COUNTY GRANTS TENTATIVE APPROVAL TO COVERT CANYON FOR MILITARY FIREARMS TRAINING; PUBLIC HAS UNTIL NOV. 6 TO APPEAL

East County News Service

October 31, 2015 (Alpine) – The County’s Planning & Development Services department has issued a Stipulated Administrative Enforcement Order (SAEO) allowing the  owner of the controversial Covert Canyon LLC site in rural Alpine to conduct government military and law enforcement firearms training on an interim basis while pursuing a discretionary permit.

The order is a written decision by the director that may be appealed if a request for appeal is filed within 10 days of the decision date. Any appeal must be received by the department before November 5 at 5 p.m.

Covert Canyon’s property is located at 19191.19150 High Glen Road in Alpine. (View notice to property owners with project summary and map.)  The use is classified as Law Enforcement services as definite in section 1346 in the County Zoning Ordinance.

Covert Canyon’s owner has a history of  military-training operations without first obtaining permits and has previously been the target of enforcement actions by the county, including a past shut-down. Activities that raised concerns among some community members included live-fire exercises in which pigs were shot to provide training for military paramedics, as ECM reported in 2012.  Also see objections raised by Marc Halcon, the property owner, and our rebuttal to his objections, including additional past county enforcement actions.