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Neighbors Band Together to Fight Development on Carmel Mountain Ranch Country Club

Neighbors fear a new residential development would overpopulate the community

A group of neighbors is taking a proactive approach to make sure development doesn’t happen in their backyard.

The golf course at Carmel Mountain Ranch Country Club has officially closed and now there is talk about selling the land and winding a development in between the 640 homes that already surround it.

Hundreds of homeowners in the community met Wednesday night to unite against those plans.

“Development is something that we hope never happens here,” said Troy Daum. Daum has lived on the golf course for nearly 30 years and is spearheading the effort.

Neighbor Kathy Harrington is a teacher and said she couldn't imagine what would happen if more homes were added in the community.

"Where would these kids go to school?” she wondered.

Homeowners tell NBC 7  there are some great alternatives for this land, like open space or a winery. Some neighbors would even be willing to lease the land from the owner to keep it as is.

Right now, it’s zoned for agricultural use and the group wants it to stay that way. Outrageous water costs was one of the reasons the golf course closed.

Neighbors are forming a community council to hopefully stress their concerns to San Diego’s City Council.

"The zoning would have to change, so my message to somebody who’s a developer that’s buying the property is that we’re highly organized and we will fight that," Daum said.

Some say the community council has been inactive because of a lack of interest from the neighborhood. They're hoping to have a special election in the next couple of months to get it back up and running.

NBC 7 reached out to the general manager of the Carmel Mountain Ranch Country Club to get an idea of any possible deals in the works to purchase the land but did not hear back. 

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