Time extension granted for Malabar Ranch

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The Sept. 14 meeting of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors included granting a time extension to complete the infrastructure improvements for Malabar Ranch.

The supervisors’ 5-0 vote extends the deadline for completion to Sept. 14, 2024. The performance completion date is when road, water, sewer, and other infrastructure improvements must be completed although homes or other lot improvements themselves are not required to be completed by that date.

The Malabar Ranch project would subdivide 105.2 acres on the southerly side of Via Monserate and the westerly side of La Canada Road into 34 single-family residential lots, three open space lots, and two private street lots. The tentative map for the subdivision was approved in March 1993. A tentative parcel map becomes a final map after all conditions of the tentative map, other than those for which permits cannot be issued until a final map is recorded, are fulfilled.

An off-site improvement condition requires Malabar Ranch, LLC, to make improvements to Via Monserate, and although Malabar Ranch, LLC, had not been successful in acquiring the easements needed for those improvements, the California Government Code states that a land use authority shall not refuse approval of a final subdivision map because the subdivider cannot obtain title to off-site easements required as a condition of the map.

The Board of Supervisors approved a final map for Malabar Ranch in December 2005; that vote also accepted, on behalf of the public, portions of Via Monserate and La Canada Road for use as streets, accepted access rights from 11 lots into and to Via Monserate and La Canada Road, accepted drainage, access restriction, noise protection, height protection and clear space easements, and authorized an agreement between the county and Malabar Ranch, LLC, for the acquisition of easements necessary for off-site improvements.

The conditions of a final map include secured agreements to ensure that the infrastructure will be built and that payment for labor and materials used to build the infrastructure will be made. The improvement agreement included Rainbow Municipal Water District sewer and water infrastructure as well as county road, drainage, and monumentation work.

Improvements identified in a secured agreement are required to be completed within two years of the approval of the final map, although if circumstances prevent the improvements from being completed by the agreement's expiration additional time may be requested to complete the infrastructure. Existing agreements and their bonding requirements are reviewed by county staff to determine if time extensions are warranted and if the security agreement amounts are still adequate to guarantee completion of the remaining work.

The first two-year time extension may be approved administratively, although subsequent time extensions require Board of Supervisors approval and any amendments to the security agreement must also be approved by the county supervisors. If an application for a time extension is filed prior to its expiration, the owner is not in default if the extension is granted.

The first Board of Supervisors time extension for Malabar Ranch was granted in June 2010 and extended the completion performance date to June 3, 2012. A July 2012 time extension approval set a July 11, 2014, completion date. In July 2014, the completion date was extended to July 9, 2016. A January 2017 extension had a completion date of January 11, 2019. In October 2019, the completion date was extended to Oct. 30, 2021.

Currently the Malabar Ranch infrastructure is approximately 90% complete, and the development of the lots and homes themselves is approximately 50% complete. The Malabar Ranch infrastructure will include two biofiltration basins to address stormwater quality by treating stormwater runoff by vegetation and layers of soil media. Malabar Ranch, LLC, requested a time extension to complete the improvements and finalize the associated permits.

The time extension by the county does not automatically grant Malabar Ranch, LLC, a time extension by the Rainbow Municipal Water District for completion of the water and sewer facilities. If such a time extension is needed, Malabar Ranch, LLC, will work with the Rainbow district.