Rudyville: Urban Sprawl Comes to Borrego
This post concerns an assault on Borrego that, while not a direct threat to the Borrego Valley aquifer, is nonetheless highly objectionable in many of its aspects and will have a long-term, deleterious, secondary affect that is inimical to groundwater management efforts in the valley.
The San Diego county Department of Planning and Land Use is considering a permit request for project known as Country Club Estates located in Borrego Springs on 172 undisturbed acres north of Country Club Road and east of Borrego Springs Road (Case Number TM5487, APNs 198-320-01 and 198-320-26), hereafter “The Project” (aka “Rudyville” after the developer Rudy Monica). Concerns about The Project fall primarily into two broad categories: Density and Environmental Damage.
With respect to density:
- The overall size and density of the project is too great; and the project in whole is not in keeping with the character of the community or the area in which it is located. As planned, it will constitute an anomalous, visual blight on the landscape.
- Inspection of the plat map for the project discloses that parcel size within the project area is less than proximate parcels; most especially those west and northwest of it where lot sizes are commonly two to two and one half acres.
- The visual evidence, however, does not tell the whole story. Many home owners around the project area have purchased vacant lots adjacent to and even across the street/road from their residence in order to prevent these properties from being developed. As a result, the de facto lot size in areas surrounding The Project is often from two to four times as large as the legal description of the parcel on which many homes are actually located.
- The density of The Project completely disregards the concept of “feathering” or reducing the density as an inverse function of the distance from the town center. The Project site is on the southern edge of the built up area of Borrego Springs and so, under this concept, should have a lower density than areas to the north.
- The density of The Project will result in a significant increase in traffic on Country Club and Broken Arrow Roads into the town center and aggravate the already dangerous situation that exists at their junction.
- There are already about 2,000 vacant lots of 1 acre or less in Borrego Springs. There is simply no demonstrable need for an additional 149 similar lots.
With respect to environmental factors:
- The project site is a pristine area the loss of which cannot easily be mitigated, if at all. In any case, it should not be sacrificed to provide unneeded building sites.
- There are burrowing owl nests on the property that will be destroyed by The Project;
- There is a thriving ocotillo forest covering the property, and the density of the proposed development will inevitably result in destruction of most if not all of it;
- There is a significant sand dune near the north boundary of the property that will either be destroyed outright by extensive grading or so denuded and destabilized that it will be very quickly eroded by fierce winds that blow across the desert. In either case the dune will be destroyed by The Project;
- Grading or denuding and destabilizing the dune will result in blowing sand and dust that will degrade air quality in the valley;
- A secondary, but no less important, environmental impact of The Project is the damage it will do to a major effort to protect the valley’s critically overdrafted, sole-source aquifer. At least 70% of water extracted from the aquifer each year is for irrigation. In 2004, the Borrego Springs Community Sponsor Group (BSCSG) was successful in increasing the density of about 5,000 acres of farm land in the northern part of the valley from one dwelling unit (du) per 20 acres, to one du per 4 acres in General Plan 2020. The sole purpose of the increase was to facilitate sale of farms for estate developments to reduce demand on the aquifer from irrigation. Permitting The Project on virgin land will seriously undermine this groundwater management strategy by adding 148 redundant homesites to the existing inventory, competing with and slowing the development of farmland, and hastening the degradation and depletion of the valley’s only water source.
Applicant has repeatedly demonstrated a callous disregard for environmental and aesthetic values that are widely shared in the community. More than 70 residents of the area surrounding the project area attended a BSCSG meeting on 4 April 2006 to protest the project. No one supported it. Moreover, Applicant has consistently ignored recommendations from the BSCSG, which voted in April 2006 to deny a permit for The Project and continues to vigorously oppose it.
In light of the foregoing then, the county must at least require a full Environmental Impact Report on the proposed project area and hold public meetings in Borrego Springs where residents can present their case against The Project directly to decision makers. Failure to do so will result in a less than informed decision regarding a project that promises significant negative consequences for the community and the environment.
It appears that the county is poised to issue a “negative declaration” for this project; which means that no Environmental Impact Report for the project site will be required. If you want to register a complaint about this potential blight on the landscape, and you should, contact:
Mr. Bill Stocks, Project Manager
5201 Ruffin Road, Suit B
San Diego, CA 92123
858.694.3913
William.stocks@sdcounty.ca.gov
ASAP!
05/16/07