The San Diego County Board of Supervisors has voted to do one last 10-day study of an initiative that would allow hundreds of new homes to be built in semi-rural Valley Center.
The precedent-setting Lilac Hills project would build 1,700 homes on semi-rural land zoned for 110 homes. The board of supervisors no longer has the option of rejecting the project. When they next vote on Aug. 2, they will have only two choices: approve the development or put it on the ballot.
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The Registrar of Voters has declared enough signatures were gathered to put the master planned community on the ballot.
Supervisor Dianne Jacob said this will be the first time a project like this has ended up going directly to the voters.
“What is occurring here is extremely significant. It has never happened before — it very well could be that this will be the future of large-scale projects in this county,” Jacob said.
The developers, Accretive Investments, decided to put the project to voters after Supervisor Bill Horn, one of its primary supporters on the board of supervisors, was ruled ineligible to vote due to a conflict of interest.
Opponents argue the initiative, which is several hundred pages long, has made significant changes to the plan that the county’s planning commission approved. They are urging the supervisors to order a review.