Ordinance Amending the County General Plan, County Zoning Map and County Code, and Adopting the Lilac Hills Ranch Specific Plan
*Failed*
Official Summary
Shall this Initiative be adopted for the purpose of amending the County General Plan, Zoning Ordinance and Code of Regulatory Ordinances and approving the Lilac Hills Ranch Specific Plan (“Plan”)? The Plan provides for the development of a 608-acre master-planned community including 1,746 dwelling units, three commercial centers, a public park, 10 private parks and 16 miles of trails. The project site is generally located north of Escondido and east of I-15 in the unincorporated area of North San Diego County.
- San Diego Registrar Summary
- full text - this is 654 pages long!!!!
- Ballotpedia
Notes
- located east of I-15, north of the Welk Resort (Valley Center/Bonsall), 608 acres
- Lilac Hills Ranch website
- Land Use:
- Current: Much of the project site is currently used for agricultural operations, and the surrounding area has low-density residential uses. Under the current General Plan designation, up to 110 homes could be developed on the project site; no commercial uses are allowed.
- Desired: a new community including 1,746 dwelling units (903 single family detached units, 164 single-family attached units, 211 mixed-use units, 468 single-family detached senior citizen units), 3.3 acre Senior Community Center, a 200-room group care living facility, a 10-acre site for institutional uses, such as a house of worship, and three commercial mixed-use centers totaling 90,000 square feet of space. Also 25.6 acres of parks, including a 13.5-acre public park, 10 private parks, and 16 miles of trails, approx 104.1 acres of biological open space, 20.3 acres of common area open space for community gardens, 23.8 acres active agriculture.
- The measure requires recreational facilities, a potential school site, an internal private road system, storm drain system, underground utilities, water lines, a site for a water reclamation facility and related distribution system, detention basins and wet weather storage ponds.
- sites for school and water treatment will be provided.
- the school would not be built, the land is available for a school to be built
- it is not clear whether the water treatment facility would be provided by Lilac Hills or fall to the local civic entities ($26-28 Million)
- Lilac Hills Ranch was thoroughly reviewed for over three years by the County’s Planning Department, including two comprehensive Environmental Impact Reports.
- self-labeled as "a sustainable, smart growth community"
- dual water pipes ("purple"), drought tolerant plants, pervious surfaces, pre-wired for solar and electric car charging stations
- lists NGSI (88k residential) as rating system and not the industry-standard USGBC's LEED (255k residential, 380k total projects) which is mentioned in the existing County of San Diego General Plan, does not mention what level of NGSI certification will be pursued (bronze, silver, gold, emerald)
- The plan requires that the following improvements be provided: parks and recreational facilities, an opportunity for a school, an internal private road system, storm drain facilities, and underground utility lines. The LHR-SP also requires a looped portable water system, water lines, plus a site for a water reclamation facility and its related distribution system, detention basins and wet weather storage ponds as determined necessary by the Valley Center Municipal Water District.
- not sure if this is being provided by developer, sounds like developer expects this all to be provided by public funds
- creates exception to fire protection travel time policy, which was approved by Deer Springs Fire Protection District
- The LHR-SP would implement one of the options for wastewater treatment as approved by the Valley Center Municipal Water District
- Amendments to the County General Plan
- changing the project site’s land use designation from semi-rural to village;
- exempting the project from the leapfrog development restrictions;
- exempting the project from policies to protect agriculture and to maintain the existing rural life style;
- exempting the project from the usual methodology for determining the maximum amount of time allowed for the fire agency to get to the project site and applying a separate methodology for the project.