Escondido Mayor Flouts Council, Signs Pact for Development

Escondido Mayor Doris Thurston signed a disputed agreement Monday, allowing a 640-home development and thwarting the intent of the City Council’s new slow-growth majority to withdraw city approval of the project.

The action came on the eve of today’s scheduled court hearing, in which Signal Landmark, developer of the Eaglecrest estate community near the San Diego Wild Animal Park, planned to seek a court order to force the mayor to sign the agreement. The project, in a different form, was originally approved by the City Council in 1985. Signal, which got council approval for the revised project earlier this year, wants to begin construction.

The council, however, has scheduled a Wednesday hearing on rescinding or amending the disputed approval document.

An angered Councilwoman Carla DeDominicis charged Monday that the mayor had abused the powers of her office by signing the Eaglecrest document and had “cost the city more than a quarter of a million dollars” that Signal officials had offered as a settlement during closed-door negotiations.

“That signature, which she gave away for free, was worth $275,000,” DeDominicis fumed. “She had no right to make that decision without consulting the council. She does not have executive powers.”

Thurston, who originally told the council that she would not sign the agreement, said in a short explanatory statement Monday that she had signed the document because “I do not believe it is in the best interest of Escondido to litigate this matter. I have concluded that the only honorable alternative remaining for me was to sign the agreement.”

DeDominicis said that, when recision of the Eaglecrest development agreement was first discussed by the council, Thurston voted with the three slow-growth council members (DeDominicis and Councilmen Jerry Harmon and Kris Murphy) to schedule the Wednesday hearing on the issue and to appoint DeDominicis and Harmon to try to negotiate a settlement with Signal.

Signal Landmark negotiators had offered a $275,000 settlement to obtain city approval for the project, DeDominicis said, and the city subcommittee had countered, asking for a $500,000 developer contribution if the city built a fire station in the isolated area to relieve developers of the requirement of installing sprinkler systems in the homes.

“It could have been a win-win situation if she had not signed this agreement,” DeDominicis said. “There is still a majority of the City Council which believes this development agreement is invalid, and I intend to ask them to order the city attorney to file a petition for declaratory relief,” in which a judge will decide the validity of the Eaglecrest document.

DeDominicis, an attorney, contends that the Eaglecrest agreement was rushed through by former pro-growth council members without proper public notice and without requiring sufficient mitigation of environmental impact. Former Mayor Jim Rady signed the agreement first, but his signature was ruled invalid because Rady was out of office before the required 30-day waiting period for that action had occurred. Rady retired from office, and former councilman Doug Best was defeated in the June 7 election, in which slow-growth advocates DeDominicis and Murphy were elected to form, with Harmon, a slow-growth majority.

Thurston, who could not be reached for comment after announcing that she had signed the development agreement Monday afternoon, said in her statement that she took the action “with the understanding that I have the right and moral obligation to do so.”

During a June council discussion on Eaglecrest, Thurston said she thought the 872-acre project to be “an excellent plan” but would not give her approval or sign the agreement until she was convinced that the developers had met her conditions, which concerned preventing further urbanization of the area.

Thurston said she was advised initially by City Atty. David Chapman not to sign the document, “presumably at the recommendation of individual council members; however, no such formal instructions have been forthcoming.”

At a council meeting late last month, Chapman said the new council had the right to reconsider and revoke the agreement if it chose to do so.

At that meeting, attorney Tim Paone, representing Signal Landmark, protested the council action setting a new hearing on the project and charged the council with “trampling on the rights” of developers.

Earlier this month, Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Miller tentatively ordered Thurston to sign the Eaglecrest agreement but scheduled today’s court hearing.