Overview

• The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously after a multi-hour hearing to certify the EIR, rezone the site, and approve permits for the 453-home project near Escondido and San Marcos.
• The plan covers 111 acres with single- and multi-family housing, 5,000 square feet of civic/commercial space, parks, trails, and roughly 35 acres of biological open space, with about 5% lower-income and 5% middle-income units.
• County staff and multiple fire authorities, including the County Fire Authority and Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District, approved the Fire Protection Plan, and the district’s chief estimated a one-to-two-hour evacuation under planned modifications.
• Residents, environmental groups, and seven wildfire scientists opposed the approval, citing a single primary egress, increased ignition risk, and modeling that projects evacuation could be outpaced by fire spread.
• The vote follows years of CEQA litigation that forced rescission of earlier approvals and revisions to greenhouse-gas and housing elements, with the Planning Commission giving unanimous support in August.