Driving past the McClellan-Palomar Airport (Palomar) slopes at El Camino Real and Palomar Airport Road yesterday brought a nice surprise. Regraded, replanted slopes replacing the old dry brush fire hazard Palomar vegetation. Not a breathtaking change because County relies on native chaparral sipping little water. But Kudos to county for trying. Today’s Board of Supervisors has at least listened to community gripes about the 30-year Palomar slope eyesore.
Cross your fingers the new plants will prosper.
Unfortunately, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) sprouted only in the early 1970s. Starting in about 1964 and continuing to about 1976, county dumped about 1,000,000 cubic yards of garbage in the Palomar east side canyons without environmental analysis.
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County has repeatedly said it can’t landscape Palomar slopes over the landfills because watering the slopes can increase landfill waste migration below and slopes require periodic regrading. Hence, the “fingers crossed” comment above.
Better late than never. But never late would have been better.
