Developer's plan for corridor shot down

At their June 16 meeting, members of the Fallbrook Community Planning Group (FCPG) denied the latest proposal to amend the general plan for the Campus Park West development in the Interstate 15 corridor.

In explanation of the denial, it was stated that Pappas Investments, the developer, hasn’t provided enough detailed information pertaining to interior street designs and plans for the surrounding area.

According to the agenda for the meeting, the representatives for the Campus Park West project were to present a general amendment proposal for the property that would allow approximately 21.6 acres of light industrial, 6.1 acres of mixed use, 16 acres of multi-family homes, 21 acres of general commercial, 12 acres of home owners association area and, at the south of Highway 76, eight acres of general commercial and 10.7 acres of open space.

For the FCPG, the proposal appears to be a long way from acceptable, given the density of dwellings and commercial structures proposed, insufficient design guidelines and the lack of other specific information.

Pappas Investments hopes to have the general plan amended to build the plan as they wish, which is against current zoning specifications. There is currently an S-90 holding zone on the area, and it has been there for 20 years.

The FCPG has made its own recommendation in the past and proposed a collective maximum of 1,600 homes, two million square feet of industrial and six acres of commercial for the three developers (one of which is Pappas) wishing to improve property in that area of the I-15 corridor.

The improvements Pappas has offered have made no mention of any details to connectivity or a road coming into Fallbrook’s main commercial area, which the committee felt would be necessary since the community being built would still be considered a part of Fallbrook.

The board says they will continue the project, delaying the process until Pappas Industrial and the rest of the developers in the area address the present issues at hand, such as where the proposed developments will be able to draw power, as well as water for the area, as there is no way to do so for the area presently.

The Campus Park West development is just one of three developments proposed for the area. To date the three different developments propose a junior college, approximately two million square feet of industrial, 23 acres of commercial development and 6,000 homes.

FCPG board chairman Jim Russell said in an interview that because of what is being planned for the northeast corner of SR76 at Interstate 15, it is “going to take some time to find plan that will be constituted. We are not going to just roll over and let the developers do that to a rural part of San Diego County. We’ve asked them to modify their plans and they seem rather unwilling to do that.”

Board member Harry Christiansen agrees with Russell, saying: “This is not something that’s easily answered and [the planning proposals] have been going on for years. Whatever [Campus Park West] proposes will be around for a long time because they want to move something that isn’t going to fly, and we told them so, and they know so.”

However, Chris Morron, a representative for Pappas, says the company is going to be taking everything that the committee had to say and the objections that they brought up into consideration.

“We are working to find an area where we can find commonalities between us and the committee, as well as getting our amendments resubmitted, as well as get a tentative map and the rest of the information turned in so we can continue this dialogue and get this information reviewed and discussed,” he said.

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