Attorney General Bonta: Otay Ranch Village 13 Project Settlement Will Reduce Wildfire Risk While Increasing Opportunity for New Housing

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced a final settlement agreement regarding the Otay Ranch Village 13 project, which resolves concerns pertaining to the project's wildfire and greenhouse gas impacts and benefits the people and environment of California. Specifically, under the agreement, the proposed housing development will include the same number of units on a more compact footprint, reducing wildfire ignition risk and protecting approximately 300 additional acres of open space compared to the original plan. While decreasing the development footprint, the settlement also increases the opportunity for new housing by allowing the developer to apply to the County of San Diego to build up to 2,750 housing units (increased from 1,938) within the more compact building area. This will allow for additional housing supply while reducing the project’s environmental impacts, including wildfire risk. The agreement also includes payment of nearly $2 million in attorneys’ fees to the California Department of Justice and the environmental groups that filed litigation challenging the County’s approval of the project for violating the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Attorney General Bonta is joined by the Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Endangered Habitats League, California Native Plant Society, Preserve Wild Santee, and California Chaparral Institute in today’s settlement with the project applicant.

“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,” said Attorney General Bonta. “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.”

Today’s settlement requires measures to reduce wildfire risk and greenhouse gas emissions, including:

• Providing a continuous program of surveillance for wildfire ignitions.
• Ensuring an educational program on wildfire ignition prevention for project residents.
• Installing sprinkler systems on multi-family residential buildings that meet National Fire Protection Association Standard 13.
• Achieving net-zero energy design for all single-family residential and commercial buildings.
• Requiring all buildings to be fully electric.
• Prohibiting installation of natural gas infrastructure.
• Creating a Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Fund of at least $15 million, which will fund greenhouse gas emissions reductions projects in San Diego County.

The Otay Ranch Village 13 project site is located in southwestern San Diego County in an area that has in the past been affected by wildfires. The County approved and certified a Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for the Otay Ranch Village 13 project on November 18, 2020. The Attorney General’s lawsuit challenged the FEIR’s failure, in violation of CEQA, to adequately address the risk of wildfire despite acknowledging the very high potential for wildfire hazards in and around the project site as well as the FEIR’s failure to adequately analyze or mitigate the impact of substantial vehicle trips and increased greenhouse gas emissions generated by the project. Under the settlement, the parties will request that the Court stay the litigation until the County approves a revised project that complies with the terms of the settlement.

A copy of the settlement can be found here.