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By Miriam Raftery
March 3, 2020 (San Diego) -- Two land use intiiatives on the countywide ballot could influence the future of major housing developments in our region.
Measure B, a developer-backed proposal to affirm a 3-2 vote by Supervisors to build the controversial Newland Sierra housing project at far higher density than the county general plan allows, is going down in a resounding defeat, with 58.34% voting no and 41.66% voting yes.
Measure A, which would give voters countywide the right to vote on any major housing project that would require a waiver of the general plan, is losing 51% to 49% with 100%of precincts counted by mail-in ballots still to be tallied.
Supporters said measure A is needed to preserve open spaces and to prevent sprawl developments in high fire risk areas where evacuation routes could become gridlocked. They wanted to give the people the final say on such projects in rural areas.
Opponents said measure A would make it harder to fill the region’s housing needs, and that Supervisors, not voters, should decide whether and where to build large-scale projects that exceed general plan requirements.
Comments
Big Money
More money was spent by those opposing Measure A. Grassroots efforts seem to have a hard time competing with big money.