The fate of the 3,000-home Fanita Ranch development now rests with voters.
The Santee City Council, with Mayor John Minto absent, unanimously voted Wednesday to place a measure on the November 2022 ballot asking whether the project should be built.
But pending legal challenges
by HomeFed Fanita Rancho, LLC, the project’s backer, and possibly others, may alter the council’s decision and the ballot measure’s future.
The City Council gave its green light in September for the housing in the hills beyond Santee Lakes. Shortly thereafter, residents collected enough signatures, 3,854, to force the council to either rescind its approval or put the measure on the ballot.
SANTEE
A referendum filed with the county Registrar of Voters in late October seeking to reverse the Santee City Council’s September approval of the Fanita Ranch housing development has received official approval.
Santee City Clerk Annette Ortiz on Tuesday received a letter from the San Diego County Registrar of Voters showing that 3,854 signatures of Santee residents were verified as valid in trying to stop the development that looks to put about 3,000 homes in the city’s hills off Fanita Parkway.
Now the Santee City Council must either repeal its decision or submit the plans for Fanita Ranch to the voters at either the November 2022 election, or have a special election for the development at another time.