"Digger"

Forty years ago the San Diego County Board approved a Specific Plan for the first phase of the Rams Hill Country Club project by a vote of 3 to 2 after the County Planning Commission rejected it and over the objections of other County regulatory bodies, a number of nongovernmental organizations, and even a few enlightened Borregans. The approval came with the requirement that, among other things, the developer build, equip, and staff a fire station to serve the area. The January 31, 1980 issue the Borrego Sun reported that the Borrego Springs Fire Chief had reached an agreement with Di Giorgio Development Corporation to construct a fire station at Rams Hill to serve the development and enhance fire services in the valley.

Now Rams Hill is asking that its Specific Plan be updated and extended for thirty years "including reaffirmation of the plan for a second golf course." To gain approval for changes to the plan Rams Hill must pledge "extraordinary benefits to the community." One of the extraordinary benefits proffered by Rams Hill's CEO is again "funding a new fire station."

But if Rams Hill has not made good on this pledge in forty years, and they haven't, what are the odds that they will do so in future? And what does their failure to meet commitments in the past say about the value of the other four "extraordinary benefits" they now offer up as inducements?