Environmental Damage Claimed Near Los Penasquitos : City Bars Hauling Across Vernal Pool for Road Work

Environmentalists won a small victory Friday when the city of San Diego ordered a land-development company to stop using a dirt road across a vernal pool to send equipment to a road under construction near Los Penasquitos Canyon Reserve.

Jim Casey, director of the city’s Department of Engineering and Development, said that, in grading the dirt access road east of the planned Lopez Ridge subdivision, the company has damaged the pool, considered an environmentally sensitive wetland.

In a hand-delivered letter to an executive of Newland California, Casey ordered that the dirt road not be used and that the vernal pool be restored if possible.

Casey’s move, however, represents only a minor victory for environmentalists seeking to block construction of Calle Cristobal, a 3.5-mile road planned to snake along Lopez Ridge to Sorrento Valley Boulevard directly east of the intersection of Interstates 5 and 805.

Access to Subdivision

At best, the order may slow but not block construction of Calle Cristobal, which is meant to provide east-west access to the planned Lopez Ridge subdivision.

Instead of approaching the Calle Cristobal site from the east of the subdivision, earthmovers and other equipment will now be forced to approach from the west, past the high-tech and research and development firms that line Sorrento Valley Blvd.

Casey said Newland California has the needed permits to build Calle Cristobal.

Casey sent the letter to Newland executive Art Shurtleff after meeting with Assistant City Manager John Fowler, Deputy City Atty. John Riess, Planning Department officials Ann Hix and Terri Jacques, and Frank Belock, an engineer with the city engineering department.

Later, Mayor Maureen O’Connor sent a memo to City Manager John Lockwood asking that the city order a halt to “all work currently taking place at the affected site until adequate environmental review and assessment is completed.”

Paul Downey, the mayor’s press secretary, said the mayor would prefer that all work on Calle Cristobal be stopped until further review but would settle for having work halted near the vernal pools.

Casey said that, after meeting with the city attorney’s office, it was decided that halting work east of Lopez Ridge near the vernal pools was as far as the city could go, thus leaving Newland free to build Calle Cristobal as long as it approaches from the west.

Jacques, senior planner with the Planning Department’s environmental quality division, said she discovered the damage to a vernal pool during an inspection earlier this week.

“The vernal pool had already been sort of mangled by the off-road vehicles that have used that area for a long time,” Jacques said. “We can’t really tell how much of the damage was done by the grading. But we know they should not have lowered their blade.”

The cease-and-desist order is the second issued this week involving work by Newland east of Lopez Ridge. Casey said he has been assured by company officials that, although they disagree with the orders, they will comply.

Newland officials were unavailable for comment. Environmental groups have threatened to sue to block construction of Calle Cristobal but no suits have yet been filed.