Legislature Passes Bill Favoring Powerful Developers in County

A small group of influential San Diego County landowners whose property lies on the fringe of incorporated areas could get a green light for stalled North County development proposals under a bill passed Monday by the Legislature.

With almost no discussion, the Assembly passed and sent to the governor a bill by Sen. Jim Ellis (R-San Diego) that would allow Local Agency Formation Commissions (LAFCOs) to approve needed service annexations for certain developments, even though overdue “sphere of influence” studies for nearby cities and special districts were months from completion.

Although relatively obscure, the LAFCOs and their regulations have become weapons in the ongoing battle between pro- and slow-growth forces over development on San Diego’s northern boundary.

Because the measure affects only nine development proposals in the whole state --six of them in San Diego County--critics had denounced it as “special interest legislation.”

But Ellis, who picked up the bill after San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock persuaded another legislator to drop it, said he never even talked about it with any of the affected landowners. Ellis argued that the measure is designed to free the unincorporated tracts from the grip of managed-growth forces.

Affected developers include former supermarket chain chairman Tom Ralphs, former San Diego Chargers owner Eugene Klein and Watt Industries President Joe Davis.

Ellis charged that City of San Diego officials intentionally missed the statutory deadlines for the required studies in an illegal attempt to foster “their no-growth strategy.”

Ellis said the city’s failure to finish the sphere studies before deadlines set by the Legislature is unfair to landowners, “not to mention the fact that they (local officials) are breaking the law.”

The Assembly passed the measure Monday 63-8. The Senate had passed it 38-0 on March 14, when it was still being carried by its original author, Sen. Wadie Deddeh (D-Chula Vista). Deddeh dropped the measure after he got word that it no longer affected Chula Vista annexations.

In a related matter, San Diego City Clerk Charles A. Abdelnour said Monday that an initiative that would discourage urban sprawl in the north part of the city has qualified for the November ballot.

The controversial initiative would require a majority vote in a citywide election to remove land from San Diego’s “urban reserve.” That designation sets aside rural land--much of it in North County--from development until 1995. Over the last five years, the City Council often has overridden that designation to approve major residential projects--projects that a coalition of environment and planning groups are hoping their initiative can stop or prevent.

Under existing state law, California’s 58 Local Agency Formation Commissions may not approve service annexations needed for development unless the so-called “sphere of influence” studies for nearby cities and special districts are finished.

The legislation would in essence exempt 3,600-acre Ralphs Ranch--along with five other proposed North County developments from that requirement.

Initially, the LAFCOs were given no specific deadline to complete the long-range planning assignment--which was to recommend ultimate potential boundaries and service areas for all the cities and special districts in their respective counties. But that flaw was later pointed out by an appellate court and corrected by the Legislature, which in 1983 set deadlines for the studies.

The most important of those deadlines passed in January, and nearly all of the state’s LAFCOs have completed their task.

But not San Diego’s. The local LAFCO, which requested that each city and special district conduct its own boundary study and submit it for commission approval, has approved sphere studies for only six of the county’s 16 cities and 100 of 170 special districts.

How and why San Diego got so far behind “is one of those issues where there’s lots of finger pointing and a lot of ducking and diving,” said one city official who asked not to be identified.

John Witzel, the City of San Diego’s Sacramento-based lobbyist, agreed: “You are going to find that if you fold your arms across your chest and point your index fingers in opposite directions, that’s what people down there are doing.”

Indeed, everyone in local government seems to blame everyone else for the county’s shabby record.

Developers who pushed the legislation said they don’t really care who’s responsible for the delay. But they argued that their projects have been unfairly held hostage because of governmental inaction and ineptitude.

“The landowners (in the sphere study area) are trapped because of the discretionary influence of governmental bodies conducting these endless studies,” said Joe Davis, president of Watt Industries, which plans to build a 256-acre subdivision with 125 custom homes. “We are caught in the middle of these various planning efforts and it’s really ludicrous.”

As Rusty Selix, a Sacramento lobbyist representing Ralphs Ranch, put it, “We’d be building tomorrow” if LAFCO could give its approval.

Critics of Ellis’ bill, however, argued that someone was trying to pull a fast one.

Jay Powell, the San Diego County Sierra Club chapter’s conservation coordinator, said the legislation in essence will be “rewarding the San Diego LAFCO . . . for having the (state’s) worst record for complying with the law.”

Powell added that he has “very little sympathy” for the wealthy landowners “trying to ramrod this thing through.”

Ellis’ bill allows LAFCOs to act on annexation applications submitted before Dec. 31, 1984, even if sphere studies were not in place.

In addition to the local projects, two annexations in Santa Cruz County and one in tiny, rural Sierra County will be affected by the bill. Eight other counties have one or two sphere studies yet to be approved, but no annexations are on hold because of them.

Besides Ralphs Ranch, properties affected in San Diego County are:

- The 256-acre residential development proposed by Watt Industries.

- The 335-acre Rancho del Rayo Estates, a proposal by Del Ray Properties in conjunction with former Chargers owner Eugene Klein to build 64 estate homes.

- A 213-acre residential subdivision, with 91 lots and a golf course, proposed by South Coast Land Co. of Del Mar, and its partners, among them Gunther Realty of Solana Beach.

- A 26-acre parcel owned by Rancho Santa Fe Associates. As yet, there are no specific plans for the site, which will be developed in connection with Hahn, Marasco & Associates of Encinitas.

- A 19-lot residential subdivision the La Jolla Development Co. plans to build on 41 acres.

Jane Merrill, executive officer of LAFCO in San Diego, said each of the developments has filed for annexation to the Whispering Palms Sanitation District, due to undergo a major expansion to accommodate these and other projects in the coming year.

Ralphs Ranch has applied to form a county sanitation district and is seeking annexation to the Rancho Santa Fe Fire District and the Olivenhain Water District, Merrill said.

Supervisor Susan Golding was among county officials who sought another legislator to revive the measure.

“My interest in this bill is a matter of principle,” Golding said. “I would never have gotten involved if the mayor hadn’t attempted to strip the county of its authority over county land.”

As for Hedgecock’s charge that the bill violates San Diego’s 1979 Growth Management Plan, Golding said the mayor is “talking about apples and oranges. That’s the city’s plan, and this, at least for now, is county land.”