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Hills slated for chichi development burned to a crisp
November 19th, 2008, 6:30 am · 6 Comments · posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
The Brea City Council was finally slated to tackle the wildly controversial Canyon Crest development last night. But that meeting was cancelled. Due to the fires. Which, um, devoured the Canyon Crest site. And one home in a development below it.
Might this inject even more emotion and complexity into an already emotional and complex debate?!
The Watchdog talks to little birdies and peers into crystal balls and predicts that:
- Opponents will pound hard on the dire fire risk that a new, tony development perched atop these hills faces - and they can’t be accused of trotting out hypotheticals to scare people. (Expect to see a lot of these before-and-after photos of Canyon Crest, being circulated by the environmental group Hills for Everyone).
- Supporters will argue that, if Canyon Crest were in existence last weeke
nd, the fires could have been averted because the site would have been cleared of overgrown brush. Fuel modification zones would have been in place. And a high-tech fire engine equipped to scale hills would have been there to help battle flames. - The City Council will postpone a decision on the project even farther into the future (this has been pending since summer), to give raw passions a chance to cool. Really. How many fires can you put out at once?
Remember, these are just The Watchdog’s predictions. But if we were the betting type, we might be betting big.
The Canyon Crest development would be 165 uber-luxury homes on 368 (once bucolic, now moonscaped) acres off Carbon Canyon Road, next to Chino Hills State Park. The homes would cost between $1.5 million and $4 million.
And, hopefully, they would have really, really good sprinkler systems.
(Read colleague Lou Ponsi’s stories on the Carbon Canyon battle. This one goes into a brouhaha surrounding the developer’s support of Nov. 3’s Brea Museum and Heritage Center Golf Tournament. Also see the story found here .)
More Watchdog:
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This will happen again. If they build they will burn.
Is it be wise to build on top of land that is burned now? I think they will need to re-think their development ideas now. I don’t have background in development, construction or geopgraphy, but my common sense tells me that if they build, then in the future when there is rain/heavy rain, the foundation may give way & these million $$$ homes will slide! If someone has knowledge in this, please correct me if I’m wrong. Otherwise, I say leave the canyon alone!
One other thing, if they do get the ok to build, I hope they disclose to the potential buyers that the homes were built on burnt land!
My parents live next to an untouched rural hillside in Riverside County. They did everything they could come up with to make the house fireproof including doing overkill on clearing a defensible perimeter.
When their insurance company came out to review the property before offering the policy, he laughed and said “You haven’t cleared the brush back far enough for us to cover your home.” My mom asked how far they would need to clear it to get coverage and the insurance guy answered, “About 5 miles.” They have State Farm now - the only big name insurance company that would cover them.
The more homes that are built in these conditions, the more that burn. The more that burn, the fewer insurance companies that will cover them. No insurance policy, no mortgage. The problem will solve itself eventually.
It is the brush that burns. The temperature below the ground does not get over 120 degrees. The heat is 2 feet and above. Slides are caused by no root systems to hold soil. If the land is developed, there is certain compaction that must be achieved before building is aloud. Asphalt, concrete, landscaping, and WATERING SYSTEMS would be in place.
A water pump station would also be installed in the area.
I say build away.
It is absolutely insane to build in these fire prone areas.