In 2019, five environmental organizations and a community group challenged the San Diego County Board of Supervisors’ approval of Otay Ranch Village 14, a sprawling development in a remote, unincorporated area of southern San Diego County. Spanning over 1,000 acres, the development proposed constructing approximately 1,100 new homes and 10,000 square feet of commercial space. If constructed, the development would have paved over hundreds of acres of habitat for imperiled wildlife while placing new homes in one of California’s most dangerously fire-prone areas. Sited east of Chula Vista, the location had burned at least 17 times in the past 100 years.
The Attorney General also joined the lawsuit. The court ruled that the County’s EIR failed to adequately address or mitigate numerous environmental concerns, including greenhouse gas emissions, threats to the endangered Quino checkerspot butterfly, and the wildfire risks from the project’s location in a very high fire hazard severity zone. After the ruling, the parties reached a settlement reducing the project footprint and adding changes to reduce the project’s wildfire, wildlife, and climate change impacts. The agreement also provided The Nature Conservancy the right to acquire the property with the goal of permanent preservation.