Students who are registered as voters in San Diego County will be asked to vote on March 2 on a countywide initiative to limit development in San Diego’s backcountry. Proposition A, or the Rural Lands Initative, has incited debate among the community and students and would limit the amount of space developers could build on in northern and eastern San Diego County.
The initiative revises San Diego County’s General Plan, which currently puts residential zoning in the rural areas of the county. Proposition A would “require newly subdivided parcels … to be a minimum of 40, 80, or 160 acres.” The initiative would prevent land from being divided into lots smaller than specified acreage for development. The initiative will affect approximately 700,000 acres.
Supporters and opponents of Proposition A argue about the impacts of the initiative on San Diego County.
According to its proponents, the initiative would prevent sprawl and protect the environment in rural parts of the county as it grows in the next 20 years. Proponents contend that it will also protect the county’s air and water and stop traffic from getting worse.
“We’ve got to figure out how we will grow, whether we will continue to become more and more like Los Angeles or Irvine, or whether to keep big developers from adding more roads and more sprawl,” said Erin Koch, campaign manager for the Yes for Prop. A campaign. “We need to say, this is where we want cities to be, and this where we want our farms.”
Arguments around the initiative revolve around environmental and affordable housing issues for the coming years.
“A lot of people who go to school at UCSD would want to live in San Diego after they graduate,” Koch said. “If the initiative passes, it’s going to encourage the construction of affordable homes within the city that would sell in the low to mid $200,000.”
However, some say that the initiative would actually contribute to housing problems in the region. According to Erik Bruvold, vice president and director of quality of life infrastructure issues in the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, passing Proposition A would lead to fewer houses.
“Less housing would be built and, therefore, housing will be that much more expensive,” said Bruvold, who also teaches urban studies and planning at UCSD. “So if students are concerned about the high cost of housing and are scratching their heads thinking how they could ever afford to live in San Diego after they graduate, they would probably want to vote no on Prop. A.”
Proponents of the initiative, with endorsements from the San Diego City Council and other organizations, contend that the initiative will encourage developers to build more affordable housing in the city.
“The ‘Yes on A’ campaign has been endorsed by Affordable Housing Coalition in San Diego County,” Koch said. “Everybody knows that prices are ridiculous out in the east county. But in the city, there can be brand new modern condominiums, where students might want to move into when they graduate.”
Opponents claim that the initiative would negatively affect farmers and would not actually deal with traffic, affordable housing and clean water problems. According to Executive Director of the San Diego Farm Bureau Eric Larson, limited development would also mean limited jobs.
“Despite the claims by the proponents about clean water, traffic, affordable housing, the initiative merely deals with parcel sizes that are extreme,” Larson said. “For example, under Prop. A, creating two farms on 300 acres in some parts of the county would meet the definition of ‘sprawl’ and not be allowed.”
Larson also said that limited development would also mean limited jobs.
“A growth moratorium as advocated by the Prop. A proponents would stifle job creation and drive up home prices, forcing graduates who would like to remain in this area to pursue their careers elsewhere,” Larson said.
Supporters of Proposition A say that the initiative will actually create jobs in San Diego because investors would be encouraged to come to existing urban areas. According to Eleanor Roosevelt College senior Carolyn Scullin, a volunteer for the “Yes for Prop. A” campaign, the initiative would not affect farmers negatively.
“It protects rural lands from big money developers,” Scullin said. “It rezones the area for land resources, and protects watershed areas.”
Scullin also said that sprawl being built right now in the rural parts of the county is affecting taxpayers.
“Taxpayers have had to pay for new infrastructure that goes along with the sprawl,” Scullin said. “It has taken away money from improving our infrastructure that would serve existing communities.”
Some students are still not sure which way they will vote.
“I’m kind of torn because I think it does hurt the farmers,” John Muir College junior Brian Lauter said. “But I think I’d still vote for it because principally the idea or the theme of the initiative is an environmental thing and I support that.”
Some students are taking a careful look at who is for and against the proposition.
“I’m against Prop. A, truthfully, because the unions are for it, and I don’t agree much with the unions,” Earl Warren College junior Dani Apgar said. “I think that blocking off sections will hurt farmers, and I think both sides have really valid points, but it’s the lesser of two evils.”
