Planning Commish
recommends to supes pending hearing
By Joe
Naiman
The Alpine Sun
The county's Planning Commission voted 6-1 April 16 to
send a recommended general plan update to the San Diego County
Board of Supervisors while holding a separate hearing on equity
mechanisms which would be incorporated into the recommendations
to be considered by the county supervisors.
A separate 6-1 vote gave direction to county Department
of Planning and Land Use (DPLU) staff to develop an
implementable equity mechanism program using criteria developed
by a subcommittee; although that program will be part of the
general plan update to be considered by the Board of Supervisors
the
Planning Commission will hold an equity mechanism
hearing prior to the Board of Supervisors hearing which is
expected to occur this Fall.
"We can draft a program that fits into the general plan update,"
said Devon Muto, the chief of DPLU's Advance Planning Division.
Public comment, discussion, and recommendations on
specific properties and roads took place at four Planning
Commission hearings in November and December, although some of
those issues were referred to county Department of Planning and
Land Use (DPLU) staff and returned to the Planning Commission
during subsequent hearings. The February 19 and March 12
hearings addressed broader issues as well as the referred items,
and the April 16 hearing addressed the entire package.
Equity mechanisms include a Purchase of Development
Rights (PDR) program in which a jurisdiction purchases
development credits to preserve those lands from further
development and a Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program
in which development credits are transferred from one location
to increase development potential at another location.
The staff recommendation was to focus on a PACE program
and to consider possible PDR and TDR programs following the
adoption of the general plan update. "There is no legal
requirement for a TDR program," Muto said.
Implementing a TDR or PDR program after adoption of the
update, including the downzoning, would not compensate farmers
for the loss of their equity. "I can't support the program as it
is," said Commissioner Adam Day. "It's got to be a TDR."
Day also cited the existence of 80-acre minimum lot
sizes in his reason for opposing the recommendation to send the
plan to the county supervisors. John Riess cast the vote against
the TDR recommendation. "I have seen TDRs. It doesn't work,"
Riess said.
"We as farmers have been engaged in this process for
close to ten years," said San Diego County Farm Bureau president
Mike Mellano. "It's very discouraging to us that we've come to
the ninth hour and still don't have an equity mechanism in
place."
Farm Bureau presidents serve two-year terms. "The Farm
Bureau message the past ten years has been consistent and
simple: protect the farm equity," said past Farm Bureau
president Al Stehly.
"This plan is not complete as it does not address
several key issues," Stehly said. "I don't think it's ready."
Duncan McFetridge of Save Our Forests And Ranchlands
opposed equity mechanisms. "We can lose the benefit of large lot
zoning," he said.
"You don't have a vested right in zoning. You have a
vested right in the actual use on your property."
David Van Ommerling, who owns the last remaining dairy
in Lakeside, addressed claims that downzoning was not a take of
property through the loss of equity. "If it gets downzoned,
who's going to take? The bank will take," he said.
"That is a central issue of being able to carry
financing from one year to the next," Ramona grove owner Carl
Teyssier said of equity.
"I do use that land as collateral," said Bonsall
nursery owner Gerald Church.
Church utilizes a line of credit of approximately $3.5 million
for his nursery which has 220 full-time and 150 seasonal
employees.
"The unintended consequences of your actions are going
to be felt by many nurseries throughout the county," he said.
"We need this complete package. You need to have
something to the Board of Supervisors that allows equity
mechanisms to go forward," said Farm Bureau executive director
Eric Larson.
"It is a conservation and ag preservation tool," Larson said of
equity mechanisms. "You don't have to do this, but it is the
right thing to do."
Henry Palmer, who represented the Twin Oaks Sponsor
Group at the April 16 hearing, also noted that steep slope
constraints were detrimental to farmers. "Some of the farmers in
our area are suffering because of this application of minimum
lot size," he said.
Valley Center resident Pegi Prior noted that decisions
were being made by older citizens.
"It's the young people who will have to live with their
decisions," she said. "Traditionally any community that chases
out their youth to other places or cities has not prospered
well."
Campo-Lake Morena Community Planning Group chair Kristi
Kor noted that tax and developer fee revenue for schools and
other services are also casualties of downzoning. "We are very
concerned about the economic impacts of the drastic downzoning,"
she said. "We believe there is a better way to have a reasonable
amount of density."
The elements of the recommended general plan update
were acceptable to Valle de Oro Community Planning Group chair
Jack Phillips. "This general plan update is going to be pretty
good for our type community," he said.
"We still are concerned and have reservations on the
effect of the conservation subdivision ordinance," Phillips
said. "It's something we can live with."
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