Peñasquitos housing project OK’d despite wildfire concerns
San Diego City Council said 536-unit housing project will help address local shortage of affordable housing
The San Diego City Council unanimously approved Tuesday a 536-unit housing project in Rancho Peñasquitos, despite concerns raised by nearby residents about wildfire safety and traffic congestion.
The council added a last-minute requirement that developer Lennar Homes build a special emergency evacuation route before it would be allowed to let any residents move into the project, which has been dubbed “The Junipers.”
Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, whose council district includes the project site, lobbied for the last-minute requirement based on concerns that residents in The Junipers could clog evacuation routes in the wildfire-vulnerable area.
Opponents of the project, which would be built on the defunct Doubletree Golf Resort, note that the area has been evacuated at least five times in the last 20 years, including the 2003 and 2007 wildfires.
And they stress that The Junipers is next to two other new projects: the nearly complete, 601-unit Pacific Village and the 331-unit Millennium PQ, which is under construction.
Council members said the project would help solve the city’s severe shortage of affordable housing, which they said will require more large and densely built projects in all San Diego neighborhoods.
It fits the city’s model for suburban areas, which focuses on adding large housing projects along existing transportation corridors and leaving the surrounding single-family areas alone.
Von Wilpert said the many large projects under construction and being proposed in her district show that the city’s inland north neighborhoods are willing to do their part.
The Junipers will include 455 market-rate units and 81 subsidized units with rent restrictions that will be reserved for people age 55 and up.
Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera said it was important for the city’s climate action plan goals that residents be encouraged to use rapid buses available at the nearby Sabre Springs Transit Center.
Area residents and an attorney they hired have raised a series of questions about the environmental review, moves that are often precursors to filing a lawsuit that could seek to block the project.
536-unit project would be built in suburban area, but along existing transportation corridors
In a 65-page letter submitted to the city in April, the attorney, Everett Delano, argues that the review failed to properly analyze the project, contending it violates the city’s general plan, housing goals and mobility policies.
He also contends the analysis failed to consider the cumulative impact of all three new projects.
Residents say the three projects would add 3,000 more vehicles to the area, more than doubling the current 2,800.
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