On March 3rd, San Diego County voters will decide the fate of two ballot measures, A and B, which concern housing development approvals in rural or semi-rural areas of the county. Both measures concern General Plan Amendments, or special exceptions given to the county’s blueprint for growth in the face of the housing crisis.
Measure A, if approved, would put all housing projects granted General Plan Amendments up to a countywide vote. Measure B will decide whether approval of a specific project, Newland Sierra by Newland Communities, should be upheld or overturned.
Permission to change the zoning to accommodate denser projects was given sparingly at first. But in the last few years, as the housing crisis has deepened, supervisors have granted General Plan Amendments to a half-dozen developments totaling more than 7,000 homes. All those projects are now facing legal challenges; others are stuck in the pipeline.
…Voters next month will decide whether the need for more homes warrants the liberal use of the General Plan Amendment. The results will go a long way toward determining whether large, master-planned housing developments will continue to be built in rural and semi-rural parts of the county.
