The Valley Center Planning Group meets Monday evening to consider the Lilac Hills Ranch housing development that has been in the works for about a decade.
The developer, Accretive Investments Inc., calls Lilac Hills Ranch a sustainable, master-planned community, conveniently located near Interstate 15.
But Steven Hutchison of the Valley Center Planning Group, said the developer would build more than 1,700 homes on semi-rural land zoned by the county for about 200 units.
He said the San Diego County Department of Planning and Development Services has asked for the local planning group’s recommendation. The group has an advisory role and its recommendation is part of the long process any project has to go through before being granted or denied a permit by the county Board of Supervisors.
But, Hutchison said, the county has not responded to their previous input on Environmental Impact Reports on Lilac Hills.
“We as a Planning Group submitted over 250 pages on the 2013 EIR,” he said. “We’ve not seen any comments responded to yet.”
The project has not changed significantly since that first report was issued, Hutchison said.
The development would be in the hills about 16 miles north of downtown Escondido, east of Interstate 15.
Hutchison, who chairs a subcommittee that has been considering the project, said the development would increase traffic about nine-fold on rural roads. It would add about 5,000 people to the existing population of about 1,000 and they would need to drive to San Marcos or Escondido, which are the closest job centers, he said.
Access to Interstate 15 is along a narrow, winding two-lane road, and local residents are said to be unwilling to give up their property to straighten the road.
Hutchison said the proposal fits the description of “leapfrog” development into rural areas, which is not permitted under the county’s General Plan.
“Right now the Board of Supervisors is considering modifications to that policy to make an exception to allow leapfrog development," Hutchison said. "And that, I think, would be a mistake because it’s going to just continue the sprawl.”
Monday's meeting will be at 7 p.m. in the Valley Center Community Hall on Lilac Road.
