Land Preservation

October 2005

EDUCATIONAL BULLETIN – Sewer System Proposal for ‘Harmony Grove Village’ Development: Your calls and letters needed!

click here for aerial photo/map of project location (Courtesy Google)

Discord in Harmony Grove! Will ‘Harmony Grove Village’ bring sewer system to Harmony Grove? The project’s developer, New Urban West (NUW), thinks so! After first promoting it’s project as a 742 single-family detached home development on 468 acres using a ‘package sewer’ system, we now find NUW before the Escondido City Council requesting hookup to the Hale Avenue Resource Recovery Facility (HARRF.) By 4 – 1 vote in September, the Escondido City Council approved a $587,000 ‘capacity study’ to consider the use of City sewer facilities by a project that lies completely outside of not only the City’s limits, but also outside of it’s ‘sphere of influence.’ Approximately two years ago, the Harmony Grove community petitioned to have the project area removed from the sphere, thereby placing the project 100% under the jurisdiction of the County of San Diego. This ‘de-sphering’ was approved by the LAFCO commission. ( The San Diego Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) is a regulatory agency with county-wide jurisdiction to discourage urban sprawl and encourage the orderly formation and development of local government agencies essential to the social, fiscal, and economic well-being of the state.) The current proposal to establish a ‘sewer maintenance district’ in the County and connect to the City’s sewer system is not only a shameful ‘end run’ around the wishes of Harmony Grove residents to retain the rural character of their community – it is also illegal under Government Code 56133 which prohibits a local agency from providing sewer services outside its jurisdictional boundary.

Key Issues:

The Escondido Creek Conservancy opposes the project as currently proposed for the following reasons:

• The 742 home density is too high for the area
• The proposed package sewer system is likely not feasible for a development of this size
• Connecting to the City of Escondido sewer system is illegal, and would set a dangerous precedent for future high density development in the watershed
• The County would likely require widening Harmony Grove Road, Country Club Drive and construction of SC1375 across Escondido Creek and through the preserved Derbas lands, to support the development
• A major road across Escondido Creek connecting to Citricado is proposed, significantly altering traffic flow in that neighboring community
• The environmental impacts to Escondido Creek by a project of this size are yet to be determined

What You Can Do:

You are urged to write to your elected officials to express your views in opposition to this project as currently proposed. Jurisdiction for the development project falls under the Board of Supervisors, County of San Diego. Oversight for the Contractual Sewer Services Agreement proposed between the City of Escondido, County of San Diego and New Urban West falls under LAFCO. Please call or write today:

Michael Ott, Executive Director, LAFCO, 619.531.5400, 619.557.4190 fax, mike.ott@sdcounty.ca.gov

LAFCO Commissioners:

• Supervisor Bill Horn, 619.531.5555, bill.horn@sdcounty.ca.gov
• Supervisor Dianne Jacob, 619.531.5522, (619) 696-7253 fax, dianne.jacob@sdcounty.ca.gov
• Councilmember Patty Davis, City of Chula Vista, 619.691.5044, (619) 476-5379 fax, pattydavis@chulavista.ca.gov
• Councilmember Donna Frye, City of San Diego, 619.236.6616, (619) 236-7329 , donnafrye@sandiego.gov
• Councilmember Betty Rexford, City of Poway, 858.748.6600, brexford@ci.poway.ca.us
• W.D. ‘Bud’ Pocklington, Chairperson, South Bay Irrigation District, 619.427.0868
• Andrew Menshek, Padre Dam Municipal Water District, 619.448.3111
• Andrew Vanderlaan, Vice-Chairperson, At Large, 619.531.5400

Very important to contact as well:

• Supervisor Pam Slater-Price, (619) 531-5533, (619) 234-1559 fax, pam.slater@sdcounty.ca.gov
• Gary Pryor, Director, County Dept of Planning and Land Use, gary.pryor@sdcounty.ca.gov, (858) 694-2962
• Ivan Holler, Staff, County Dept of Planning & Land Use, ivan.holler@sdcounty.ca.gov, (858) 694-3789