County accepts Hwy 76 area easements

The County of San Diego has accepted offers of dedication for easements of land adjacent to State Highway 76, Pankey Road, and Shearer Crossing.

The easements, which will allow for road improvements required as mitigation for the Rosemary’s Mountain quarry project, were dedicated to the county rather than to the California Department of Transportation because CalTrans has no authority or procedure to accept offers to dedicate easements. The acceptance of the easement dedications, along with a resolution rescinding a 1985 decision to reject the easement dedication offers, received approval from the Board of Supervisors August 1 by a 5-0 vote.

The tentative parcel map for the Rosemary’s Mountain quarry project was approved by the county’s Department of Planning and Land Use on September 26, 1984. One of the conditions of approval was to make irrevocable offers of dedication of easements to the county for road improvements to a portion of Highway 76 and to the intersections of Highway 76 and Pankey Road and of Pankey Road and Shearer Crossing.

The final parcel map was approved on February 5, 2005, but at the time the irrevocable offers of dedication were rejected. However, those offers remained open and an irrevocable offer of dedication (IOD) may be accepted by the Board of Supervisors at any time within 25 years after the parcel map is filed.

CalTrans has now approved the proposed road improvements which are required as a condition of the Rosemary’s Mountain project, and CalTrans requested the county to accept the IODs so that the roads can be widened and the intersections can be improved. The estimated processing cost of $500 will be paid by the developer.