BONSALL –
The San Diego Association of Governments has bought 282 acres in Bonsall to offset biological damage from a project to widen state Route 76.
SANDAG paid $11.1 million for the acreage north of Route 76 between Olive Hill Road and Via Montellano. The previous owners had planned an 85-unit residential and commercial development, called The Groves, on the land.
Mark Phelan, the California Transportation Department's project manager for the widening, said the acquisition is the first for the project and “others are in the works.”
Caltrans plans to break ground next year on widening 5.8 miles of the two-lane highway between Melrose Drive in eastern Oceanside and South Mission Road in Fallbrook, and it hopes to finish by 2011.
It is reviewing more than 200 comments it received on the project's environmental impact report, Phelan said.
Caltrans plans to use 14 of the 282 acres for the road widening and will set the remainder aside as habitat for the endangered California gnat-catcher and other sensitive animal and plant species.
Michael Burge: (760) 476-8230; michael.burge@uniontrib.com
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