For years, California policies have sought to limit or at least discourage new construction in areas designated as high fire hazard zones.

When that hasn’t worked, the courts have stepped in. In San Diego, legal action and county reversals have stopped thousands of previously approved homes targeted for the region’s rural areas characterized by highly flammable chaparral and grasslands.

Just last week, a court again blocked the 3,000-home Fanita Ranch project in Santee. The judge concluded the city didn’t follow the proper procedure in greenlighting the proposal. But the larger context of whether the development would threaten habitat and put residents in the path of wildfires was motivation for the lawsuit.

When a bill to revamp fire-hazard designations surfaced in Sacramento this summer, critics said it could increase development in fire-prone areas, according to Hayley Smith of the Los Angeles Times.

Senate Bill 610 initially was an unrelated measure regarding the California Energy Commission that passed the state Senate and then was gutted and amended in June to become the fire-zone bill in the Assembly. Eventually, the bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which means it’s dead for this year. However, advocates suggest the measure or a version of it will be back next year.

The main thrust of SB 610 is to do away with state rules that classify areas as “moderate,” “high” and “very high” fire-risk zones. That can influence development patterns and building safety standards.

Those categories would be replaced by a single “wildfire mitigation area” designation, which advocates say would lead to a uniform set of precautions rather than various levels that match the severity of threat under the current classifications.

The legislation also would shift responsibilities for maintaining fire safety standards from the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to the California fire marshal. The fire marshal would be required to review fire safety laws and update fire hazard and safety standards every five years.

State Fire Marshal Daniel Berlant said the legislation will make communities safer and the process more clear, and that the single state designation would likely result in more areas falling under a fire hazard designation, not fewer, according to the Times.

Opponents disagreed.

SB 610 “will fundamentally reshape California fire and housing policy and make Californians more vulnerable to wildfire,” dozens of environmental and housing groups and local governments said in a July 25 letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders.

Among other things, they contend the measure would shift authority away from local governments and give it to the state — a common criticism of past state legislation aimed at boosting housing development.

While some supporters of the bill said it’s about fire safety, not expanding development, the short list of supporters on the bill analysis seems telling: California Building Industry Association, Housing Action Coalition and the pro-housing group YIMBY (“Yes, In My Backyard”) Action.

Environmental groups, the California Farm Bureau and city and county associations are among the 19 opponents listed.

The amended SB 610 was authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, who has carried some of the state’s most aggressive housing development bills in recent years.

The bill has become emblematic of the push-pull over development in Sacramento. Legislation also was introduced this year to limit housing construction in fire- and flood-prone areas.

Meanwhile, bills aimed at allowing more dense development along the coast — including bills by Assemblymember David Alvarez, D-San Diego, and Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas — did not succeed this year.

Restricting development at the coast and on the urban fringe builds pressure to increase density in communities in between, where many planning experts say growth should be targeted to cut down on vehicle congestion and tailpipe emissions that contribute to global-warming greenhouse gases.

But in reality, residents in those less-restricted areas typically don’t want more development, and building enough housing to meet demand has proved difficult throughout the state.

Officials in some communities, particularly along the coast, welcome development limits. But others, like those in Santee, say restrictions make it more difficult to meet state housing goals.

Legislation to spur development comes amid an affordable housing crisis in California and skyrocketing prices of market-rate homes. In 2022, Matthew Adams, then-vice president of the Building Industry Association of San Diego County, gave his take on the consequences of actions that blocked developments in East County.

“Let me be clear,” Adams told The San Diego Union-Tribune. “This is going to have a devastating impact on our ability to produce middle-income or market-rate housing in vast portions of the unincorporated area.”

Some pro-development groups say advances in planning, evacuation strategies, fire-retardant building materials, landscaping and buffer zones have made some higher fire-risk areas safer for development.

Nevertheless, the increasing intensity of wildfires and the human and property destruction they have caused resulted in discussions going in the other direction. Should development be limited? Should homes be allowed to be rebuilt? Should a methodical retreat of existing communities from high-risk fire areas be considered?

In the end, what can be built and where increasingly may depend on whether state policies align with practices acceptable to insurance companies, which have been leaving California, in part because of increased wildfire risk.

A group of skateboarders made their pitch to the Encinitas Parks and Recreation Board this week for the construction of a skate bowl. It would be the second in Encinitas but the first on a North County public beach.

By most accounts, Encinitas holds the unofficial claim to the title “Skateboard Capitol of the World.” With the many world-class skate parks in the San Diego area and a skate bowl in Encinitas Community Park, is more better?

“It keeps you out of trouble. It keeps you out of your head, too,” skater Jacob Yocum said.

The force behind a second skate bowl in Encinitas doesn’t hail from Generation Z or Alpha. Instead, they are three sexagenarians.

“Pushing our minds, bodies and balance — I think that positive stress on a person keeps you sharp. It keeps you young,” said Douglas Marker, an advocate for the new skate bowl.

Encinitas residents Marker, Barry Blumenthal and David Skinner brought to the Encinitas Parks and Recreation Tuesday a rare standing-room-only gallery and a plan to build a 6,000-square-foot skate bowl in the northeast corner of Moonlight Beach.

“That shows the world that we are absolutely the mecca of skateboarding,” Marker said.

Marker is a former professional skateboarder. Even at 62, Marker and his group, Deathracer413, dare the depths of the skate bowl called “Poods” in the community park.

On any given Saturday, the skaters meet up at one of the dozens of skateparks in San Diego County’s to skate and catch up with one another, but, most of all to have fun with similar-aged people that share a common love of skateboarding.

The bowl in Encinitas Community Park attracts skaters from all over the world, but it has its limits.

“Sometimes I come here, and there is crowds of people around the entire park, but there is only two people allowed in the bowl at a time,” skater J.J. Hurd said.

Marker says that 70 years ago, when the waves were flat, surfers would attach wheels to wood and practice their tricks on land. A bowl at the beach is a logical return to skateboarding roots.

“I hope the city sees how much they need it, how much we want it, and I hope they help us move forward to make our dream come true,” Marker said.

Tuesday night’s Parks and Rec meeting was the first chance for the group to officially make a formal request.

There are still a lot of hoops to jump through, but one thing that could work in their favor is the construction cost. The group says they’ll get the million dollars it will take to build the skate bowl from the private sector.

A man arrested in the shooting of his elderly mother and two others who died at a home in Point Loma Wednesday afternoon was identified by police Thursday.

William Bushey, 60, was arrested on double murder charges in the shooting deaths of a woman in her 60s and a man in his 30s at the home on Zola Street, according to the San Diego Police Department. He is also accused of attempted murder in the shooting of his mother, who is in her 80s and remains hospitalized following the shooting.

Colleen Crowden, a neighbor and friend, said the woman who lived there was June Bushey. June Bushey has a daughter and grandsons who match the ages of the two people who were killed. San Diego police were expected to release the identities of the victims Friday.

Crowden said June Bushey had lived in the Point Loma home her entire life. The gray single-family home was her childhood home and she was a graduate of Point Loma High School, which is just a block away.

William Bushey lived with his mother for the last two-plus decades, according to Crowden.

Two people are dead and a woman in her 80s is fighting for her life after she was allegedly shot by her son. NBC 7’s Dave Summers reports on Aug. 21, 2024.

On Wednesday shortly before 4 p.m., Crowden heard a commotion at her neighbor’s house but didn’t immediately realize they were gunshots. She saw her neighbor come outside bloodied and thought she had cut herself. When police arrived, she pieced details together.

Crowden was talking to police on her own patio when she saw officers bring Bushy out of her neighbor’s home in handcuffs. She told them, “That’s her son, Billy” and the officer called in to police, “Witness has identified the suspect as the victim’s son,” she said.

According to Lt. Jud Campbell with the San Diego Police Department, William Bushey was at the front of the house when officers arrived and was taken into custody without struggle,

At the scene of the shooting Wednesday, a woman who described herself to police as a close friend of the victims was near collapse after hearing of the tragedy. She said the family contacted police about the potential of this very thing happening one or two days ago.

“This is my best friend, and the police turned her away yesterday,” she was heard telling police.

Campbell said during a news conference one victim was found in a side-yard area, while the other one may have been found in the kitchen area inside. The elderly woman was found in front of the home.

“She was found out front here at the street,” Campbell said. “Officers took her away from the scene and began rendering aid until paramedics could come and get her and rush her to the hospital.”

Her condition on Thursday was not known.

Officers also located what appears to be a shotgun in the front yard near where the suspect was found that they say is likely the murder weapon, SDPD said.

The garage door of the home looked like it was recently crushed inward, but no vehicle in the area seemed to have caused it. Police later confirmed that patrol officers breached the door while checking the scene.

The circumstances that led to the shooting were not immediately clear. SDPD’s Homicide Unit is still investigating.

Campbell said that multiple people called 911, including the shooter. He also said there have been prior calls to the residence, but it is not known what those calls were for or when.

“As part of this investigation, we are going to be looking at every time that we may have been on this street or been in contact with anyone that is involved in this,” Campbell said.

Marjie Carver lives down the street. She was home at the time and didn’t hear the shooting, but she saw the helicopter.

“We’ve lived here over 20 years and never had anything like that,” Carver said. “I’m stunned that it ever happened. I am saddened that it happened.”

Police are asking anyone with information or who knows the family to call the Homicide Unit at 619-531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.