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Residents hear specifics of
planned Blackwater project
By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun
POTRERO — Potrero Planning Group
members and more than 50 residents and visitors filled the local
Kiwanis building on Thursday, July 12, to discuss the Blackwater
West training facility being proposed for Potrero Valley.
Meeting-goers also heard three presentations about the project.
Duncan McFetridge, of Save Our Forests and Ranchlands,
made a presentation to the board, highlighting some the
environmental issues of the Blackwater project.
“I think that this board was sorely lacking in
environmental information, when it decided to approve this
project,” McFetridge said.
Potrero Valley, the site for the proposed project, sits
adjacent to the Cleveland National Forest, and is a tract for
local wildlife including deer, mountain lions and eagles. The
land designations on the property are forest and agriculture.
“This proposed project is six times the permitted
density currently on this land, of one home per 40 acres,”
McFetridge said.
The project would have to go through a Major Use Permit
in order to change the density on the land, removing the
agriculture preserve designation.
McFetridge continued to quote county and local
guidelines with respect to density regulations. Board member
Mary Johnson argued that the property owner can do what he
likes, and that the Blackwater training camp is much better than
40-acre ranches in the valley.
“These are the rules for this piece of land,”
McFetridge said.
“I don’t care about the rules. I’ve heard the rules up
the kazoo,” Johnson shouted. “What about a person that has put
their whole life in their land — what are the rules on that?”
“When a person buys an investment land, they rely on
the zoning of the area,” McFetridge said. “This is an obvious
change, everyone recognizes, it’s a change in your general plan
and it’s a change in the local land use.”
The Blackwater West facility would be on about
800-acres in the middle of Potrero Valley.
The project would include firing ranges utilizing automatic and
semi-automatic weapons, as well as a winding emergency vehicle
operator’s course 3,280 feet in length, Bunkhouses and
commando-type training facilities including ship simulators, law
enforcement and rescue safety training towers and a helicopter
pad would also be included.
According to Bonfiglio, the Potrero project would be
significantly smaller than the Moyock, N.C. facility, which has
expanded over the years to 6,000 acres. He also dissuaded
concerns from residents that the Potrero facility would expand
in the future, taking up more of the valley and further
impacting the local environment.
“According to our MUP we will never be able to expand
onto the remainder of the site,” Bonfiglio said.
According to maps presented by Bonfiglio at the July 12
meeting, 145 acres of the 800-acre Potrero Valley site will be
developed for the facility. This includes 80 acres of new
development, and 65 acres of redevelopment, where the chicken
ranch buildings are now located.
“Were talking more than 650 untouched, undeveloped
acres here,” he said.
Some residents raised concerns that the Blackwater
facility could potentially negatively impact local property
values, in an area where many residents are relying on their
land for their retirement.
One resident cited a case where property owners were attempting
to sell, and had to lower their asking price considerably after
word got out about the impending Blackwater project in the
neighborhood.
“That’s a pretty big negative impact to our
livelihoods,” said one man.
“I have asked Blackwater to tells us how they feel
they’re going to benefit Potrero,” Hammers said at the meeting.
“And I get the impression that they are working on this. It’s
just taking longer than I expected.”
Traffic is another concern, with excess vehicles on
Potrero Road and Round Potrero Road, which measures just 20 feet
wide in places. Blackwater proposes to bus in local trainees and
shuttle others from the airport. The company said its vehicles
would be no larger than trucks that previously traveled to a
chicken ranch the property used to house.
Some traffic will also be generated by the on-site
employees at the facility, which Bonfiglio estimates could bring
about 60 new jobs to the area. He said that these positions
would largely be filled by local area residents. There will
certainly, however, be strong competition for these few new
jobs.
Supporters of the Blackwater project argued, at the
meeting, that the location of the training facility could help
to deter local illegal immigrant traffic, which could, in turn,
reduce the risk of migrant wildfires being started in the
hard-to-access area.
According to Bonfiglio, Blackwater employees will be
trained to deal with local fire issues, and a fire truck will be
on site.
“I think that this could really be a deterrent to these
immigrants and the fire potential for the area,” said one woman.
“Fires like the Horse Fire, that burned 16 thousand acres, could
be prevented.”
During large fire situations in the area, the Potrero
Valley has often been used as a staging point for firefighters
to protect the community. Due to the number of residents in
Potrero, there are very few fire and law enforcement resources
available.
“The type of staff and student at the Blackwater
facility are the type who are accustomed to dynamic situations
and are not the type of people who may tend to panic,” writes
Bonfiglio in a commentary this week. “This is not a residential
housing tract of families. This is a controlled environment.”
“This is a federal government issue,” McFetridge said.
“You can’t put the burden on any private landowner to protect
the borders and save us from the next big fire.”
“That would be nice,” said resident Brenda Wise,
chairman of the local fire board, “but we just don’t have enough
people out here to get it.”
The Potrero Blackwater facility would continuously be
occupied by military and law enforcement trainees from all over
the country as well as local agencies.
“This is going to be a facility for law enforcement and
military training, because the facilities in this area are
shrinking,” Bonfiglio said. “San Diego is one of the largest
centers in the country for the military and federal, state and
local law enforcement.”
Local Back Country Sheriff’s Deputy, and long-time
resident Danny Nunez, said that he welcomes the project. He said
that he is not concerned about the influx of Blackwater
employees, and welcomes the presence of more well trained
soldiers and law-enforcement personnel.
“I look at this not only as a resident, but also as a
sheriff deputy in charge of Potrero,” Nunez said.
“I know they’re not going to hiring felons… I know they
will be well-trained soldiers,” he said. “And I know that if I
can count on them to understand what I’m saying, and I can get
them to do what I need them to do what it comes to problems that
are created in the area… This is a plus for me.”
Some people have raised concerns about helicopters
flying in and out of the Blackwater facility. Bonfiglio said at
the meeting, that this facility will be separate from any
aviation activities, save for an emergency helipad on the
property.
The next step for the project is the Environmental
Impact Report, which has just begun.
Brooke Peterson, a consultant with Jones & Stokes, the company
that is handling the project EIR for the county, spoke to
residents and board members about the process.
All of the technical studies done by Jones & Stokes
will be perused by local land agencies including the Bureau of
Land Management and Cleveland National Forest, as well as being
vetted by county staff.
While employed by Blackwater, Jones & Stokes is one of
only a number of consulting firms that have been approved by the
county to conduct project EIRs, and all three entities (county,
consultants and applicant) have signed a Memorandum of
Understanding to provide an honest, in-depth and unbiased
environmental report.
As the meeting went into its fourth hour, and the
audience numbers had dwindled, planners took up the final agenda
item to reconsider the Blackwater approval vote, originally
taken in December. The item however, was in the form of a
full-page planning group resolution showing the support for the
project, contingent on a number of requirements.
These include requirements that a life-fire noise test
and wind studies be conducted, as well as assurances from
Blackwater that it will only use the site for the stated
purpose, will give preference to local residents for on-site
jobs, and that a community liaison be formed.
At the end of the meeting, the board decided to hold
off the approval of a conditional project approval resolution,
including several requirements for Blackwater to meet. The
community will have the opportunity to weigh in on the
resolution at the next planning group meeting in August.
The project is expected to go before the Planning
Commission in August of 2008. This is just the first step,
however, with final approval required by the Board of
Supervisors.
The public will have an opportunity to comment on the
draft EIR once it is completed.
The county Department of Planning and Land Use coordinator for
this project (#P06-069) is Jarrett Ramaiya. Contact him at
Jarrett.Ramaiya@sdcounty.ca.gov or (858) 694-3015 to be
put on a mailing list to receive project status updates.
 E-mail
Christy Scott
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