Council Approves Canyon Fill-In : Builder Wins Project OK Despite Objection of Residents

Despite considerable public outcry, the San Diego City Council voted 6 to 2 Tuesday to let a developer fill in a seven-acre finger canyon and the tip of a second canyon to build houses bordering the Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve in Mira Mesa.

With Mayor Roger Hedgecock and Councilman Mike Gotch dissenting, council members capped nearly two hours of debate by voting to permit the Fieldstone development company, in conjunction with Genstar Southwestern Development, to build 452 single-family houses on 130 acres overlooking the preserve. Councilman Uvaldo Martinez was absent.

A few Mira Mesa residents objected to the development because it would destroy a seven-acre finger canyon by permitting Fieldstone to fill it with about 300,000 cubic yards of dirt. The dirt would be dumped into the canyon after it was scraped from a nearby ridge.

In addition, the development calls for construction of Calle Cristobal, a street that would cut through a second “tributary” canyon running eastward into the proposed development from the preserve. The new road essentially would sever 2.3 acres from the tip of the tributary canyon, and the council agreed to let Fieldstone fill in that severed portion for home sites.

Residents objected to filling in the canyons because the Mira Mesa Community Plan designates them as “open space,” a category supposedly protected from development.

At one point in the discussion, Hedgecock pushed a plan that would change the design of Calle Cristobal to save the 2.3 acres in the tributary canyon.

But Keith A. Johnson, Fieldstone executive vice president, said Hedgecock’s suggestion would cost Fieldstone more than $400,000 because it would lose sites for 20 homes. In all, the company would lose 60 home sites if the council prohibited the filling of both canyons in question, city estimates showed.

Genstar President Robert B. McLeod also reminded council members that it was his company that made the preserve possible by donating 1,800 acres to the city in 1979. Since then, he added, the company has donated an additional 1,200 acres for open space. A 1979 contract between the city and Genstar gives the company the right to develop adjacent land, he emphasized.

“I frankly felt very indebted to the company for this gift, which was the biggest in the history of the City of San Diego,” Councilman Bill Cleator said before he voted in favor of Fieldstone and Genstar.

“Frankly, I feel guilty if I don’t approve this project,” Councilman Bill Mitchell added.