Dec. 6, 2022 – The San Diego Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCO) voted to designate the 1,098 acres proposed for Harvest Hills as a “special study area” at its December meeting. This will allow the project to be considered by LAFCO anytime within the next five years without conducting the normal update to a Municipal Services Review.
This action has been steadily opposed by over 20 organizations and numerous local residents.
Articulating the many concerns raised about the project, Commissioner Alternate David Drake remarked that he has had a long history with this project. “I was on the planning commission in the 1990s when the Harvest Hills project was known as Valley View Estates,…” he said. “It became Sierra (sic) Highlands. It became Harvest Hills. But what I worry about is, it’s going to become Flaming Fields.” [1]
Mr. Drake was not a voting member for this item.
Laura Hunter, conservation chair of the Sierra Club North County Group, submitted a letter and testified against the action.
Hunter stated, “This project is merely a result of developer wishful thinking and constitutes what former LAFCO Chair Dianne Jacob rightly called ‘jurisdiction shopping.’ The record contains abundant information that this project would pose unprecedented fire hazard risks and endanger on-site and surrounding communities. It threatens a globally significant endangered species facility and major economic driver for our region, the Safari Park.”
Hunter concluded by urging the Commission to “safeguard the region and remove the Special Study designation.”
The commissioners present voted 6-0 to approve the designation, in several cases noting that their vote was for process and not any judgment on whether the project should be supported or not.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHdcnGXlg20 at 38:39
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