California judge blocks 1,100-home development near San Diego, citing wildfire hazards
A judge has blocked a major Southern California housing development in part over concerns over wildfire risks — the latest example of the courts stepping in when construction creeps into fire-prone areas of the state.
Ruling on a challenge to the 1,100-home Otay Ranch development near Chula Vista, in San Diego County, a judge late Thursday rejected the environmental impact report the county was required to prepare before signing off on the project.
Superior Court Judge Richard Whitney said the report failed to adequately examine multiple potential impacts of the project, including the possibility of a major fire. In particular, the judge scolded the county for not recognizing the risks that would come with adding 1,100 homes in a remote area, with “humans being an ignition cause of wildfire.”
With California slogging through a second straight rough season of wildfires, with more than 2.4 million acres burned, some critics say the state is intensifying its problems by continuing to build in what’s known as the wildland urban interface.
Thursday’s ruling marks the second time this year that the courts have halted a project over wildfire dangers. A judge in Los Angeles put a hold on the 19,000-home Tejon Ranch Centennial project, although the developer said it could easily fix the problems cited in the ruling.
The San Diego ruling was applauded by Attorney General Rob Bonta, whose office challenged the Otay Ranch project alongside six environmental groups.
“As these mega-disasters become the norm, it is more critical than ever that we build responsibly,” Bonta said in a prepared statement. “We can’t keep making the same mistakes. The land-use decisions we make now will have consequences for years and decades to come.
“Today’s ruling by the Superior Court affirms a critical fact: Local governments have a responsibility to address wildfire risks associated with development projects at the front end.”
The lawsuit was filed under the powerful California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, which was amended in 2018 to take wildfire danger into account.
Bonta’s office is fighting another major project, the $1 billion Guenoc Valley housing and resort complex in southern Lake County, just north of the Napa County line, in a spot that partially burned in the LNU Lightning Complex fires last year.
This story was originally published October 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "California judge blocks 1,100-home development near San Diego, citing wildfire hazards."