Merriam Mountains Development

Merriam Mountains Development

Jan. 13, 2010 the Merriam Mountains development was reopened to consideration by Supervisor Ron Roberts request after being turned down in a tie vote. Did Roberts reopen this Pandora’s Box in order to vote no on it or to fulfill some obligation to somebody? The decision certainly should be made on facts. With current zoning for less that 400 houses, the development would put 2700 houses on the 2327 acre site but only 25% would be developed, including a 10 acre shopping center. This means in this rural setting each house would have a lot size of about 1/5 of an acre, in other words, not much of a yard. Fire is a major concern and so there is a requirement to have a 225’ vegetation safe zone around each house. If you live in Julian you probably know that ¼ of an acre is about 100’x100’. How can you have a 225’ clear space each way when the next house is 10’ away? And you can’t have a wood fence between the houses. There are no schools proposed (ah, those rural types home school anyway). So far the cost of only two fees have been released- $23 million in developers fees and $33 million in water fees , which comes to $20,740 per lot before a pad is even cut or roads put in. The crowning achievement in fire safety will be a 6’ masonry wall around the development to shield it from burning embers.
Jan. 14, 2010 a Sacramento County Superior Court judge struck down much of an agreement whereby the San Diego region got enough water from the Colorado River diverted from farmers in Imperial County for 300,000 houses. This is after the 20% reduction in usage mandated by the City of San Diego. If you’re down 300,000 houses worth of water, what’s the harm in adding 2700 more- it’s such a small number by comparison.

©2010 Eric Stamets