Thread: FALLBROOK: Supervisors approve 751-home development

FALLBROOK: Supervisors approve 751-home development

By TOM PFINGSTEN - For the North County Times
Wednesday, May 11, 2011 8:16 pm

Ending nearly a decade of land-use wrangling, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday unanimously approved the 751-home Campus Park development proposed for the northeast corner of Interstate 15 and Highway 76.

Wednesday's vote was the go-ahead that developer Passerelle LLC has been doggedly seeking during years of meetings with county staffers, local residents and the Fallbrook Community Planning Group.

The decision ends a particularly divisive chapter in Fallbrook's development history. The town cherishes its rural character, and residents have been known to oppose large developments on the basis that they would undermine the town's country charm, if not the lifestyle itself.

The Fallbrook Community Planning Group consistently opposed the project, at first because of the large number of homes it proposed, but more recently over parking and other details.

In the group's most recent action regarding Campus Park, 14 members of the elected body opposed the development during a November meeting, while only one voted in favor.

On Wednesday, planning group member Anne Burdick again asked the supervisors to withhold their approval until a few last sticking points could be sorted out.

"There is a lot, as you have heard, that we like about this project," Burdick said. "They have done some wonderful things with parks and trails, making it pedestrian-friendly. But there are three areas we still have concerns with."

Those areas were parking, which she called "a major concern that hasn't been addressed," the minimum size of the lots, and the lack of a new school.

Another proposed development called Meadowood that would be next to Campus Park includes plans for an elementary school, but Burdick pointed out it could be years before that project is approved.

In the meantime, Campus Park is expected to bring an estimated 236 schoolchildren into the area, and it remains to be seen whether the Bonsall Union School District or the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District would absorb the extra students.

Despite what were, for some, lingering concerns, all five supervisors spoke favorably about the project before voting.

"This plan seemed to me to be nearly perfect," said Supervisor Pam Slater-Price, saying of the school issue: "If we could put a final checkmark by that, then it would be."

Besides the 751 homes that will be built, the development will include 157,000 square feet of office and professional space, 61,200 square feet of commercial buildings, public and private recreational facilities, including a sports park large enough for several fields, and new roads.

It will essentially be the largest housing development in the history of Fallbrook, and could boost the community's population by as much as 5 percent ---- or 2,000 people, according to U.S. Census statistics citing an average of 2.73 "persons per household" in San Diego County.

And that figure doesn't include the other two developments proposed for the same area. Meadowood and Campus Park West, a separate proposal, are also in the planning process, and together would add almost 2,000 homes and more commercial, industrial and office buildings to what is now bare land.

Also, Palomar College started grading the approximately 80 acres it owns next to Campus Park to make way for a new campus capable of serving up to 8,500 students.

With such transformative changes in the works, all five supervisors seemed happy to let the first major commercial project out of the gates.

Project spokesman Chris Brown has lobbied for Campus Park for seven years, attending countless planning-group meetings and negotiating with county land-use experts.

"Yeah, it feels great," said Brown, adding that with the press of a button by five elected officials on Wednesday, "a lot of hard work by a lot of people" was validated.

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/fallb ... 1e579.html

BUILD BUILD BUILD THATS all you hear when people are losing their homes no jobs gas over 4 dallors a gal.money short who can buy?These developers dont care about land wildlife or anything else except making a buck.What will they do when we run out of land purchess another planet.

Originally Posted by duckman

BUILD BUILD BUILD THATS all you hear when people are losing their homes no jobs gas over 4 dallors a gal.money short who can buy?These developers dont care about land wildlife or anything else except making a buck.What will they do when we run out of land purchess another planet.

It took a decade to get this approved.
When they started people had jobs. People went loosing their home and gas wasn't $4 a gallon.
The problem here is the time it takes to get a project approved. New homes create jobs.

Ending nearly a decade of land-use wrangling,

I agree that new homes create jobs but are there people to buy them?I can show you new homes here in centra lKy. that have sat empty now for 3 years an older holmes sitting longer than that.Dont get me wrong im all for jobs heaven knows we need jobs. But we also got to sell them after they are built.

Originally Posted by duckman

I agree that new homes create jobs but are there people to buy them?I can show you new homes here in centra lKy. that have sat empty now for 3 years an older holmes sitting longer than that.Dont get me wrong im all for jobs heaven knows we need jobs. But we also got to sell them after they are built.

The economy is recovering in some places and not in others.
The construction workers get paid whether the houses sell after completion or not.
They will build them in phases.
If the first phase doesn't sell quickly they will hold off on the next sections.