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March 2001
UPDATE: Following 2.5 hours of discussion on March 5th, the City Council voted 4 in favor (Maienschein, Wear, Madaffer, & Atkins) and 4 opposed (Peters, Stevens, Inzunza, & Murphy).
Murphy ruled that a tie is a lost vote and that the motion failed, but that he would review the status with the City Attorney and revisit this issue in two weeks. At this point, the request for rezoning has been denied.
Thanks to Carolyn Chase for this update.
ACTION NEEDED TO PREVENT DESTRUCTIVE BUSINESS PARK DEVELOPMENT IN MIRA MESA
Your help is needed to prevent a particularly environmentally-destructive development,the Carroll Canyon Business Park (CCBP). This proposed industrial park would be built bygrading and leveling 37 acres of the Carroll Canyon hillside east and west of Camino Ruiz in MiraMesa. As detailed in the Further Info below, the massive re-working of the natural landscape proposed far exceeds the City's own guidelines. The result will be increased flooding and erosionwhich will lead to further siltation and damage to Penasquitos lagoon located downstream from the project. In fact, since parts of CCBP are within the flood plain, FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) will have to redraw the flood plain boundaries since the City's ordinances do not allow industrial uses within the flood plains. Last, but not least, CCBP threatens a major population of a Federally-listed endangered plant, the Willowy Monardella, that exists at the site. The developers have proposed transplanting, but previous attempts to do so with this plant have been unsuccessful and all the plants died.
Despite the obvious problems, the City Council voted 6-2 to approve aspects of the project in December. On January 9 the City Council agreed to postpone the decision on whether azoning change from Agricultural to Light Industrial should be approved. The motion will beconsidered again at the March 6 City Council meeting. This may be our last chance to convincethe Council that this project is a bad idea and they should vote against it. We need to let themknow that voters pay attention to how they vote on environmental issues such as this project, which has unmitigated effects on Land Use, Visual Quality/Landform Alteration, Water Quality, Biology, and Air Quality.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
1. Write a letter, send an email or phone Mayor Murphy and your City Council representative beforethe March 6 meeting. Ask them to vote NO on the zoning change. This project is NOT designed as Mixed Use Development, as specified for this area in the Mira Mesa Community Plan, but is strictly industrial use. Therefore, the change in zoning is not appropriate. Ask that they reconsider their vote in December to approve the Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The EIR did not disclose the liability the City faces from downstream flooding of businesses. The City has already paid $450,000 to settle a flooding lawsuit with a business downstream. Also ask them to make an explicit statement of Findings, as required by law. We need to know: What is so good about this project that it justifies unmitigated impacts to our hillsides and waterways?
CONTACT INFORMATION for your City Council member:
All of the addresses are the same: 202 C Street, San Diego, CA 92101-4806.
Please let Carrie Schneider, cschneid@n2.net, know if you plan to attend or if you send comments.
Questions?, contact Eric Bowlby, Sierra Club Canyon Preservation Coordinator at 619-284-9399.
BACKGROUND
Reasons why the City should NOT approve the Carroll Canyon Business Park:
The applicant wants the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to redraw the floodplain boundary for this project. The Cityıs ordinances do not allow industrial uses within the floodplain of the City. Changing the lines on paper does not do so in reality! Despite raised building pads and Best Management Practices (BMPs) such as the rip rap, infiltration technologies, and channelization proposed here, the results are always the same: increased flooding and increased erosion in the watershed. Costly law suits and retrofitting after the fact such as has occurred with the Sorrento West Business Park or with Penasquitos Lagoon becomes the new norm. The EIR failed to disclose the liability problems already caused by downstream flooding. The City paid $450,000 of our tax dollars to settle a lawsuit with businesses flooded out downstream from this new proposal.
Page 1 of the EIR states "This site is designated for Mixed Use Development by the Mira Mesa Community Plan...". This project is NOT Mixed Use Development, but is strictly industrial use. Therefore, the change in zoning is not appropriate.What is in really needed in Mira Mesa - housing or another business park?
This project requires grading of 575,000 cubic yards, which was described by testimony from San Diego Audubon as the equivalent of a football field piled high with 430 feet of fill. This amount of grading per acre exceeds City guidelines by 7.5 times. Manufactured slopes of up to 87-feet high will be made and the slope cut and leveled to allow installation of building pads. This violates the hillside encroachment guidelines of the Resource Protection Ordinance, which was designed to maintain San Diegoıs unique landform. It might be easier to build on a remanufactured canyon , but it isnıt right. The developer has even refused to undulate the grading so that it would appear more natural.
Much of this graded soil will eventually end up in the Penasquitos Lagoon as a result of erosion. Siltation is a major problem that is negatively impacting the Lagoon, a saltwater marsh that is a rare type of habitat. In addition, the increased fresh water from irrigation, chemicals from the parking lots and from landscaping will reduce the water quality of the Lagoon.
Last but not least, a major population of the federally-listed endangered plant Monardella linoides ssp. viminea (Willowy Monardella) occurs at the site. The US Fish and Wildlife Service asked that the project avoid impacts to this population, but the developers propose instead to transplant it. Transplantation has been tried before with this plant - and all the plants died. In the last several years, populations of this plant have declined substantially as a result of development and only five populations have more than 100 members. The City is currently administering a $183,000 project to save a declining population of Willowy Monardella in Lopez canyon. Bulldozing this major population will likely hasten extinction of this plant. Saving plant genetic diversity is important for the biotech industry and for human health. Over 25% of pharmaceuticals come from plants. Consider that taxol, a drug widely used to treat breast cancer, is extracted from the Pacific Yew, a small tree that is considered a weed by the logging industry.
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