate share of the region’s population growth. This is an example of Montecito Ranch, where it is consistent with our General Plan Update.”

Gibson said the project expands an existing community rather than establishing a new urbanized area in the backcountry. It also lies within the boundaries of the County Water authority, and will include an eight-acre park and more than 500 acres of open space.

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.