Protection of Archeological Site Delayed

A North County crossroads that has served travelers for 10,000 years has turned into a roadblock for county officials seeking to build an east-west highway.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to delay until December placing protective zoning on the Harris archeological site east of Rancho Santa Fe, until a route for the proposed highway is settled.

The highway, which would link Interstate 5 at Del Mar with Interstate 15 south of Escondido, has been on county planning boards for more than two decades, supported by Rancho Santa Fe residents who now deal with heavy commuter traffic through their affluent estate community.

Archeologists and environmentalists want to have the prehistoric site along the San Dieguito River protected by restrictive zoning, but developers and county engineers want a compromise that would allow construction of the highway and some development of the 61-acre tract.

The archeological site contains signs of human occupancy dating back 7,000 to 12,000 years. Karen Berger, a Solana Beach activist who is fighting attempts to route the cross-county highway through the area, calls the site a “world-class scientific treasure.”

County engineers, however, say an elevated roadbed could be constructed that would leave the centuries-old site untouched.

Jim Ashcraft, president of the Rancho Santa Fe Assn. board of directors, pleaded with county supervisors to consider the “thousands of mid-county residents and the thousands of commuters” who would suffer if the proposed highway were banned from the ages-old river crossing.

A proposed zoning ordinance change that would have exempted all of the county’s major road construction from the restrictions placed on the archeological site--or any other sensitive lands--was blasted by speakers who want special zoning for the site to prevent it from being disturbed.

J. Michael McDade, the attorney representing Sunland Inc., the property owners, also protested any plan that would allow routing the highway through the property but prevent any use of the land by its owners.

Supervisor Susan Golding ended the stalemate by proposing that county planners come up with an ordinance aimed specifically at protecting archeological sites and setting stiff penalties on violators. She also included in her motion an order to designers in the county Public Works Department to return to the board Dec. 18 with proposed alignments for the east-west highway.

“I want progress on (the proposed highway) . . . to continue,” Golding said. “The archeological site can’t be disturbed, but we will not be able to determine if this is possible until we have highway alignments.”

The site, the exact location of which is kept under wraps to prevent looting by souvenir hunters, lies south of Del Dios Highway and west of the Lake Hodges dam.