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Planning group asks county for forest development study
By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun
ALPINE — The Alpine Planning Group voted, at its April 27 meeting, to ask the county to study those of the community’s lands that fall into the area of influence of the Forest Conservation Initiative.
Passed by county voters in 1993, the FCI limits the type and size of development on the private properties within its boundaries and is set to expire in the year 2010. The APG seeks to explore post-sunsetting
plans for local lands that are affected by FCI, particularly those along Willows Road that are heavily impacted by casinos.
The FCI was drafted by Descanso resident Duncan McFetridge and Save our Forest and Ranchlands. It was created to protect the Cleveland National Forest from small-lot sub divisions by establishing a 40-acre minimum lot size within the forest's boundaries. The initiative was overwhelmingly approved by 65.7 percent of the voters.
“The issue is this: are we going to really build beautiful and livable cities or are we going to create this junk yard of urban sprawl?” McFetridge said.
He pointed out that, with the county's property prices rising to such high numbers, homebuyers and development are threatening some 45,000 rural acres.
“In the county, there is 800 square miles of urban area. Eight hundred square miles is a huge amount of land. We have covered 800 square miles with literally 200 square miles of asphalt and concrete.” McFetridge said. He added that even a freeway that borders forest lands, can have a disastrous effect on the area.
The APG approved a letter to the county that restates the need for a specific study area in Alpine to address the lands affected by FCI.
“We’re asking the county to look at growth in this area, rather than push it out of Alpine’s boundary,” said member David Waitley. “We want assurance from the county that they will study this prior to the sun-setting of FCI, and that the county will be up to speed in studying this area and see if additional land use changes will be in order in Alpine.”
The Board of Supervisors policy I-133, which was drafted by local planners and Supervisor Diane Jacob, deals directly with the planning for lands within FCI boundaries.
“The APG has requested that the County of San Diego apply a more intensive land use pattern on those private lands affected by the FCI,” reads the I-133 policy. “The goal is to trigger all appropriate processes to enable implementation of zoning changes and infrastructure expansion…as appropriate.”
According to county planner Bob Citrano, the current GP 2020 process is not addressing lands covered by the FCI overlay.
“We are asking the county to investigate the possibility of a general plan amendment in 2007, with the idea that it be implemented at time of sun-setting of FCI,” said APG member Mark Price.
“This document was the idea of Supervisor Jacob, in response to a 15-0 vote by this board, a couple years ago, to build out Alpine in these different ways and areas. One of these was the area between the two Willows exits.”
Larry Freeland, a resident of Willows Road and one of the original proponents of I-133, was on hand at the meeting to speak about his neighborhood.
“For many years, because of the casino, we have been dealing with increased noise and traffic in our once quiet little community — our properties are severely impacted,” he said. “Now Viejas is talking about building two more casinos and a major hotel.”
“These are real people out there, with real problems that need to be dealt with,” said member Doug Benson.
The Ewiiaapaayp tribal lands are not included in either the FCI or the GP 2020 process.
Planning group member Joe Forlenza questioned the need to approve the motion at the April 27 meeting, arguing that the vote would circumvent the public input process and that it should be held off until the end of the GP 2020 process.
“This is going to increase the commercial capacity in Alpine. It’s going to affect the planning we’ve been doing in town with revitalization and GP 2020,” he said. “My concern is that there has been no public input. This would take everything we’ve done to this point and make it pretty much moot.”
Other planning group members disagreed, saying that the issue has been discussed by the planning group, and local residents, for more than 10 years, since the passing of the FCI.
“We have been participating in public input on this issue for over 10 years,” said member Patricia Cannon. “We’ve met with the tribe, with community members, local residents — everyone involved.”
“We’ve had hundreds of members of the public give input and we’ve held countless meetings,” Waitley added. “This is our opportunity to stand behind what we said we’d do from day one.”
Price argued that, “Nothing is being approved here other than the beginning of a general plan amendment process in 2010…There will be many opportunities for public input at that time.”
“To not vote for this letter says that, ‘I don’t want a study to see how those people who have probably been impacted more than any residents in Alpine, that they don’t even deserve to get their area studied,” Price said. “How dare anyone vote against a study to look into the impacts that the people, the residents, the property owners have had to deal with in that area. This is just to approve the study.”
Discussion on the item was cut short by the calling of the question and vote to accept the document.
The motion passed by 8-4 with Cannon abstaining because she lives in the specific area in question. Jane Fitz, Forlenza, Ned Holmes and Paul Rohal voted against the motion, arguing that more time and input was needed.
According to www.SOFAR.org, the Cleveland National Forest is recognized as the last wilderness in our region. Established by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, the forest’s original two million acres has now been reduced to only 65,000 acres. The forest watershed supplies up to 20 percent of San Diego's drinking water, saving many millions of dollars in imported water costs.
The Cleveland National Forest is composed of four non-contiguous land areas in San Diego, Orange and Riverside counties. Within its boundaries, the national forest is checkered with private property and these are the lands affected by
FCI.
The map
below shows the area of Alpine that is covered under the Forest Conservation Initiative. The dark area at top represents the tribal lands which abut Alpine, and the
gray area is the specific spots where FCI rules are in effect.
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Christy Scott
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