BREAKING NEWS:
Supervisors put politics and special interests ahead of constituents, approve HGV South (again).
While over a dozen independent fire and evacuation experts raised serious concerns about this project, and despite the fire chief himself saying “it doesn’t meet current standards,” the Board of Supervisors, led by Terra Lawson-Remer (in whose district this project is), chose to approve the project in defiance of public safety. The billionaire investor, Marcel Arsenault, threw hundreds of thousands of dollars at a specific union–LIUNA. While many of the San Diego unions are pro-environment, this union was easily bought off by the developers and they coerced Lawson-Remer and her colleagues to approve this dangerous project, opposed by every major environmental group in the County.
We believe that the County violated their own rules when they approved this project and instructed the Fire District to not weigh in on the project’s safety plan. The Town Council and EHL have jointly filed a lawsuit against the County over this new approval. Stay tuned. It ain’t over yet.
FIRE CHIEF SAYS: “IT DOESN’T PASS CURRENT STANDARDS”
Rancho Santa Fire District Fire Chief, David McQuead, admitting to the community that the HGV South project, if brought forth today, would not get approved without secondary access. An offer of a $850,000 donation to the District has him passing the buck to the County’s original approval in 2018.
Previous supervisors also waived fire code to benefit their developer cronies.
Back in 2018, the entire project’s approval relied on the previous sprawl developer-funded Board of Supervisors’ willingness to waive crucial state fire code requirements. State of California consolidated fire code requires secondary access whenever there is a dead-end road longer than 800 feet. In a fire-prone area, adjacent to 15,000 contiguous acres of open space that has been subject to large, destructive fires every decade, a secondary access is not just optional it is crucial to the safety of the community.
Wildfire safety was a top concern in designating the area for lower development potential.
In 2011, the County General Plan designated this area a risky place to build due to the fire risk, lack of evacuation routes and lack of infrastructure so it was zoned for low density / rural lots. Shortly thereafter, Colorado billionaire, Marcel Arsenault’s company, Real Capital Solutions, bought very cheap, foreclosed land in Harmony Grove and proceeded to use land use consultants and lobbyists to attempt to change the underlying zoning in place originally meant to protect the community from wildfire entrapment. This upzone (technically a General Plan Amendment, or GPA) would allow many more homes in a rural area not equipped to handle it and furthermore did not require improving evacuation infrastructure. It would also instantly increase their land value manyfold without even building one home.
Developer money trumps public safety: The County and RSF Fire District turns its back on the community.
In 2018, the billionaire and his consultants promised the county, and then the fire district, more money to cover existing “shortfalls” as a way to justify approving the project. They even offered $850,000 to the Rancho Santa Fe Fire District in 2025 which was a huge red flag to the community. They also poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into our local elections and union PACs.
Ironically, the fire district is normally very strict with secondary access–it is considered a non-negotiable. It routinely turns down projects—even minor lot splits—when a secondary exit is not provided, much to the dismay of residents seeking to improve their properties. There are numerous developments in the District (smaller than HGVS even) and all of them have multiple exits (as many as 6). When educating residents about wildfire preparation, the District instructs residents to “always have two ways out.” Yet, they’ve seen fit to bless this much larger project without any viable secondary exit.
But the promise of a voluntary contribution of $850,000 seems to have convinced them to waive this state requirement.
The number one issue when it comes to wildfire safety is evacuation. Without an orderly and quick evacuation, there can be entrapment and bodily injury or death. This community has lost hundreds of homes and even lost a neighbor during wildfires over the years. We are constantly reminded by the Fire District to make sure we have an evacuation plan. In fact, the district reminds people to “have at least two ways out” when planning for evacuation. Ironically, the proposed project is the only subdivision in the district that has only one way out. All the others, most of which are much smaller, have between three and six different evacuation routes or emergency exits. They even routinely reject projects as small as a lot split if a secondary exit is not provided. The road network in Harmony Grove is composed of small, windy, two lane country roads, surrounded by vegetation, making evacuation capacity very limited and dangerous.
The most recent fire, the Cocos Fire, really tested the capacity of the small two lane country roads that serve the community. On both ends of the wider Elfin Forest, Harmony Grove and Eden Valley communities, there was standstill traffic. On the west side of the valley, there were hours of stopped traffic on San Elijo Road, preventing residents from evacuation from the east. Residents were turned away. On the east side of the valley, near the proposed project, a smoky Country Club Road was clogged with fire apparatus, horse trailers and vehicles attempting to leave. Residents had plenty of notice to leave but even so, some barely made it out.
The Cocos Fire, San Elijo Hills, May 2014, Union-Tribune, “Cocos Fire Traffic to be Reviewed” (link)
Cocos Fire evacuation, view from proposed HGVS project
The impossible math of evacuation
assuming 2 vehicles per household
6 times as many vehicles as we had in the Cocos Fire
not including livestock trailers (for 247 horses)
assuming 2 cars per household
assuming 500 cars per hour
Conservatively assuming distance of ignition point
6 miles away, average fire speed = 6 m/h
Dr. Thomas J. Cova PhD has been studying wildfire evacuation for 30 years. He is the Director for the Center for Natural Hazards, University of Utah and nationally recognized expert on evacuation science.
2024, Dr. Cova “Harmony Grove Village South would compromise Public Safety” (link)
Ladris Technologies, a firm that works for over 40 public entities, staffed by seasoned former CalFire executives and regional directors, conducted a sophisticated analysis of the road network around HGV South and showed that even in the most conservative scenarios (not worst case scenarios), the evacuation traffic would be overwhelmed by a local fire creating a near certainty of entrapment. Like Cova’s analysis, they determined that at full build-out, there were simply too many vehicles entering the roadway at the same time to evacuate safely during a wildfire incident.
In 2014, the Cocos Fire became the latest in a long history of fires that overtook this part of the community. Over 30 structures were lost when a fire burned right next to the proposed project. The fire started in San Marcos and sped through the open space and hurtled towards homes on Country Club Road south of Harmony Grove Road, catching residents off guard. Residents reported long lines of traffic to exit the area due to congestion from vehicles and horse trailers. Some barely were able to get out in time. This was before Harmony Grove Village (not HGV South) was built that would ultimately add another 1,500 vehicles to the evacuation traffic on the two lane road.
Cocos Fire Photos in Harmony Grove from resident Eric Neubauer (during the fire) and JP Theberge (post fire)
Tubbs fire (88% of newer, wildfire hardened homes burned). In Paradise, 49% of the wildfire-safer homes burned down.
Fire-hardened subdivisions can and do catch fire.
Video from the Cocos Fire, Harmony Grove, 2014
The unincorporated communities of Elfin Forest, Harmony Grove, and Eden Valley, with a population of approximately 4,050 residents, have always been highly engaged in their fire protection efforts. From the very beginning (Harmony Grove was founded by the Harmony Grove Spiritualists in 1896), this largely rural community faced multiple large scale wildfire events, on average about once every four years since at least the early 80s. The Harmony Fire of 1996 still haunts residents who remember it as it were yesterday. Hundreds of homes were lost and a neighbor, David Hammond (link), lost his life evacuating. The fire is memorialized in displays at the former Elfin Forest/Harmony Grove fire station.
From the early neighborhood firefighting teams to the establishment of a volunteer-run Elfin Forest Harmony Grove Fire Department (EFHGFD) in 1972, the community's wildfire safety DNA is evident. This department was funded by the generosity of community members and through an unprecedented, self-imposed fire benefit fee—the largest of its kind in the county—highlighting the community's commitment to fire safety.
Today, these communities are part of the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District, and the benefit fee remains in place due to the strong relationship between the district and the residents. Our Fire Foundation provides grants such as video equipment and funding for tactical wildland boots for every career and volunteer firefighter in the district.
However there are some concerns from residents that the District is choosing to risk the lives of residents by blessing Harmony Grove Village South even as they turn down much safer projects in RSF because it will provide some more revenue to the district and possibly help it solve mismanagement or a financial shortfall inherited from the previous development that was approved.
Harmony Fire, October 1996, Union-Tribune, “North County Fire Storm” (link)
Dr. Mathew Rahn, PhD is a renowned expert in fire science. He is the Director for the Wildfire Science and Urban Interface Program at CSU San Marcos and is nationally recognized expert on wildfire science.
Dr. Rahn “RE: Harmony Grove Village South – Draft EIR, Wildfire Risk Analysis and Mitigation Measures” (link)
Remains of the Harmony Grove Spiritualists Association after the Cocos Fire, 2014, 248 yards from HGV South
Why are we still talking about this?
California Fire Code requires a secondary egress as does the National Fire Prevention Association code NFPA 1141, for a project of this size in a wildland urban interface. However, the Colorado billionaire developer and land owner, Marcel Arsenault, doesn’t want to spend the money on a secondary exit to the project. They would rather spend $135,000 pumping money into local elections to try to get supervisors to vote “yes” on the project and offer $850,000 to the fire district.
The community is fearful given the historical fire danger they have experienced as recently as 2014 and the clear expert-driven analysis by two separate experts that this is a catastrophe waiting to happen. And the County of San Diego department of planning continues to waive the requirement for secondary egress. And Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District has chosen to ignore the community’s request to review the safety of the project.
It’s all about about resolving a shortfall
From the beginning, the developer told the community numerous times that “the County asked us to add rooftops” because they needed the money to offset the shortfall from the fire house built for the original Harmony Grove Village (HGV) project. See, HGV was approved by the Board of Supervisors back in 2007. They were required to build a firehouse (which ended up being massively over budget), but they were not required to entirely fund the ongoing operations. So that project came with a revenue shortfall due to the County’s financially irresponsible decision.
That shortfall amounted to approximately $2 million per year. In 2016, the volunteer-run Elfin Forest/Harmony Grove Fire Department was going to be taken over by the County and the community lobbied to merge instead with RSF Fire. LAFCO, which oversees district mergers, noted in their staff report:
“Without a sufficient exchange of property taxes and general fund monies between the County of San Diego and Rancho Santa Fe FPD, an estimated deficit (operating shortfall) is projected, ranging from $2.2 million in FY 2014-15 to $1.9 million in FY 2018-19.” (link)
The County ultimately gave RSF Fire a one-time payment of $2.5 million which was supposed to be amortized over 8 years but doesn’t come nearly close to resolving the 7 figure yearly shortfall. Interestingly, it expires in 2025, just in time for HGVS to be approved. This was far from sufficient to resolve the shortfall. When HGV South came along, the environmental documents made extensive reference to “helping solve the shortfall.” After the community provided a comment on this, the County revised the documents to note that “financial arrangements” resolved the gap. What exactly were those arrangements?
The answer seems to come from the County Fire Authority who provided their “will serve” letter for HGV South (meaning they agree to provide fire service), it was “conditioned on helping fund” the original HGV fire station (link) which the Board of Supervisors at the time had required but not insisted that operations be fully funded. It couldn’t be more clear that HGV South was meant to fund that shortfall.
So now, the project has come back yet again, after being approved (2018), then successfully sued (2019), then appealed by the developer (2021) then having approvals fully rescinded (2021). They are now back again and not offering anything new. The same project, same number of units, same lack of secondary egress. County planning is supporting it and the RSF Fire District is supporting it.
It seems that the community’s safety is less important when there’s money to be had for the Fire District. If this project is intended to fund the previous project, will we need another project to help offset this project’s likely deficits?
The community is outraged, especially given the fact that our voter-approved fire benefit fee is many times higher than any other in the District. We pay more and yet we are sacrificed at the altar of the County’s financial irresponsibility.
It is up to the Board of Supervisors to make this right.
ACT NOW AND WRITE AN EMAIL TO OUR DECISION-MAKERS
The approximately 111-acre project is located in the unincorporated portion of San Diego County in the community of Harmony Grove. The project site is bounded by Escondido Creek to the north, Country Club Drive to the west, and the Del Dios Highland Preserve and County preserves to the south. The communities of Elfin Forest and San Elijo Hills lie several miles to the West.
Harmony and Del Dios Fires documentary
DON’T BURN US
SAY NO TO
HARMONY GROVE VILLAGE SOUTH
ACT NOW AND WRITE AN EMAIL TO OUR DECISION-MAKERS
SIGN THE PETITION
Copyright 2025, Elfin Forest / Harmony Grove Town Council, a 501(c)(3) Community Benefit Organization
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The Board has voted to approve this dangerous project yet again. Click if you want to email your decision-makers.
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