Council OKs Pacts for Building 4,131 Homes

Eleventh-hour opposition to construction of a large residential project on the northern shore of Lake Miramar failed Monday as the San Diego City Council approved development agreements governing 4,131 new homes, most of them in the city’s northern tier.

The council’s approval came despite the city attorney’s refusal to endorse the agreements because the construction--much of which would require substantial grading of hillsides and filling of natural canyons--would be exempt from any environmental protections enacted by the council in coming months.

In a related matter, the council was meeting late Monday night in an attempt to devise a growth management plan in the wake of the Nov. 8 defeat of slow-growth Propositions H and J.

In their first vote on the matter, the council extended temporary protections for canyon, hillsides and wetlands until Sept. 5. The protections would have expired Feb. 21.

With Monday’s vote on six development agreements, the council has accepted contracts covering 11,509 new homes since voters rejected the two citywide slow-growth ballot propositions Nov. 8. The council is scheduled to take up two more agreements governing 676 more homes today. A decision on another agreement covering about 450 homes was postponed Monday.

Development Agreements

The agreements are contracts with the developers under which the city trades a guaranteed right to build the homes in return for early construction of schools, parks, roads and other public facilities.

The six agreements approved Monday will bring the city more than $27 million in cash or construction of “extraordinary benefits” such as the Mercy Road interchange with Interstate 15 and a stretch of the South Poway Parkway, an east-west highway designed to alleviate congestion on Pomerado Road.

All but 339 of the homes will be built in Miramar Ranch North, north of Lake Miramar. The rest will be constructed in Tierrasanta’s Regency Hill development. The council also approved an agreement governing construction of a hotel and offices in Serra Mesa.

BCE Development Inc.’s mammoth Miramar Ranch North project, which will place 3,360 homes on 1,200 acres north of Lake Miramar, has sparked the opposition of a fledgling community group that in recent weeks began a drive to delay Monday’s final approval of the development agreement.

Leaders of the Save Miramar Lake Committee claimed Monday that plans call for homes to be built within 75 yards of the lake’s northern shore and that runoff containing chemicals and fertilizer might contaminate drinking water.

Other opponents claimed that the grading of hillsides and filling of canyons needed to create level building areas will require moving 240 million cubic yards of earth. And others said that the home building will detract from the lake’s recreational uses, enjoyed by residents from throughout the county.

“We don’t think that a few public facilities are worth the destruction of one of our most beautiful public reservoirs,” said Lonna Smith, chairwoman of the fledgling Save Miramar Lake Committee.

But District 5 Councilman Ed Struiksma, who shepherded the four agreements in his district to approval, said the claim that 240 million cubic yards of earth would be moved is a “gross misrepresentation” designed to inflame public sentiment. Although he offered no specifics, Struiksma said in an interview that the grading required will be substantially less.

Runoff Diverted

City Manager John Lockwood said runoff from the construction will be diverted away from the reservoir and all water is treated before it is provided to consumers.

Supporters of the project included leaders of the community’s planning group, who have been negotiating for more than five years for benefits from developers. David Prewitt, chairman of the Miramar Ranch North community planning committee, said homes will not be built closer than 450 feet from the lake’s northern shore.

Council members approved the agreement, despite Assistant City Atty. Curtis Fitzpatrick’s warning that the contract language would exempt the developments from any future protections for the environment that are enacted.

But council members noted that they will have the authority to regulate home construction when developers return for approval of subdivision maps and more detailed construction plans.

“As the development comes forward, the city will have sufficient discretionary authority . . . that we are going to be able to look at the development and make sure that (the construction) doesn’t get too close to the lake,” Councilman Bruce Henderson said.