Santee City Council Weakens City Hillside Protections
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The Santee City Council is allowing more houses to be built on steep fire-prone hillsides by reducing protections for steep slopes within the City General Plan and Zoning Ordinance. Density restrictions based on steepness of slope were relaxed and Land Use Designations for parcels were changed during last year's General Plan Update.
The MCAS Miramar/Santee Hillside Protection Initiative will reinstate the density restrictions that have protected city hillsides for the past twenty years. Steep fire-prone slopes of 25% or more will again be limited to 25% of the base density. For example, an 8-acre parcel with Hillside Limited Zoning (0-1 unit/acre) in this slope category, will be allowed 2 homes. City Council's latest action doubles this number to 4 homes. This action is multiplied on hundreds of acres of prominent hillsides throughout Santee.
Degrading citywide views, increasing risk of floods, landslides, and increasing the burden of fire protection is regrettable in light of the recent Cedar Fire.
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Santee to consider homes on hillsides
Council expected to debate zoning changes tonight (These changes were approved)
By Jose Luis Jiménez
STAFF WRITER
November 19, 2003
SANTEE – Should the city allow more housing on its rural hillsides or restrict them from development? It's an issue the City Council is expected to tackle at tonight's meeting.
Members are set to debate changes to the zoning ordinance to allow as many as four homes per acre on hillside properties. The current law allows one home per acre.
Fanita Ranch, the last developable tract of land on the city's northern slopes, is excluded from the proposed changes.
The biggest impact would be on Rattlesnake Mountain on the city's eastern border. A 270-acre parcel on the mountain has been designated for a subdivision with hundreds of homes, while a 76-acre plot near the base would be upgraded from one house per acre to four houses per acre.
Critics say allowing more development on the hillsides is wrong and point to the massive Cedar fire as the reason why.
While many of the hills surrounding Santee were blackened, only one structure was damaged. More homes on those hills could endanger more people, critics said.
"Do you want your legacy to be scorched neighborhoods, destroyed memories and possibly lost lives?" asked Santee resident Debra Clark in an e-mail to the council. "I ask you to use common sense and think of the terrible lessons we've all recently learned and vote NO on these irresponsible changes."
Mayor Randy Voepel said the city's hillsides would not be transformed overnight into subdivisions, and that safety measures would be taken to protect future residents.
As part of Santee's draft multi-species conservation plan, 2,830 acres – most of it hillsides – would be preserved from development, equal to 27 percent of all the land inside the city's boundaries, he said.
The zoning changes won preliminary approval earlier this year when the city passed its General Plan, which had not been updated in 19 years. The revisions are to guide development through 2020. The mayor said it reflects the council's pro-growth stance.
Under the old plan, the city designated eight properties as "hillside limited," restricting development to a maximum of one house per acre.
If the zoning changes are approved, the council could increase the density on seven of those parcels, opening 854 acres to multiple homes per acre.
The city contends that the changes would only add 24 homes because most of the property is too steep to build on.
"We are increasing some density on some of the hillsides to make up for what will be lost in preservation," Voepel said. "These environmentalists aren't environmentalists. They are socialists who are against growth."
Slow-growth activist Van Collinsworth disagrees.
"Our present law correctly protects the public interest by strictly limiting the number of homes on these vulnerable slopes," he said. "It also prevents undue strains on fire resources."
Last month, the City Council approved the changes on first reading. If approved tonight, they become law. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at Santee City Hall, 10601 Magnolia Ave.
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Jose Jimenez: (619) 593-4964; jose.jimenez@uniontrib.com
Copyright 2003 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
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