Judge Rules Against Fanita Ranch’s 3,000 Houses in Santee Area That’s Seen 65 Wildfires in Last 100 Years

By Kelly Hessedal / CBS8 / August 13, 2024

A plan to develop 3,000 homes on land in the northern part of Santee will not go forward after a judge ruled against it Friday.

The Fanita Ranch development project has been in and out of the court system for years.

“There are places where development does not belong, an extreme fire hazard zone is one of them,” said Van Collinsworth, Director for Preserve Wild Santee, one of the environmental groups that sued to stop the project.

Fanita Ranch is 2,600 acres, and the plan was to build 3,000 homes there. The City of Santee approved it in 2022.

The judge said in her latest ruling that the project was inconsistent with the city’s general plan and violated the state’s environmental protection laws.

John Buse, attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, another environmental group involved in the lawsuit, said the project was supposed to be voted on by the people.

“What [the city] did is they basically pretended the project didn’t need a general plan amendment, when it did,” said Buse.

Collinsworth said on top of fire danger, there are many sensitive species that live there. Its location in between Mission Trails Park and Sycamore Canyon Preserve makes it ideal to be preserved as open space, he added.

However, this ruling comes as San Diego is dealing with a housing crisis.

“I think it’s much more complicated in terms of housing than saying a 3,000 unit project on Fanita Ranch is going to address that issue,” said Collinsworth.

He said it’s unclear which insurance company would insure a home built on the property.

Tuesday afternoon, CBS 8 received the following statement from Santee Mayor John Minto:

“One of the reasons why we continue to have a housing crisis in San Diego and California is because, in my opinion, judges are afraid to rule in favor of cities or housing projects because they’re afraid of what the environmental community will say. Santee will continue to follow the law. Although we may not agree with the judge’s ruling we will abide by it and take the necessary steps to provide the best amenities for the community that we can.”

OB Rag: In an earlier post about the project, see this:

“Evacuation and wildfire safety is a huge concern here. It’s really a case of the worst kind of unsustainable sprawl development that paves over habitats for unique and sensitive species and places the surrounding communities at risk,” said Senior attorney Peter Broderick for the Center for Biological Diversity.

Broderick represented a collection of environmental organizations opposed to Fanita Project says the City of Santee failed to disclose the fire safety risks in an area the state designated as having the highest level of fire severity.