SACRAMENTO, California — Democratic California Attorney General Rob Bonta and environmental groups reached a settlement with a San Diego-area developer Wednesday to allow thousands of homes to be built in an area at high wildfire risk.
What happened: The settlement allows developers of the Otay Ranch Village 13 project to seek final county approval for up to 2,750 housing units in southwestern San Diego County as long as they build the homes closer together than before so as to reduce the wildfire risk, make them all-electric, surveil for wildfire ignitions and pay $15 million for local projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Why this matters: The four-year battle in San Diego County Court over the development was one of the most prominent examples of the increasing clash between two of California’s top priorities: building more housing and adapting to climate change. Bonta has usually weighed in on the pro-housing side in the state’s legal fights, but joined environmental groups to argue that San Diego County hadn’t appropriately weighed the wildfire risks when it approved the development in 2020.
Bonta said the settlement balanced the priorities. “From Los Angeles to San Diego, we are seeing devastating wildfires ravaging our communities right before our eyes. We can no longer ignore the realities of climate change,” he said in a statement. “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.”
