The recent wildfires in Los Angeles are rehashing fears about a proposed development near the community of Harmony Grove in North County. The Harmony Grove Village South housing project, if approved, will consist of 453 homes, according to the Elfin Forest Harmony Grove Town Council. “This area has caught fire dozens of times over the last few years, over the last decade or so since the 1980s,” said JP Theberge, a member of the Elfin Forest Harmony Grove Town Council. “It means people have lost homes within hundreds of feet from here, from this site. It means we’ve had fatalities, and it means we have had to evacuate many, many, many times.” The proposed development would lead to congestion on the only route out of the community, according to Theberge. “A 20-year expert in evacuation science with a Ph.D., he looked at this area and said if you take into account these homes that will be built and the others we are talking about, 3,500 cars, all entering a two-lane road in a quarter-mile space, which will take seven hours to evacuate,” Theberge said. The 2014 Cocos Fire remains top of mind for neighbor Debbie O’Neill. “We did have to evacuate during the Cocos Fire,” O’Neill said. “When the flames started coming over the hill, we saw it at the top of the hill, and my husband said to me, ‘We need to get out now.'” O’Neill says County Club Drive is the only way out. Critics of the development said the secondary route that has been proposed is not acceptable, and without an acceptable second option, the new development would create a safety risk. Theberge and O’Neill mentioned that they have fought against the developers in court before and are prepared to do it again if the new development is approved by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. “They’re back for more. They want to make the case that they fixed all of the issues, but they haven’t, and they’re going back to the board. They’re going to go to the planning commission probably in the next couple of months and then after that, that’ll be appealed by the community if the planning commission decides in their wisdom to approve it,” Theberge said. The Harmony Grove Development Team issued the following statement: “The recent fire events in Los Angeles are of a seriousness and magnitude that first and foremost require thoughtfulness, sensitivity, caring and compassion from all of us — and we find it disappointing and, quite frankly, offensive that a small group of anti-housing activists here in San Diego are using this tragedy to advance their personal agenda in such an inappropriate and opportunistic way. We look forward to discussing the project in greater detail when the time is more appropriate; in the meantime, we must reject these scare tactics and continue working together to tackle our County-wide homelessness and housing crisis.” The San Diego County Board of Supervisors is expected to address the project in the coming months.