Predecessors of the Friends of los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve
by Mike Kelly, Conservation Chair
Contrary to what a lot of people think, the Friends of los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve did not start the campaign, the fight, to save Peñasquitos Canyon from development. The fight actually started long before the Friends were incorporated as a non-profit in 1984.
But first, what was so important about Peñasquitos Canyon to inspire the many people who worked to save it? It was part of the about 8,000+ acre still intact first Mexican land grant in San Diego County, Rancho Santa Maria de los Peñasquitos. This despite being sold more than two dozen times since its founding in 1823! It stretched from what is now Vista Sorrento Parkway on the west to Lopez Canyon on nthe south, much of what is now Rancho Peñasquitos and the southern flanks of Black Mountain on the north to what is now Sabre Springs on the east.
What made it special was its sheer beauty and the biological diversity of its habitats and the plants and animals calling it home, a number of which became threatened or endangered according to the regulatory agencies. Vernal pools on the south and northern mesas made it unique compared to many other areas. Springs provided year-round water in several areas. Peñasquitos Creek, collecting water from several other creeks, often ran year-round, but even in dry years had running stretches and pools to sustain the wildlife. [It now runs year-round despite the rainfall, but that’s another story.]
Recognizing the need to separate the planned future developments in the north city with their tens of thousands of new homes, the City adopted a General Plan in the 1960s that called for 3,730 acres of the Peñasquitos, as it was known, to be saved as open space. This plan didn’t sit well with the well-known developer, Irvin Kahn whose Peñasquitos Corporation bought the land in 1962. His plans called for a six- lane highway running alongside the future houses, golf course and other amenities that would fill the valley and mesas. When Kahn resisted the city’s plan for this much open space, he counter proposed a much smaller acreage.
I can’t pinpoint the exact time but sometime in the late sixties a loose coalition of the Sierra Club and Citizens Coordinate for Century 3 (C3) and others came together to fight for the city’s vision as called for in the General Plan. The first active protest I could verify through news clippings (La Jolla Light and La Jolla Journal) took place June 2, 1971 when Helen Scantlin of C3 led some two dozen “conservationists” into the canyon to the site of a new 8-mile-long sewer line being built by the city to accommodate the future needs of Kahn’s developments. They argued it could have been built on the north side of the canyon in less sensitive habitat. They even temporarily blocked a bulldozer at the construction site, but no arrests were made.
Conservationists Picket Sewer June 2, 1971
Mrs. Helen Scantlin of La Jolla carries a protest sign as she leads a group of conservationists objecting to sewer construction in Los Peñasquitos Canyon north of Sorrento Valley
Frustrated with the inaction of the City Council, Helen decided to run for the next council! Les Braund, a very early member of the Friends’ Board of Directors and its President for many years, was a political activist back then and volunteered to run her campaign for her. They lost the race. Later Helen moved out of San Diego to relocate for her husband’s job. She called me to introduce herself decades later and to wish us well. I have several lovely photographs of her taken by other activists (see below) I’ll mention next.
With the new sewer line a done deal and still a scar on the land to this day, the fight over Peñasquitos Canyon shifted to a new, more important challenge. Ironically, decades later it would shift back to a new sewer line planned for the Preserve. The immediate challenge to arise in the 70s was that the City began to back off from its commitment to the goal of saving the 3,730 acres. On the one hand the developer was resisting the loss of this much of its land and on the other hand the City was saying it didn’t have the monies to buy this much land. Never mind that they blew a two-million-dollar bond opportunity for open space acquisition. The City started floating the idea of reducing the size of the open space acreage to about half the original size. The fight was on!
A relevant note here. The County of San Diego bought 193 acres of the Canyon in the 1970s, including the historic ranch house, then mistakenly called the Johnson-Taylor Ranch House at the time. Later, they would buy an additional 213 acres, all from Peñasquitos Inc. County Supervisor Roger Hedgecock was a highly visible facilitator of these purchases.
Enter Noah and Nancy Yates, new Mira Mesa residents (we hope to identify other citizen activists that joined them). They were instrumental in forming the Citizens’ Ad Hoc Committee for Penasquitos Park, a committee of the Northern Area Park and Recreation Committee. The Ad Hoc committee was chaired by Nancy Yates. Some two dozen other organizations signed on to their first petition to the City City Council submitted Dec. 15, 1977. I don’t yet know their earlier history. They mounted a multi-year, exhaustive campaign on the City Council to find a way to save 3,730 acres. Meanwhile Penasquitos, Inc. brought out a “Conveyance Agreement” to set aside only 1,162 acres including the County-owned acreages. In May of 1978 the Yates, with strong support from Supervisor Hedgecock and City Councilman Bill Mitchell organized the First Annual Penasquitos Canyon Park Day, which a reported 2,000 people attended (The Sentinel May 17, 1978). These Park Days extended more than a decade into the future.
Peñasquitos Canyon Park Day Proclamation, May 13, 1978
Ad hoc committee members of Penasquitos Canyon Park accept a proclamation from San Diego County Supervisor Roger Hedgecock on behalf of the Board, proclaiming May 13 1978 as Penasquitos Canyon Park Day. Members (left to right) are Bill Hanks and Noah and Nancy Yates. The proclamation states that the portion of the Canyon owned by the citizens of San Diego, under caretakership of the County, shall be opened to the public for an afternoon of enjoyment of this unique natural resource. The ad hoc committee is dedicated to implementation of the Park and has provided San Diego county with a model for positive and effective citizen participation with government. (San Diego County photo).
The Yates, among others, pushed for the formation of more committees for the Preserve. One became the Citizens Advisory Committee (the CAC) which still exists today and a Joint Task Force that evolved into one member of the Board of Supervisors whose district the Preserve fell into and two City Council members whose districts included half of the Preserve each. The latter no longer meets. Sometime in the transition period from the ‘70s the Yates, bringing up a family, moved on to other community commitments, including the Boy Scouts, the Town Council, and the Community Planning Group. I never met the late Noah Yates but, along with Les Braund, got to meet Nancy Yates. Her family contacted the Friends to say she had documents about these early years and wanted to give them to us. We met with her, discussed our histories a bit, and received a big bin of official documents, flyers, and endless news clippings of this era of the struggle to save the canyon. Wonderful stuff!
Meanwhile, during this period Irving Kahn died and his Teamster Union Pension Loans evaporated in the developing scandal involving the Union and the Mafia, another story. The Penasquitos was sold to Genstar Development on Nov. 1, 1978. Genstar deeded over 1806 acres on Feb. 18, 1980. Some of the remaining lands that came to make up our 4,000+ acres today came from other developer exactions and purchases by the City, County, USFWS, State Dept of Fish & Game, and Caltrans and one land swap to be discussed at a later date.
Despite some two dozen owners the rancho of over 8000 acres stayed intact over 150 years. Back in the 1880s one of the then owners, Jacob Taylor, tried to subdivide the ranch into 10-acre parcels and sell them to the public. Taylor was a well-known developer who built Del Mar’s first Hotel and laid out the grid of streets that make up coastal Del Mar today. He took out a full-page ad in the then San Diego Union full of embellishments about the quality of the land and the lots.
Helen Scatlin
Shown in this photograph of a photograph is Helen Scantlin, a member of Citizens Coordinate for Century 3 (C3), shown, camera in hand, with a far background of sewer pipe. She led a demonstration of two dozen or so people in 1971 to protest the building of an 8-mile-long sewer line in the then pristine, undeveloped Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve.
PQ Owners
This photo is of a plaque made by the last private owner of the Peñasquitos. It is a Title list of all of the many owners of the ranch up until its last owner, Genstar Development.
