Borrego Sun - Since 1949

I read the Editorial for the May 25 issue of the Borrego Sun and would like to correct a few items and also comment on the article, “Seven Reasons to Say “NO” to the County’s Decarbonization Plan.”

I did, indeed, attend the Revitalization Meeting with San Diego County District 5 Supervisor Jim Desmond at our library on May 24, but did not make the remarks the Sun says I did at that meeting.

At the meeting, Supervisor Desmond let the community know what I and the Sponsor Group have been saying for months, that the Dollar General store is being constructed on a lot that is zoned for that use “by right”. It was gratifying that the Supervisor and Mark Slovick, Deputy Director of the County’s Planning and Development Services, both said at the meeting that they would see if Dollar General’s developer would meet with them to discuss community requests about the appearance of the store. I also brought up to Mark Slovick at the meeting that the community would like some County help on revisiting the designators on our commercial lots so that the Borrego Springs Community Sponsor Group, and hence the community, would have the chance to weigh in on similar projects if and when they come up. This wasn’t the first time I’ve raised this issue with the County and I hope that we’ll get some support for this idea or one with a similar effect in the future.

The comment Supervisor Desmond made about the “train already having left the station” was about plans and funds for a covered shadeway between Christmas Circle and the library park that has been in the works for years now, and it wasn’t in response to anything I said.

I also have a few notes about the article on page 8 with the title, “Seven Reasons to Say “NO” to the County’s Decarbonization Plan.” Unless you deny the urgent problem that climate change presents to all of us, it isn’t the Regional Decarbonization Plan (RDF) in its entirety that we want changed. It is specifically the sections pertaining to decarbonized energy production, both in the RDF Technical Report and in the RDF Playbook.

I, as well as David Garmon and the folks at the Protect Our Communities Foundation, spent a lot of time with Supervisor Desmond’s land use staff member, Hunter McDonald to explain all the technical issues related to this, and a petition online has also outlined these issues, as have I and David Garmon at a number of Sponsor Group meetings here in Borrego Springs. The Borrego Springs Community Sponsor Group sent two letters (in February and March) to the Board of Supervisors in opposition to these sections of the RDF. We felt that the transmission lines in particular, are a huge issue for the town and Park, as well as the economic impact on our town should a lot of utility scale Solar farms and transmission towers to export more power be constructed here and across the ABDSP.

So we are very happy that Supervisor Desmond introduced, and the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed, a close look at local Solar production and potential for San Diego County. Let’s all keep an eye on this issue that is so important for our town. There should be a report back to the Board of Supervisors on this new study within 180 days of the May 24 Board of Supervisors meeting. All those who expressed their view about this to our Supervisor’s office and signed the petition should know that they helped get this new report in motion.

Other parts of the RDF are about other things that communities can do to play a much needed role in reducing carbon release into the atmosphere. There will be an outreach workshop at the library in late July in Spanish about those programs in the RDF that I hope gets good attendance and publicity in the paper as we approach that date.

Rebecca Falk

– Chairperson, Borrego Springs Community Sponsor Group