Appellate court ruling imperils 3,000-home Fanita Ranch project in Santee

A plan to build a sprawling 3,000-home development in Santee was again put in jeopardy after an appellate court on Thursday denied an appeal from the developer behind the Fanita Ranch project.

Residential development of the 2,638-acre site has been mulled over for decades. The ruling is the latest win for environmentalists and local opponents who have long contended the development would endanger habitats and create wildfire evacuation risk for residents.

The appellate court judges ruled the city and developer HomeFed knew the project broke state environmental and planning laws, but went forward with it anyway.

Santee and HomeFed failed to amend the city's General Plan before pushing through the project, the panel ruled.

The city "undermined the state's system of land use regulation," the appellate court decision said.

The legal battle goes back to 2020, when council members approved a development proposal from HomeFed Fanita Rancho LLC. Environmentalist groups subsequently sued, arguing fast evacuations might not be possible, and Judge Katherine Bacal told the city to halt the project's approval.

City leaders pulled back their approval and simultaneously threw out a ballot referendum that would have given voters the final say on the development. In 2022, the city created the "Essential Housing Program," allowing city staff to declare some developments as essential, therefore green-lighting developers to circumvent General Plan rules and bypass voter approval.

That drew a lawsuit by Preserve Wild Santee, the Center for Biological Diversity, Endangered Habitats League and California Chaparral Institute against the city and HomeFed, alleging the project's approval broke state planning and zoning laws, as well as state Elections Code.

A state judge ruled in favor of the environmentalist groups in August 2024, ordering the city to halt the project.

Subsequently, HomeFed appealed the decision. The city of Santee did not.

The appellate court's June 4 ruling sided with the plaintiffs on every issue, aside from the claim that the city and developer sidestepped state election laws.

"Except for the last, we reject each of HomeFed's contentions," the decision reads. "We agree that no Elections Code violation has been shown, but conclude the trial court did not err in concluding the City violated the State Planning and Zoning Law, the Subdivision Map Act, and CEQA."

Existing lot size and density limitations outlined in the city's General Plan "are critical to other land-use decisions in the surrounding areas and touch on virtually every area of planning, such as traffic, safety, and conservation," the decision continues.

Those restrictions are specifically outlined in the city plan, the appellate court judges said in the decision, thus leaving "no room for subjective interpretation."

The fate of the long-discussed residential development is back in limbo. Unless the developer appeals the decision to the California Supreme Court, it is unlikely Fanita Ranch will come to fruition.

Attorneys for HomeFed and a spokesperson for the city of Santee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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