Board OKs Growth Outline for I-15 Corridor

A development blueprint that will restrict commercial, industrial and residential growth along the Interstate 15 corridor north of Escondido was approved Wednesday by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.

The plan won the virtually unconditional support of the Fallbrook Planning Group, which had balked at an earlier draft because it called for extensive commercial development at the junction of I-15 and California 76, which lies within its planning area.

“Fallbrook got 95% of what it wanted,” David Lowry, president of the Fallbrook Planning Group, said after Wednesday’s hearing and plan adoption.

The planning document is intended to protect the views along the mostly undeveloped, 19-mile stretch of freeway from Escondido to the Riverside County line by outlining where development can occur, and under what design standards.

Reason for Planning

County planners say that, by identifying which areas should be earmarked for particular types of development along the scenic stretch, it will be protected from hopscotch strip development.

Eliminated from an earlier draft proposal was a 42-acre “town center” at the junction of I-15 and California 76, featuring supermarkets and other retail and service businesses, restaurants, movie theaters and an amusement center.

Instead, at the urging of the Fallbrook Planning Group, which was concerned about the birth of a “mini-city” at the junction, the supervisors agreed to a more limited commercial development at the site.

Furthermore, the supervisors placed the highway junction under the control of a so-called Master Specific Plan Area, thereby requiring that landowners conduct extensive studies, at their expense, on the need of public improvements before being allowed to develop their property.

Such studies would identify the need for improved or widened roads, new schools, sewers, water delivery and other public works, which they would then be required to install at their expense.

Concern Removed

That requirement, said Fallbrook’s Lowry, removed concern that the junction of the two highways would be developed helter-skelter and outpace public improvements to adequately serve the growth.

“Unlike what happened two years ago,” Lowry said, referring to discussion of the draft proposal, “the county has now acknowledged that major development along the corridor will have to identify and install the necessary infrastructure. That’s a big relief to Fallbrook. We’re not anti-growth. We just want to make sure growth can be accommodated.”

Perhaps the only surprise Wednesday came when North County Supervisor John MacDonald called for 154 acres of property along the east side of I-15 between the Lawrence Welk Resort Village and the Circle-R resort to be earmarked for visitor-commercial development, for such uses as motels, restaurants and campgrounds.

That proposal had been contained in the earlier draft, but was taken out at the recommendation of the county planning staff itself after it determined that enough property already is zoned for such uses.

Several landowners sought the return of the more expansive visitor-commercial development plan along that stretch of freeway, and no one Wednesday spoke in opposition to MacDonald’s motion.

Feathers Ruffled

MacDonald did ruffle the feathers of some opponents, however, when he won board approval identifying a 100-acre site at the northeast corner of I-15 and California 76 for either high-density residential or industrial use. The site is bounded on the north and east by 327 acres already approved by the county for industrial development by Hewlett Packard.

Some speakers wanted the county to consider keeping the 100-acre site available for agricultural or other less-intense use.

“Just about everyone is in agreement that this area should be agricultural, that it’s not suitable for housing,” said Van Washburn, a spokesman for Friends of a Rural Lifestyle, a Fallbrook activists group. “About the only person who wants high-density residential or industrial would be (the landowner) himself.”

But Lowry told the supervisors the Fallbrook Planning Group, while preferring the land be zoned for no more than 2.75 residential dwelling units to the acre, is not dead-fast opposed to industrial development there.

Aside from the proposed construction of two mobile home parks already approved for the I-15 and California 76 junction, no other “clustered” housing will be permitted in the area, according to the plan.

Any development within the corridor would have to pass certain design standards set by the county, a requirement that frustrated one Rainbow-area resident, who complained Wednesday that it puts an undue burden on landowners wanting to build their own homes.