Pollution Case Puts Landowner in Spotlight
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State water officials recently discovered that developers had leveled three patches of land near Temecula, allowing storm water, sediment and pollutants to run into nearby creeks. Given the pace of development in the Inland Empire, they weren’t terribly stunned.
Their next discovery, however, has placed one of the largest landowners in southern Riverside County back at the center of a fierce debate over the Temecula region’s magnificent--and increasingly cluttered--rolling hills.
According to the water officials, the three projects were run by one of the largest landowners in southern Riverside County, Bill Johnson, an unabashed property rights advocate. The water officials will begin weighing substantial fines against Johnson in coming weeks.
For his part, Johnson believes that those who own property are under assault from “radical” environmentalists and government officials.
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