A large South County development in a fire-prone area, stalled in a yearslong legal battle, will be allowed to move forward with changes aimed at boosting the housing stock while mitigating wildfire risk. On Wednesday, state Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that he and several environmental grou ps, such as the Sierra Club, Endangered Habitats League and the Center for Biological Diversity, reached a settlement in their lawsuit against developer Baldwin & Sons over the Otay Ranch Village 13 project, proposed for a site that has repeatedly burned. In November 2020, the county Board of Supervisors approved the development despite objections that it threatened wildlife and would put too many people at risk of wildfires. Environmental activists sued the county over claims it violated the California Environmental Quality Act. The Attorney General’s office later joined the lawsuit. “From Los Angeles to San Diego, we are seeing devastating wildfires ravaging our communities right before our eyes,” Bonta said in a statement. “We can no longer ignore the realities of climate change. Today’s settlement recognizes that environmental protection and housing go hand in hand, aiming to create more resilient, sustainable homes while reducing wildfire risk and protecting our environment.” The project originally featured 1,938 homes, a resort hotel, an elementary school, a fire station, more than 3 miles of trails, 40,000 square feet of commercial space and more than 1,100 acres of nature preserves. Its site is at the northeast corner of Lower Otay Lake in unincorporated San Diego County, an area environmentalists said is an important habitat for the Quino checkerspot butterfly. Village 13 is the next phase of Baldwin and Sons’ Otay Ranch master-planned community. Under the settlement, the project will need to reduce its building area footprint by nearly 300 acres, which will be preserved as open space. Still, the developer would be allowed to apply to the county to add 812 more dwelling units above the 1,938 previously approved within the smaller building area. “We’re pleased to have reached this agreement, as it will allow us to provide the San Diego region with an influx of new residential units consisting of many different housing types at a variety of price points,” Nick Lee, Baldwin & Sons’ COO, said in a statement Wednesday. “We appreciate the ongoing efforts of all parties and recognize that it was their cooperation that created this opportunity for us to deliver much-needed housing to buyers of all ages and life stages, while preserving our valuable local environment and resources.” The developer will have to propose the revised project and the county would have to approve it. According to the settlement, the attorney general and the environmental groups will request that the court stay the litigation until county approval. The county did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Additionally, the agreement requires that all buildings be fully electric and have fire-suppressing sprinklers, prohibits the installation of natural gas infrastructure and mandates that the developer install a wildfire surveillance camera as part of a county and San Diego Gas & Electric program. The settlement also allows accelerating the widening of Otay Lakes Road near Lake Crest Drive from two to four lanes to expedite evacuations from the project site. Furthermore, the developer will have to provide access to education on wildfire ignition prevention for project residents and pay at least $15 million toward greenhouse gas mitigation within the county. The developer also will be liable for $2 million in attorney’s fees incurred by the state and environmental groups. In a statement Wednesday, David Hogan, legal committee chair for the San Diego Chapter of the Sierra Club, said the settlement “proves that we don’t have to choose between housing and environmental protection. It ensures a better balance of protection of our special nature with homes for people.” When approved, the Board of Supervisors had relied on the testimony of Cal Fire San Diego Unit Chief Tony Mecham, who said the Otay Ranch Village 13 development, “of all the projects that we’ve brought before the board, is probably the safest from a fire protection standpoint.” A San Diego Superior Court judge later ruled that the county violated CEQA because its environmental impact report of the project did not adequately address the risk of wildfires. ...read more read less