FANITA RANCH GETS GO AHEAD FROM SANTEE CITY COUNCIL--AGAIN

By Mike Allen

June 12, 2025  (Santee) -- The largest residential project in Santee’s history, Fanita Ranch, was granted approval by the City Council, in a 3 -1 vote June 11 with Vice Mayor Rob McNelis recusing himself.

It was the third time in five years the Santee City Council gave its approval to the project that will add 2,949 houses to some 2,600 acres of open space in the city’s northwest quadrant. Santee was challenged legally by a coalition of environmental groups twice before, including last year on the basis that the language in  the city’s environmental impact report (EIR) was deficient.

Santee’s interim City Manager Gary Halbert said those deficiencies were corrected and contained in a revised EIR that was approved. The city will provide those changes to the same Superior Court judge, Katherine Bacal, to get her approval. Should she agree the changes are legal, developer HomeFed Rancho Fanita can proceed with construction, Halbert said.

“Their entitlements were approved by the Council last night, and it’s the same project they approved in 2022,” he said. Judicial review is dependent on the judge’s schedule but could take a few months, he said.

Van Collinsworth of Preserve Wild Santee, which has opposed the project from the outset, said he didn’t agree with the Council’s “scheme” to avoid a public vote, and that “litigation is likely.”

Collinsworth referred to the proposition that was passed by Santee voters in 2020. which mandated that any project which required amending the general plan must go to a public vote. But in 2021, the Santee Council determined that Fanita Ranch was an ‘essential housing project’ to create much needed new homes and comply with new state mandates to increase the city’s housing stock. The Council decided the project complied with the city general plan, and thus, did not require any further action, including a public vote.

Eleven of the 16 people providing public comment at the June 11 hearing voiced strong sentiments against Fanita Ranch, particularly on what they said was an inadequate evacuation plan in the event of a major wildfire, and the enormous increase in traffic to an already heavily congested Santee.

“We need to start from scratch…..based on the catastrophic fires in LA, and having the same limited escape routes. There will be deaths, just as there were in Pacific Palisades,” said Rob Leholm.

 “I have friends who lost their homes in Altadena,” said Eleanor Warsh. “Three thousand homes at the end of that street is too much.”

Countering the criticism of the project’s susceptibility to major wildfires, Dan Bickford said the fire-resistant materials used in the construction will make Fanita Ranch “safer than anything that currently exists in Santee.”

Santee officials, including a fire department official and other staffers said the project will have three improved access roads in the event of an emergency evacuation, Cuyamaca Street, Fanita Parkway, and an extended Magnolia Avenue, which will be facilitated by an enhanced notification system called Genasys.

The project will also include improvements both to State Route 52 and local streets, and all those improvements have to be made before the developer begins selling homes, said city engineer Carl Schmitz.

HomeFed said its plan includes 445 “active adult” units, but the price ranges of these and the remaining new houses wasn’t disclosed. The project consists of 1,203 single family houses, and 1,746 condos. The actual development will occur in three separate villages, with 62.5 percent of the land designated as open space, including a working farm and vineyard. It will also include a new fire station.

 Jeff O’Connor, HomeFed vice president, said in the past the developer would contribute $2.6 million to the city’s affordable housing program, and would designate 150 units as “workforce housing” that could be built either onsite or offsite. He declined to talk with East County Magazine other than to say the firm was pleased with the City Council’s vote, and “when we can move forward. we will have four phases and a wide variety of price ranges depending on market conditions.”

Councilman Ronn Hall cast the sole vote against Fanita Ranch, saying the space buffers between the houses were inadequate and he distrusted the fire department’s conclusion that it was safe to build in a high fire hazard zone. He recounted the experience of seeing his brother’s home in Ramona burn down in a 2007 fire. Hall’s biggest concern was the city losing any control over making land use decisions to the state and forced to accept whatever plan it deemed right without any say.

Councilwoman Laura Koval noted the large turnout at the meeting from residents opposed to the project. “Some people will never be in favor of this project no matter what we say or do,” she said.

McNelis recused himself because his home is next to Magnolia Avenue and he would financially benefit from a planned extension of that street.