The controversial Harmony Grove Village South (HGVS) project is front and center again, because the San Diego County Planning Commission is scheduled to consider the project during their August 22nd monthly hearing, starting at 9:00a.m.
Opposition to the project has only grown in recent months, stemming mainly from its lack of a secondary wildfire evacuation route. The housing development, as currently designed, would only have one viable evacuation route for 453 new homes and 70 legacy homes, in violation of current state fire code. The previous Board of Supervisors allowed the developer to bypass this crucial fire code requirement by identifying an unimproved dirt path that might serve as a backup evacuation if the main exit were blocked. That vegetation-choked path, which winds through numerous properties, is impassable by passenger vehicles and cannot reasonably be used for evacuation in an emergency.
Harmony Grove is in a ‘very high fire severity zone’ as defined by CalFire and it is surrounded by approximately 15,000 acres of flammable open space. It has suffered numerous large, destructive fires, about once a decade recently, so community members are acutely aware of the danger of wildfire. According to a recent evacuation expert’s study, adding another 453 homes to this community would mean that it would take at least 7 hours to evacuate the community in a fire emergency, assuming no one is towing horse trailers that will need to evacuate the hundreds of horses in the area. In a large fire like the 2014 Cocos Fire, that burned right next to the project site, the community would become a death trap.
Concerns rose to a fever pitch this past January when the Palisades and Eaton Fires in LA showed in real time how the lack of evacuation can result in terrible outcomes to life and property. This San Diego Union-Tribune story provides insight into the community concern about HGVS at that time, as well as more information about the suggested evacuation route.
These concerns are coupled with the sense that powerful interests are sidelining community concerns about public safety. Specifically, the developer/landowner, Colorado-based billionaire Marcel Arsenault, along with his consultants and lobbyists, have made significant donations to local members of the Board of Supervisors. And they’ve offered the local fire district $850,000 in unmarked “donation” funds. Now, despite the risk to local residents, the fire district is not enforcing its own “non-negotiable” secondary access requirements when it comes to this proposal. If the Planning Commission votes to approve the development, the final decision will come before the County Board of Supervisors, likely within weeks.
Spokespeople are available to comment on this ahead of and after the Planning Commission hearing this Friday. Please contact us if we can provide more information or connect you with a community member involved in opposition to this project.
For more information, see:
- Harmony Grove Village South: A Dangerous Proposal with High Fire Risk fact sheet
- Don’tBurnUs.org website
See the following fact sheet:
I live in the neighborhood off Country Club and Kauana Loa. During the 2014 cocco fire Kauana Loa was closed by the fire department, County Cub was backed up going north. It took us a couple of hours to evacuate. This was before the development of Harmony Grove Village. How can you approve an additional 400+ Homes at 2 cars minimum per house hold on top of Harmony Grove Village with 2 lane road access to get out? Obviously you don’t give any concern for the safety of peoples lives. God forbid we have another fire….Sooo Saaad