SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A five-story 70-resident apartment building is supposed to go up in San Elijo Hills. But more than 3,000 San Elijo Hills residents are pushing back, saying it's dangerous to put here when it comes to evacuations if there's a fire.
The project is San Elijo Hills Town Center Apartments.
It's a proposal by Ambient Communities, which would be on a half-acre triangular parcel between the north and south lanes of San Elijo Hills.
More housing isn't the controversial part. It's more housing build on a particular corridor designated in the state's "Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone," which is drawing major pushback.
Michelle Philbrick is a resident of San Elijo Hills, and says back in 2014 during the Coco's Fire, it took her family two hours to evacuate because of the gridlock.
"We do not feel that it's reasonable," she said in an interview with ABC 10News. "We don't think that it's fiscally sound, and we think it's going to proceed or create a risk for the community from an evacuation standpoint. We feel that we are a cookie cutter experience in terms of the design of our city and our town."
That's why she's against this parcel of land being developed. She worries the project will create more traffic during an evacuation in case of a fire.
"If you build an apartment complex or condo complex here in the heart of the town, it will create this incredible gridlock and then put danger and risk to the community to be able to get out of town," said Philbrick.
The San Marcos Planning Commission will be meeting on Monday to talk about the project.
ABC 10News reached out to the city but a spokesperson said the commission is wanting an impartial process to review the project.
We also reached out to Ambient Communities but haven't heard back.
Philbrick said she isn't against development, but worries about the safety of the community.
"We're OK if something gets built," said Philbrick. "It's just what does get built is what we. Asking and we want it to be beneficial for the community too."
