Escondido resort, housing complex project halted amid road work squabbles

ESCONDIDO, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — Stop work orders have been issued to the developer behind a controversial resort and housing complex on the edge of Escondido after grading work to a dirt road along the property was conducted without permits.

The grading work, which began in August, occurred through a road easement set aside for the proposed Daley Ranch Resort, a 225-room hotel and over 200-unit residential complex at the top of a mountain ridge connected to the Daley Ranch natural preserve.

Aerial video obtained by FOX 5/KUSI of the construction showed a bulldozer plowing through the land. Planning documents pitched this route, which connects to the busy Valley Center Road, along the steep mountainside as the primary point of access for the development.

While the project has been in planning stages for years, it has not been formally approved by the city of Escondido or state environmental regulators, Director of Public Works Joseph Goulart confirmed to FOX 5/KUSI.

And yet, this road work went on, prompting the city and the county to demand all construction to halt as it investigates possible local and state law violations.

Jim Whalen, an attorney for the Sager family who has spearheaded the development, said in a statement to FOX 5/KUSI that the work was above board, as the easement grants them leeway to use and do work on the property as long as certain measures are met.

He added that the developer believes they have met these conditions to do grading work without a permit since it did not create a new road, rather cleared an old dirt road of brush and conducted repairs to erosion ruts.

Zoning code in the city of Escondido does allow for certain types of regrading work without a permit, but Goulart said local officials are skeptical whether the construction done through the easement meets these exemptions.

It will likely come down to whether the amount of earth and flora removed in the process exceeded 200 cubic yards, he explained.

"That's one of the reasons why we did a cease and desist," Goulart added. "We're trying to clarify what is legal."

The Daley Ranch Resort project was first proposed by the Sager family in the 1980s as part of development plans to a larger, 1,800-acre plot of land in unincorporated Escondido near Lake Wohlford. The plan was later rescinded after receiving community pushback.

The city of Escondido later purchased a large chunk of the land from its prior owners, creating what is now the Daley Ranch Park Reserve.

Two parcels of land — one at the foot of the mountain and the other at its peak — totaling about 200 acres remained with the land's prior owners. The resort and residential development was pitched for the parcel along the mesa, the larger of the two.

In May 1997, the development project was revived by the Sager family. Planning documents were submitted to the city over a decade later, in 2018.

Under the renewed iteration of the project, the resort site remained largely the same, but tens of additional homes were added. The proposed residences would span three residential types: custom home sites, detached single-family residences and courtyard-style single-family homes.

The project would also require the city of Escondido to annex the unincorporated land encompassing the Daley Ranch Park Reserve, as well as the resort and residential complex. According to planning documents, the over 1,700-acre reserve would remain protected.

With such complex requests, Escondido city planning officials said it would likely be years before any final decisions would be made on the project, as the San Diego Union-Tribune reported when the plans were submitted. That time has still not arrived.

Goulart said no entitlements, or documents developers need to obtain before they can begin building, had been issued by the city for any work on the land it oversees. This includes permitting for grading work.

It also appears that the state-mandated report detailing environmental impacts has not been finalized. FOX 5/KUSI reached out to the county regarding the land that falls in its jurisdiction and is awaiting response.

Whalen said the work through the easement was done so geotechnical testing trucks could access the land where they are hoping to build to conduct surveys for these efforts. Previously, the trucks had been using a different access road from the north, off Red Iron Bark.

"The neighbors didn’t like the geotechnical testing company trucks and equipment going through, so we elected to use the other road off Valley Center Road, even though it is much more dangerous," he said. " That meant we had to clear the brush that grows in every rainy season and repair erosion ruts."

Nonetheless, city leaders are concerned that the recent grading work might have led to damage to the land, including harm to the area's vegetation.

Among other flora, the site where the preserve sits is one of a handful of places home to the Engelmann Oak, according to the nonprofit Friends of Daley Ranch — a rare oak only seen through a narrow band of coastal plain in southern California and Baja California.

It is unclear if these oaks were impacted by the regrading efforts, although the public works director said "a lot of trees" were removed in addition to low-laying brush.

Goulart noted that a third-party environmental assessor will be visiting the land on Friday to determine whether the grading falls under the city's permitting exemptions and if there was any ecological damage in order to determine possible remedies.

As no construction plans have been finalized, it is unclear exactly how the this process might impact future work to the Daley Ranch Resort. Official groundbreaking still appears to remain months — if not years — away.

It may also take some time for the city and county determine whether any violations took place, and reach a possible remediation agreement for them with the Sager family, Goulart added.

"We have been coordinating with officials at both the City and County to make sure all applicable laws have been followed," Whalen said. "There are often follow up measures, and we will ensure those get handled appropriately."