VISTA — A proposed $335 million regional campus for healing is a source of intense controversy with residents and businesses near Green Oak Ranch.
San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond first brought the proposal forward during the board’s April 30 meeting. The proposal has since been met with fierce pushback and concerns from residents, businesses and others.
Green Oak Ranch Ministries is a faith-based sober living program and has been operating in the city for decades with about 50 patients at one time. Green Oak Ranch owns the property.
The land, which spans 142 acres, of which about 110 have been targeted by the county, rests off Sycamore Avenue adjacent to the Shadowridge neighborhood. The ministry also operates a summer camp and retreat center, which if those close would reduce funding for its sober living facility by 85%, The Coast News reported.
During the Vista City Council meeting on May 28, about 300 residents packed City Hall as some were put into an overflow room. Ten speakers took to the podium during public comment and strongly pushed back against the county’s proposal. (The item starts at the 38-minute mark.)
One of the top concerns for residents and Mayor John Franklin is the potential to lose land use authority if the county buys the property. If the county reaches a deal with the property owners, the Vista City Council would have no say over permitting, design, construction or other elements per state law, Franklin said.
“I would state first is that the only unacceptable outcome is the people of Vista lose the land use authority and cannot come to their own City Council chambers and be heard on the land use,” Franklin said. “That means what is going there and how many people.”
