City Acts to Extend Sphere of Influence to North Tier

The San Diego City Council Tuesday voted to extend the city’s northern sphere of influence to the San Dieguito River, crossing swords with an influential local agency that opposes the move on grounds that San Diego will be unable to provide services to the area because of the managed-growth initiative approved by city voters in 1985.

Property owners in the affected areas--Del Dios, 4-S Ranch and Artesian Trails--have been in near-unanimous opposition to the city’s move, preferring instead to remain under county jurisdiction. At stake are millions of dollars in future revenues, either in the form of property taxes for the city or profits for developers and property owners.

If the affected areas, which total 6,600 acres, remain under county jurisdiction, property owners would be able to develop the largely rural San Dieguito River Valley without putting the matter before city voters for approval. But by including the valley under the city’s sphere of influence, the area becomes an urban reserve and falls under the umbrella of Proposition A, which requires that voters approve development plans.

The Local Agency Formation Commission, a state-mandated agency that determines the boundaries of cities and special districts, opposes bringing the area under the city’s sphere of influence. LAFCO officials say that, once a city designates an area within its sphere of influence, it has to be able to provide services to that area within 15 years, and that San Diego’s Proposition A restricts the city from providing those services.

City planning officials acknowledged Tuesday that San Diego will not be able to provide services to the river valley within the required time. But council members, citing the need for a regional park in the area and the curbing of unregulated growth, voted unanimously for a resolution to approve the sphere of influence anyway.

“We’re not land-grabbing, except for area that we need to extend our tax base. We need the tax base to provide services,” said Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer. “ . . . You bet we want this area (but) we also have to preserve a greenbelt.”

Mayor Maureen O’Connor expressed concern that if the city does not annex the three areas the county will allow unmanaged development to continue. O’Connor said that there are already serious safety and traffic problems in the area that the city has to contend with and that these would worsen if development is not managed.

“We need planned development for a road system and schools,” O’Connor said.

However, Supervisor Susan Golding, representing the Board of Supervisors, testified that much of the San Dieguito River Valley is “not appropriate for high levels of urban development” and urged the council not to include the area within its sphere of influence, allowing it to remain under county jurisdiction.

Golding argued that even if the city eventually decides to annex the area, it cannot do so without the approval of voters living there. She acknowledged that the county has allowed “piecemeal” development in the area, but said that the county is now working to put together a plan of orderly growth for the valley so it can retain a rural atmosphere.

“We (too) are interested in the creation of a regional park and plan to end the piecemeal development of the river valley,” said Golding. She added that supervisors are interested in proposing a “specific” growth plan for the area to allow the county, rather than developers, to map the valley’s growth.

However, the county is not ready to propose a building moratorium for the valley, said Golding.

After adopting the sphere-of-influence resolution, the council voted to work with the county, developers and valley property owners to reach an agreement on how the area’s growth is to be managed.