La Mesa Meadows Tract Plows Ahead Despite Outcry Over Bird Deaths

Plans for a 31-home development called La Mesa Meadows at a former nursery in southeast La Mesa are closer to gaining the final go-ahead.

The City Council on April 23 unanimously voted to ratify the Design Review Board’s approval of the project at Garfield Street and Highland Avenue.

The 11-acre development property has been a contentious issue for residents of the neighborhood, just west of state Route 125, with a view of Mt. Helix.

In March 2011, an online petition was launched as an attempt to “save the soundwall” which ran next to the freeway above the large lot that was once home to Moening’s Nursery.

However, the wall eventually was taken down by the Reynolds Communities, the project’s former builder, after the council approved design modifications in July of 2011.

The most recent issue that some residents had with the project was the removal of 74 trees, which residents said had become home to dozens, if not hundreds, of nesting birds.

La Mesa resident Sharon Muczynski said in a Patch blog on March 15, 2013:

“This lot has been in [the developer’s] possession for many years, and they could have waited until summer or they could have cut down acres of trees in the winter, but they did not.

“They insensitively chose a time when many baby birds would die. What can we as community members do to prevent more environmental damage of this scale by large companies that obviously do not care about preserving our native animals?”

The blog blames Reynolds Communities for cutting down the trees. However, it was KB Homes that bought the property in March 2013 and began clearing the site.

Muczynski added in an email to Patch: “High-density housing doesn’t belong here. I moved here just after this was approved, and it will ruin our neighborhood.”

However, the project, with its new modifications, will actually add more than five times the amount of trees that were removed, says the developer.

The landscape plan for the project remains largely unchanged. Additionally, the landscape plan is required to show the location, size and type of all trees proposed for the project.

All healthy trees must be replaced by a similar tree of specimen size.

The new project calls for the addition of 422 trees, which would line the street and surround the property, as well as be planted on specific parcels of individual homes.

“It would be reasonable to say that more trees could be planted along the western slope in keeping with the additional plan,” Allyson Kinnard, associate planner for the city, told the council two weeks ago.

KB Homes wants to build property according to original 2011 site plan, but with architectural upgrades, and is mandated to maintain architectural and landscaping guidelines as set forth in the city’s Urban Design Program.

The homes will range from 3,106 to 3,755 square feet.

Further additions to the new proposed property include a possible pedestrian footbridge at the eastern edge of the Highland Avenue cul de sac, and a natural overlook area with bench seating.