Experts look at both sides of property program

"This is a way of controlling the amount of growth and the amount of density that occurs in the mountains," said David Wert, county spokesman. "Fire safety is definitely the driver here."

The consolidation of properties also means fewer homes will be built, resulting in more open space, he said.

Peter Jorris, executive director of the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust and an Arrowbear resident, called the program "a double-edged sword."

"It is clearly intended to create an incentive to make real estate available to the public for development, to create parcels that are more viable for development," Jorris said. "The positive is the substandard lots and the quantity of them is just a complete mess."

He added that the land trust is interested in acquiring merged lots through the program to transfer the properties to the National Forest Service for conservation.

Also citing the high number of substandard lots in the mountains, Bob Angilella, a real estate agent with Remax Big Bear, called the Mountain Preservation Program "a good plan."

The substandard lots have caused some areas to become a "mishmash" of small manufactured homes and cabins, he said. Facilitating the construction of custom-built homes would improve the desirability of those locations, particularly in such areas as Baldwin Lake, he said.

"Consistency in the area would be phenomenal," he said.

The lack of infrastructure - sewage systems, paved roads, adequate water supplies - has also hindered development, he said.

The program is intended "to minimize the strain on the local natural resources," a county report states. "The situation should provide a win-win opportunity because it can compensate owners, who otherwise may not be able to sell their small vacant lots, and at the same time preserve and restore the natural resources in the mountains."

Once developed, the properties would be required to have "defensible space," reducing the threat of fire, the report states.

Kim Floyd, conservation committee chairman for San Gorgonio Chapter of the Sierra Club, worries that even though the program is billed as a preservation program, it will make it easier to develop properties that otherwise might not be built on due to steep terrain or lack of access to water and sewage disposal.

"Anything that encourages additional housing in the forested areas should be discouraged," Floyd said. "The county has a long history of approving development that does not adequately address concerns about evacuation, fire, air quality and, now, carbon emissions."