The county Board of Supervisors Wednesday will consider approving a proposed housing development in the communities of Harmony Grove and Elfin Forest, opposed by some residents concerned over a lack of evacuation points during a wildfire.
On Aug. 22, the county Planning Commission unanimously approved the 453-unit Harmony Grove Village South project.
The Harmony Grove Village South location is a little under one mile west of the city of Escondido, south and east of San Marcos city limits, and north of the Del Dios Highlands Preserve.
If built, the 111-acre project would feature single-family and multi- family units, 5,000 square feet of commercial/civic space, four acres of private and public parks, two miles of public multi-use trails and pathways, and approximately 35 acres of biological open space.
Along with approving an amendment to the county General Plan, the county Planning Commission recommended that supervisors adopt California Environmental Quality Act findings; certify the environmental impact report; and approve the site plan, tentative map, a zoning classification change and a major use permit.
The housing/commercial project sits in an area where several wildfires have happened:
Harmony Grove in 1996, Del Dios in 1997 and the Cocos Fire in 2014.
Opponents said Harmony Grove project only has one evacuation point, and could result in possibly 1,000 additional vehicles traveling on a two-lane road, according to recent media reports.
JP Theberge, a member of the Elfin Forest/Harmony Grove Town Council, said in an emailed statement that the development "was grandfathered in under outdated regulations from before 2018."
"Doesn't it defy common sense for county leaders to approve a high- fire risk housing project that, under today's regulations, would not be approved because it represents an entrapment risk to all the new residents and their neighbors? " Theberge added.
In July 2018, county supervisors approved the entitlements and a final environmental impact report for the project, which was slowed due to a legal challenge.
In February 2020, a trial court ruling found that the EIR "violated (the California Environmental Quality Act) based on inadequate greenhouse gas mitigation measures, failure to address fire safety and evacuation issues, insufficient analysis of air quality impacts," according to information on the Wednesday supervisors' agenda.
Also, the court "found the project was inconsistent with the San Diego Association of Governments Regional Plan and the county's General Plan related to a policy to provide affordable housing and a community plan policy requiring septic instead of sewer," the county added.
In October 2021, the Courts of Appeal sided with the trial court's ruling related to greenhouse gas mitigation and the county's General Plan policy on providing affordable housing.
However, the Court of Appeal "reversed the trial court's ruling related to the other concerns, including fire safety and evacuation, inconsistency with the SANDAG Regional Plan and the community plan policy related to septic systems."
"On Oct. 19, 2022, the trial court issued a revised order requiring the county to rescind the project approvals within 60 days," according to the county.
Following the legal outcomes, county supervisors in December 2022 adopted a resolution that rescinded earlier approvals of the project.
In a Sept. 25 letter sent to board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer, seven wildfire scientists and safety experts wrote that based on research, along with state and national fire safety guidance, they found "that the project would expose residents and surrounding communities to extreme wildfire risk."
The authors cite three primary concerns:
—increased ignition from new development;
—evacuation times that would exceed wildfire spread; and
—no viable population-level protection strategy if evacuation fails.
Another letter dated Sept. 25 and signed by over 20 environmental groups — including the Endangered Habitats League, Preserve Wild Poway and San Diego 350 — and, asked the board to deny allowing of this General Plan amendment as "inconsistent with the board's direction for sustainable land use. "
There is no good reason to risk public safety and the environment for the sake of this speculative suburban sprawl project.
In an Aug. 22 KPBS report, developers "said they've mitigated the fire danger by proposing to expand a bridge that crosses Escondido Creek into multiple lanes. Residents said that's not enough."
KPBS also reported that David Kovach, the Harmony Grove Village South managing partner, described concerns over evacuation points as a "baseless scare tactic."
Kovach said added concerns have "been disproved time and again by fire, law enforcement and evacuation experts, county government and the California appellate court."
