Housing project gets another shot Supervisors’ previous vote ended in 2-2 tie
By: Jeff McDonald

Background: With Ron Roberts absent, the county Board of Supervisors last month deadlocked on plans to build approximately 2,700 new homes in the hills north of Escondido.

What’s changing: Yesterday, Roberts requested that the board reconsider the application.

The future: Supervisors on Wednesday will consider granting a second hearing of the Merriam Mountain project. If that passes, a hearing would be scheduled later this year.

A housing plan that would turn thousands of acres of scrubland into a massive subdivision north of Escondido will be back in front of county supervisors next week.

After missing a key meeting that ended in a 2-2 tie last month, Supervisor Ron Roberts yesterday requested that the Merriam Mountains development return to the Board of Supervisors for a second public hearing.

Roberts’ request, made on the last day of a 30-day window in which supervisors can call for reconsideration of any application, was cheered by project supporters and criticized by opponents who worked for months to stop the development.

In his letter to the board, Roberts said the plan deserves to be considered by all five supervisors.

The project itself will not be debated at Wednesday’s board meeting. Instead, Roberts will ask his colleagues to approve bringing the issue back for a future hearing. Three votes will be needed to keep the development viable.

“Because of the size of the Merriam Mountains project and its significance in terms of regional population growth, I believe it is important for this project to be considered by the full Board of Supervisors,” Roberts wrote to his colleagues.

Joe Perring, project manager for the development company, NNP-Stonegate Merriam LLC, praised Roberts’ decision to reconsider the development.

“A tie vote in any democratic process fails the due-process test,” Perring said.

Opponents of the development were less pleased. They criticized Roberts and said the developer already received a fair hearing last month.

“We’re not hugely surprised but certainly disappointed,” said Byron Blount, who works for owners of the nearby Golden Door Spa. “We believe the project was appropriately presented and comprehensively debated by both opponents and proponents.”

Richard Halsey of the Escondido-based California Chaparral Institute said elected officials in San Diego County always seem to approve development plans, regardless of their effect on the environment.

“So many of us are frustrated over what role citizens play in county government,” Halsey said. “It doesn’t seem to matter how many arguments or how much logic and science we provide the county supervisors and staff. It appears that they’ve already got their minds made up.”

Roberts’ decision to seek a rehearing is fraught with political considerations. The supervisor is facing a challenging re-election fight this spring, and Merriam Mountains is certain to become a major issue.

The project also has become an issue for Supervisor Bill Horn. Opponents have asked that he be recused from discussions of the project. They have also asked District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis to open an investigation into Horn, who told a reporter last month that he advised the developer to delay the hearing, presumably because Roberts was scheduled to miss the meeting because of a prior commitment in Sacramento.

The District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the investigation request.

County law prohibits supervisors from speaking with project applicants once an application has been filed, though the rules do permit contact between an applicant and supervisors’ staff members.

Horn, who also is up for re-election in June, denied that he did anything wrong and said he welcomed any investigation. He said he misspoke when he was discussing the project’s defeat with the North County Times and would not recuse himself from future Merriam Mountains votes.

“I refer to the county as ‘I’ many times,” Horn said. “I use ‘I’ a lot, whether I’m talking about my staff, the county or myself. It’s unfortunate that I used ‘I.’ I’ll try to be more accurate in the future.”

The Merriam Mountains project manager said his company considered seeking a delay after learning that Roberts would miss the meeting but decided against filing that request.

“It was our judgment, given that the hearing had been noticed, that it certainly couldn’t have been retracted,” Perring said.

Board Chairwoman Dianne Jacob and Supervisor Pam Slater-Price rejected the development after a daylong public hearing Dec. 9, saying there were too many concerns over traffic, water availability, fire protection and other issues to support the project. South Bay Supervisor Greg Cox joined Horn in voting to allow the development.

Merriam Mountains has been in the planning process for 10 years. It would include 2,700 or so homes on thousands of acres of rolling hills north of Escondido and west of Interstate 15.

Blount said his company is likely to file a lawsuit if the Board of Supervisors allows Merriam Mountains to proceed.