A housing development in unincorporated San Diego County with hundreds of new homes is moving forward despite concerns raised by people who already live in the area.
North County neighbors, who have been trying to stop the project for years, told NBC 7 they’re worried there aren’t enough evacuation routes.
The Harmony Grove Village South will add hundreds of homes with only one way out. NBC 7’s Kelvin Henry heard from people who are concerned and also the group behind the project.
“This is a fight that we’ve been at for something like, really, about 15 years now,” said Jonathan Dummer, who whose home is adjacent to the proposed development area.
The project will add 453 homes to the neighborhood, which shares a border with San Marcos and Escondido.
Environmental groups and the community have criticized the project because, they say, there’s no fire evacuation route in an area that burned in October 1996.
“If you look at all of the other developments, the developments in Rancho Santa Fe half the size — like Rancho Cielo or The Bridges — they have multiple exits,” Drummer said. “I mean, we don’t have a second one …”
Dummer said he doesn’t oppose the development and that he just wants residents to be able to safely evacuate. He understands the safety risk, he said, because he’s lived it.
“We’ve all had a friend who died in the Harmony Grove fire, and we know what it’s like to evacuate when there’s only a few houses,” Dummer said. “We are only 27 houses on that road. And when we have fires like the Coco’s Fire, it is extremely hard to get out.”
J.P. Theberge would also like to see more exit routes added.
“Once this project is built, there’ll be 3,500 vehicles, all entering a two-lane road, and, taking into account the traffic flow, it will take seven hours to evacuate 1.5 miles,” Theberge said.
David Kovach, the managing partner for Harmony Grove Village South, told the planning commission that the development will provide much-needed middle-income homes.
In a statement to NBC 7, Kovach said the fire concerns were “scare tactics” and that fire, law enforcement and evacuation experts have approved their plans.
Kovach’s presentation did not reassure concerned neighbors, however.
“The reality is, if a fire comes through there and folks lose their lives, or are injured, I’m not going to be blaming God,” Dummer said. “It’s the decision-makers, the folks in here today and the board of supervisors who are going to decide whether or not we lose people on that road.”
The project is scheduled to go to the board of supervisors on Oct. 1.