County approves easement vacation for unbuilt Via Encinos-Palomar Drive

A parcel map for a Fallbrook subdivision was recorded in May 1987 that included a proposed road north of where La Canada Road and Linda Vista Drive merge. The road was to have been called Via Encinos-Palomar Drive and was also known as Select Collector 130 because of its planned status as a collector road on what San Diego County called its Circulation Element. An Offer of Dedication was made, and although the county never accepted that dedication, the easement remained.

The easement was vacated following a 5-0 San Diego County Board of Supervisors vote Feb. 27. The easement removal takes away the encumbrance upon the property.

The Offer of Dedication included an easement for road purposes along with the right for the county to extend and maintain drainage facilities, embankment slopes and excavation beyond the limits of the public road. The easement area totals approximately 29,708 square feet.

Select Collector 130 was to have run from Mission Road on the west to Gird Road on the east. Most of SC 130 west and southeast of the Offer of Dedication area has been constructed as Via Encinos, Linda Vista Drive and Knottwood Way. The 2011 update of the county’s general plan removed the part of SC 130 which had an Offer of Dedication along with adjoining portions from the Mobility Element, and that once-planned roadway is not part of the county’s five-year Capital Improvement Plan. An Offer of Dedication is usually not accepted by the county until the road is actually constructed.

In addition to being deemed excess right of way no longer needed for street or highway purposes, there are no utility facilities in use which would be affected by the easement vacation, no property owner would be landlocked if the area was not used for a roadway and no community trails or pathways are planned for the area so the county’s Department of Parks and Recreation determined that the easement area is not needed for trail purposes.