Fanita Parkway: It's Going to Be a Street Someday

It’s going to be a street someday...

Of course, I’m talking about what some people refer to as North .

It’s also been referred to as a farm for growing Volkswagen-sized potholes, a goat path and a huge mistake.

Be that as it may, it’s there, and it’s finally going to start .

You might remember back in January, when the Santee approved to of turning what is actually a temporary road dating back to the 80s into a functional city street.

It turns out the roadway, if you can call it that, actually belongs to , which is the latest owner of the property that was supposed to become the development (and which may still become the Fanita Ranch development someday).

So a couple of questions immediately popped up- like, who’s going to pay for this, and is it legal for the City to allocate funds to fix up what is NOT a city-owned right of way?

Heres’ how that’s going to be fixed, we think.

The and HomeFed agreed between them to pick up two-thirds of the estimated $450,000 needed to make it a "real" street.

That left the deal short precisely $151,331.83.

That is, it was short that amount until about 4:20 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, when the voted to chip in that amount.

has a vested interest here, because there are two gates along the road, accessing both the campground and the water treatment facilities at the north end of the Lakes.

So, we’re in business... for now.

The Padre Dam directors made it clear that this is a one-time-only neighborly contribution, and that Padre Dam will NOT be involved in ongoing contributions for repair and maintenance.

Board President spoke for all when he said, “I want that in writing in the agreement with HomeFed and the City.”

The thought here is that, once the road is up to snuff, the City will step in and take the street into the city’s system, thereby assuming long-term responsibility for it.

That was just fine with , the City’s assistant city manager, who was there at the meeting to assure the Padre Dam board of that plan.

Eventually, the hope is that is slated to become a major access route for the long-discussed development, and that the developer would eventually fund and build a four lane street there.

If that all sounds familiar, forgive me, but this has been on the stove for almost 30 years, after all.

Will Fanita Ranch, or whatever it ends up being called, ever actually happen?

Who knows?

We’ve talked before about Santee’s need for some kind of move-up housing, and we’ll talk about it again and again, won’t we, ?

For now, though, it appears we’re on the way to getting something we can actually call a street, north of Mast Boulevard, along the Lakes area.

I’m trusting the folks in charge will make sure the Volkswagens and Smart Cars are all out of the potholes before they fill them in.