By voting on December 9, 2009 to approve the Stonegate/Merriam Mountains development, two San Diego County Supervisors---Bill Horn and Greg Cox---have earned the nickname "The Firetrap Supervisors." Kudos to Supervisors Dianne Jacob and Pam Slater-Price for voting NO to this dangerous project.

Supervisor Ron Roberts, who was absent for the vote, would have done well to let the 2-2 deadlock vote to stand, since the tie vote meant that the project was disapproved. However, on the very last day possible for requesting a re-hearing (January 8, 2010), Roberts asked for a second hearing (after 29 straight days of his office saying "no comment" and that he was "undecided").  By overturning the outcome of the December 9, 2009 official public hearing and vote, Supervisor Roberts joined the ranks of the Firetrap Supervisors.

The Firetrap Supervisors have earned this name for conspiring to push the Merriam Mountain development proposal through the planning process, fully aware of the danger it represents.

The Firetrap Supervisors have:

◊ Permitted the County's Planning Unit to approve the project's inadequate and reckless Fire Protection Plan in secrecy during the Christmas holidays while County offices were closed, in order to avoid public comment and criticism.

◊ Ignored the local Deer Springs Fire District Board's official rejection of the project's Fire Protection Plan (2007) and thus violated California State Law by bypassing the responsible agency that has jurisdiction to rule on fire safety issues in its District. Although District residents pay a special tax surcharge to the Fire District which is solely responsible for providing fire protection to its residents, the County intervened to illegally strip the local Fire Board of its authority.

◊ Ignored the moral and legal prerequisite of requiring an adequate evacuation plan for a development to be built in an extremely high-fire-risk area.

◊ Deliberately omitted the local Fire Board's objections from the project's required Environmental Impact Report, although California State Law demands full disclosure.

◊ Ignored a warning letter sent to the County from the American Lung Association stating that people with respiratory illnesses (as well as the very young and the old) will easily succumb because they will be unable to evacuate in time in the event of a wildland fire.

◊ Tried to usurp the power of the elected local Fire District Board members whose responsibility is to protect their community from fire danger. The local Fire District Board serves as an important check to prevent unsafe development from threatening its community.

◊ Conspired to try to eliminate all local Fire District boards countywide in order to gain total control over the approval of fire protection plans, under the guise of "improved efficiency."

◊ Permitted the County Department of Planning and Land Use (DPLU) to waive numerous fire safety requirements (including a fire station and an evacuation plan) if, in the opinion of the DPLU Director, the developer made a "good faith" effort to accomplish these things but the local fire district was not "cooperative" with the developer.  

◊ Decided that taking large contributions from developers (Newland Communities and Stonegate Development) is more important than protecting peoples' lives.