Escondido Country Club decision could be delayed
By
J. Harry Jones, August 2, 2017
The homeowners group fighting the development
of the Escondido Country Club has requested a time extension
that would likely push any final decision into 2018.
Attorney
Everett DeLano, who represents the Escondido Country Club
Homeowners Organization (ECCHO), has asked the city to extend
for another 45 days the comment period during which people
can examine and critique a draft environmental report.
The
comment period is now scheduled to end Aug. 11. City officials
had said a final decision on developer New Urban West’s
proposal to build 392 houses on 109 acres of the community’s
abandoned golf course would be made by Thanksgiving.
If
the comment period is extended that would assure that the
decision will be pushed back until after the holidays.
ill
Martin, the city’s director of community development,
said the city had not yet seen the request but said it would
not be unusual to grant some sort of extension, although 45
days seemed excessive.
In
his letter, DeLano stressed the importance of the project
to the northwestern part of the city.
“The
project has an extensive history, and the site has been the
subject of substantial interest for several years. Additionally,
the project also poses several potential environmental issues,
and the (environmental report) and its appendices involve
several volumes of information.”
Mike
Slater, the president of ECCHO, said more time is needed for
the homeowners to raise funds and hire experts to look at
the report.
“You
can be sure they had a lot of experts putting it together,”
he said during an informal meeting held Monday night at City
Hall that attracted hundreds of people who asked questions
and expressed concerns about the project.
The
golf course at the country club was closed in early 2013 after
it was purchased by real estate entrepreneur Michael Schlesinger,
who quickly announced plans to build up to 600 houses on the
former links.
The
neighborhood, which was built around the greens, fairways
and tees of the course, quickly mobilized and were able to
convince the City Council to declare the property permanent
open space.
Schlesinger
tried to get that overturned in 2014 during the election but
failed.
A
short time later however, the courts ruled that Schlesinger’s
rights had been violated by the council’s open space
declaration. The city then settled a lawsuit and Schlesinger
picked New Urban West to be the developer to pursue a project.
ECCHO,
which at one time was committed to the golf course being returned
to life, has now accepted that some sort of development is
fated but the group wants to see housing density of roughly
half of what is now planned.
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