SAN DIEGO— A coalition of environmental groups has sued the city of Santee for again approving a risky project on the outskirts of San Diego County without adequately factoring in the high wildfire risks.

The latest iteration of the Fanita Ranch development proposes to build 3,000 homes in an area designated by updated state maps to be a very high fire hazard severity zone, the highest risk designation in California. The undeveloped site is also home to numerous sensitive species, including Quino checkerspot butterflies, California gnatcatchers and Crotch’s bumblebees.

“The wildfire devastation in Los Angeles should be a wake-up call but instead Santee officials chose to ignore the warning,” said John Buse, senior counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity. “If the city keeps pushing this flawed project through, we’ll keep challenging it. The last thing we need is more developments that don’t have proper evacuation and wildfire safety plans.”

This week’s lawsuit was filed in San Diego Superior Court by the Center for Biological Diversity, Preserve Wild Santee, Endangered Habitats League and California Chaparral Institute. The groups allege the city violated the California Environmental Quality Act by approving the project without adequately analyzing wildfire risks and violated the city’s own general plan by dramatically increasing the number of units to be built on the site without the approval of the city’s voters.

“This high fire risk project remains devastating to San Diego wildlife, and the city is once again attempting to circumvent a vote of the people on the project,” said Dan Silver, executive director of the Endangered Habitats League.

Courts have repeatedly rejected this project, including the most recent decision in 2024, when a judge ruled that the city’s approval was inconsistent with the general plan and violated state environmental protection laws. But the Santee City Council in June approved the project again without meaningful changes. The latest Fanita Ranch plans include 445 market rate units set aside for “active adults,” but the lawsuit asserts that the project with this change still violates state law.

Santee voters have also repeatedly rejected Fanita Ranch. The most recent opposition effort came in 2020 when voters adopted Measure N, which requires voters to have a say in projects like Fanita Ranch. But instead of putting the project up for a vote, the city approved the project by revising its environmental review.

“It is Santee’s residents who should determine their own destiny with a ballot,” said Van Collinsworth, of Preserve Wild Santee.