Supervisors Allow Sports on Idle School Grounds

If a compromise is a solution that makes no one happy, then county supervisors reached a compromise Wednesday in amending zoning laws to allow the use of undeveloped public school property for community uses.

Although the ordinance applies to all public schools in the county, it was prompted by problems in the exclusive North County community of Fairbanks Ranch, where an undeveloped school site is the only sports field.

Under county zoning regulations, the Solana Beach School District would have been required to obtain a major-use permit, an expensive and time-consuming process, before allowing soccer games and other activities on the site of a future school at El Apajo and San Dieguito roads in the heart of the estate community.

Barbara Bouzan, a Fairbanks Ranch neighbor to the soccer field and a member of the San Dieguito Planning Group, opposed the supervisors’ action amending county zoning codes so that school districts can use vacant school sites as community recreational areas.

Bouzan cited traffic problems, including blocking of emergency vehicles and fire plugs, as a prime reason for denying community groups the use of the Solana Beach school district’s 8-acre parcel in Fairbanks Ranch.

She also complained that the users of the vacant field deprived her family “of the right to enjoy our property” because of the noise and litter it creates.

Paul Marx, an Escondido attorney and officer of the San Dieguito Planning Group, complained that failure to require fencing or restrooms at the field left neighbors unprotected from the crowds there. The planning group rejected the proposed zoning amendment.

Proponents of the zoning change included Solana Beach schools Supt. Ray Edman.