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Planning Commission approves Peppertree Park map revision

The county’s Planning Commission voted 7-0 November 16 to approve a revised tentative map and Major Use Permit modification for the Peppertree Park development.

“I’m obviously extremely happy to be able to move forward,” said Peppertree Land Company partner Duane Urquhart.

The Peppertree Park tentative map revision had been continued from the November 2 Planning Commission meeting to allow various conditions to be finalized. The conditions balance traffic calming measures with the need for emergency vehicle access.

The revised tentative map will realign the crossing of Ostrich Farms Creek by Pepper Tree Lane and will change the design of residential lots in Units 7 and 8. The rear yard setback for 11 of the lots will be reduced from 35 feet to 25 feet.

In August 1991 the San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved a specific plan for the Peppertree Park Planned Residential Development. The specific plan for the 162.9-acre site included 267 single-family detached dwelling units, or a density of 1.65 dwelling units per acre. That 1991 approval also included a rezone, a tentative map, and a Major Use Permit. The southern portion of the site has been developed, and the northern 59.6 acres are currently undeveloped. The supervisors approved a previous amendment to the plan and tentative map in November 2005.

The revised tentative map applies only to Units 7 through 10 of Peppertree Park. Final maps for Units 1 through 6 have already been recorded. A tentative map becomes a final map when conditions of the tentative map are met. A subdivision must have a final map before building or grading permits are issued. Ostrich Farms Creek crosses the northern portion of Peppertree Park in a north-south direction. The previous tentative map and Major Use Permit showed Pepper Tree Lane crossing the northern portion of the Specific Plan Area from west to east, curving northward to where the traffic is directly adjacent to the area’s northern boundary. That alignment would have crossed Ostrich Farms Creek by using fill and constructing a culvert crossing within that portion of the creek. The revised crossing will use a bridge approximately 450 feet south of the project site’s northern boundary rather than fill adjacent to the boundary.

In addition to reducing the impact to riparian habitat by replacing the culvert crossing with an elevated bridge structure, the realignment will also protect the Grand Tradition from having the roadway adjacent to its southern border and will improve traffic circulation and safety through the straighter alignment and traffic calming roundabouts. The tentative map revision also included a waiver in the design speed requirement for Pepper Tree Lane which will reduce the design speed from 45 mph to 40 mph. Two roundabouts will be constructed at the entrances to Units 7/8 and Units 9/10.

“The roundabouts themselves are coming back in vogue,” Urquhart said.

“They are actually safer than standard intersections. They result in less accidents than the intersections,” Urquhart said of roundabouts. “They’re more aesthetically pleasing and they’re safer and they increase flow.”

The roundabouts will have a graded width of 72 feet, including 52 feet of asphaltic concrete pavement, and transitions from the roundabouts to the roads will involved tapered widths. In April 2004 the Fallbrook Community Planning Group voted 13-2 to support the reduction of the design speed and the roundabout design but added a condition to that recommendation that the roundabout be two lanes. “Whatever you do to perfect that we would certainly appreciate,” Fallbrook Community Planning Group chair Jim Russell said at the Planning Commission hearing.

“It’s an east-west connection that we need,” Russell said. “That single lane roundabout is not going to carry the traffic.”

The development will connect Pepper Tree Lane from Mission Road to Morro Road east of the project. The eventual connection of Pepper Tree Lane is part of the county’s Circulation Element. “That needs to be a two-lane roundabout all the way through,” Russell said. “A one-lane roundabout is just a bottleneck.”

Traffic studies didn’t review a two-lane roundabout but identified capacity on a single-lane roundabout. “The proposed roundabout works, and the level of service will be A,” said county Department of Public Works project manager Nael Areigat. “The design as proposed would work.”

The project is expected to result in an average daily traffic volume of less than 4,000 vehicles. Project traffic engineer John Keating of Linscott, Law and Greenspan noted that the San Diego Association of Governments model was used to determine that approximately 9,000 average daily trips are anticipated on Pepper Tree Lane by 2030. That amount includes traffic which will shift from Fallbrook Street to Pepper Tree Lane.

The roundabout is designed to handle an average daily traffic volume of 25,000 vehicles. “We have 2 1/2 times the capacity,” Urquhart said.

During morning and afternoon peak hours, the estimated traffic volume is in the hundreds. A roundabout eliminates the need for a stop sign or traffic signal. “They actually have a better opportunity out of Pepper Tree,” Keating said. “I actually think the single-lane roundabout would be safer and would function very adequately.”

Keating noted that a two-lane roundabout would require additional width, including tapering, to maintain the traffic calming effects of roundabouts. “It would not negate the traffic calming effects if it was property designed,” he said. The roundabout design includes a shoulder which will allow emergency vehicles to pass if necessary.

“It’s just a fundamentally better improvement,” Urquhart said of the roundabout. “It’s an infinitely superior traffic safety and aesthetic improvement over a traditional intersection.”

Urquhart noted that studies on roundabouts have shown eventual public acceptance. “People have initial resistance because of lack of familiarity,” he said.

After motorists have experience with roundabouts, support gains. “I think it will really work to develop the flow, help keep some speeds down,” Urquhart said. “It’s going to have many, many public benefits.”

Although roundabouts are more expensive to construct than traditional intersections, Urquhart noted that the elimination of the need for a traffic signal reduces both energy consumption and light diffusion.

The revised map for the specified units will consist of 48 residential lots rather than 46, although the overall number of residential lots within the Specific Plan Area remains unchanged. The three open space lots and three office professional lots remain unchanged from the current map.

The revision request also proposes mass grading of Units 7 through 10, which will grade a total volume of 376,811 cubic yards. The grading volume will be balanced on-site, and the maximum height of cut will be 31 feet while the maximum height of fill will be 33 feet.

Urquhart noted that Peppertree Park is also a zero-energy project. “It’s highly technologically, environmentally advanced. These homes are capable of producing nearly all of their energy needs on an annual basis,” Urquhart said. “I think Fallbrook should be proud of that being the home of the first zero-energy green building project in Southern California.”

Urquhart expects ground to be broken on Unit 7 during the first quarter of 2008.

 

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