The developer is happy. Environmentalists are happy. That doesn’t always happen when it comes to building a large community with hundreds of homes in an area that’s never been touched before. Environmentalists, led by the San Diego Chapter of the Sierra Club, reached a settlement with dev eloper Baldwin & Sons over a large community planned for the northeastern side of the Otay Lakes reservoir near Chula Vista. “All of the mountains behind us and the rolling hills are covered with some of the most sensitive habitats on the planet,” said David Hogan while standing across the lake from the land in question. That’s why Hogan, the Legal Committee Chair for the local Sierra Club, helped file a lawsuit in 2020. San Diego County had just approved the Otay Ranch Village 13 development with 1,938 homes. “With, also, public amenities like schools, fire stations, and mixed-use commercial parks, things like that,” smiled Nick Lee, the chief operating officer for Baldwin & Sons. The original plan didn’t sit well with environmentalists, even though it included the preservation of roughly 1,100 acres of open space. The settlement reached this week increases the number of preserved acres to 1,400, but it also allows Baldwin & Sons to build and offer even more homes. “Actually, kind of unprecedented in a kind of settlement is that there will be more housing than we went into it with,” said Lee with a shrug. “One of the things we like about this project is that it’s likely to provide more of the kinds of housing that are affordable to a greater number of people,” added Hogan. The settlement shrinks the Otay Ranch Village 13 footprint, but the developer will increase the number of homes to 2,750 by adding a wider variety of housing options that will include far more affordable homes. Lee said the homes will also be carbon-neutral, 100% electric and include enough rooftop solar panels to power most of the development. Hogan said the settlement will also widen Otay Lakes Road, the main access to the development, from two to a minimum of four lanes. He said that will help facilitate evacuations in the event of a wildfire. “We’re proud of what was able to be done with all the parties,” said Lee “I mean, everybody put in a lot of effort over those four years. Everybody kind of got what they needed to get out of the deal.” Lee said it would take about three years for the permitting and planning process to be completed before any shovels come close to breaking ground. ...read more read less