Judge: California city must overturn 3,000-home project

SANTEE, Calif. (AP) — A judge has ordered the Southern California city of Santee to throw out the approval of a long-planned housing project. The Superior Court judge ruled that developers hadn’t adequately considered how new homes could affect potential wildfire evacuations. The Santee City Council approved the Fanita Ranch project in 2020, giving the green light to 3,000 homes in hills northeast of San Diego. The judge expressed concern that the plan didn’t fully address whether thousands of new residents would have time to flee during an emergency. The project is not dead, and developers say they will revise the environmental impact report to address the concerns.