Will Development Overtake Potential Parklands?

The historical Rancho Guejito, consisting of 22,000 acres east of Escondido and Valley Center, may become a new major area of open space in North County to be residentially developed.

The property, the last undivided Mexican land grant in California, is owned by a New York-based real estate firm. Last year, the company submitted a multiyear schedule for environmental studies and a map of potential development areas on 7,300 acres of the ranch.

The proposal prompted immediate concern from environmental advocates. A report from the Conservation Biology Institute, an environmental think tank in Encinitas, calls Rancho Guejito "the conservation jewel of San Diego County" with miles of pristine forest and grassland and extensive archaeological resources. Mostly grassland and chaparral, Rancho Guejito has 15 percent of the county's increasingly rare Engelmann oak woodland. Studies in the early 1990s found that 16 species of raptors, such as golden eagles, make their home on the ranch. The ranch also shelters over 80 prehistoric American Indian sites, including ceremonial art, pottery, hearths, figurines and human remains.

In 1974, the state parks division recommended acquiring Rancho Guejito as a park and nature reserve, but the purchase was vetoed by incoming Governor Jerry Brown. Many area residents believe that the park proposal should be revived. The property has also been one of the sites under consideration for a new San Diego regional airport although it has been eliminated from consideration at the present time.

The controversy regarding future of the Rancho Guejito parcel is an illustration of the conflicting political, economic and social considerations affecting our region's land use at this time. The economy of the San Diego metropolitan area is booming, creating many new jobs. But the shortage of housing and of new land for constructing such housing has caused real estate prices to skyrocket and has placed enormous stress on workers, especially those at the lower end of the wage scale.

North County residents who already own homes already have obviously benefited from the increase in their home values and many oppose future residential development and the resulting additional traffic and congestion which would impair their quality of life. On the other hand, area businesses (particularly the real estate and construction industries), welcome the increased revenues associated with new development.