Backcountry residents raise concerns over industrial energy projects during energetic townhall meeting

by Karen Pearlman | April 29, 2026 6:56 pm

Concerned East County backcountry residents filled the Boulevard Backcountry Resource Center earlier this month to discuss concerns, including a massive battery storage area planned for the region. Photo by Karen Pearlman

By Karen Pearlman and Miriam Raftery

April 28, 2026 (Boulevard) — Hundreds of rural residents turned out at a town hall in Boulevard’s new Backcountry Resource Center on April 15 to voice concerns over the proposed Starlight Solar project, which would include a massive battery storage project in a high-fire area.

Andrew Hayes, a representative from Supervisor Anderson’s office, heard from constituents at the town hall, that also included members of the Boulevard and Jacumba community planning groups and other community leaders.

Andrew Hayes, right, speaks to crowd in Boulevard. Photo by Miriam Raftery

Boulevard is a small, unincorporated town in southeastern San Diego County located near Jacumba, Potrero and Campo with some big issues – the latest being a massive solar project with one of the state of California’s largest battery energy storage sites.

County projections for 2026 show Boulevard, a popular transitional zone between the Laguna Mountains and the desert, climbing toward more than 1,000 residents. But it is another growth metric that is of more imminent, immediate concern to the backcountry – the proliferation of energy projects in their rural burgs.

Boulevard, Jacumba and other towns in the backcountry have increasingly become what residents say is a “de facto dumping grounds for regional energy infrastructure.”

Jeff Osborne of Jacumba Hot Springs (left) has been a voice for residents and businesses in the backcountry. Photo by Miriam Raftery

Residents and regional groups in the east desert communities dread the impact of the growing number of industrial solar, battery, and wind turbine projects in the Mountain Empire region, saying it disrupts their way of life, harms wildlife and nature, creates visual blight, and perhaps most importantly, increases fire danger.

The community has created a video, “This is Boulevard: A Community Connected To Its Land” with help from the Manzanita Band of the Kumeyaay nation. The film, a storytelling project, shares images and interviews about the region defined by its rugged beauty, ancient history, and a community standing together to protect its future.

Despite community concerns, last November the Boulevard Community Planning Group approved the coming Starlight Solar Project, albeit with conditions.

The group asked for a $7 million community benefit fund and increased setbacks from homes and roads. Their vote is advisory. Starlight’s 588-acre solar project, expected to be voted on May 8 by the San Diego County Planning Commission.

Thomas Wall, a resident of Boulevard who has been working with several community groups said, “People are sad over what this project would do the land, the wildlife and the vistas. Our biggest focus has been on improving the fire safety hazards especially around the BESS battery systems. There is only one way in one way out on Jewel Valley Road where this project is proposed, and people are really concerned about their own safety.”

Jeff Osborne of the Jacumba Hot Springs Resort told the audience that he moved to Jacumba five years ago and “never see myself leaving.”

He spoke about how the recent plan for regenerative energy in Jacumba helped bring the community together and showed a collective desire to revitalize the region.

“We want to see schools fixed up, with so many kids and families moving to the backcountry,” Osborne said. He likened backcountry residents constant battle against one big energy project after another to a “David and Goliath” battle, drawing applause.

Boulevard resident Thomas Wall, left, speaks to the audience at an April 15 Town Hall about their concerns. Photo by Karen Pearlman

Several people spoke out and explained their frustrations at feeling overlooked and being unsupported by County officials and County departments, and noted that being about 60 miles away from downtown San Diego, where much of the business of the county gets considered, has long been a challenge.

Issues brought up at the Town Hall ran the gamut, from neglected trash dumped in a lot next to the local post office and a lack of public bathroom facilities for people coming off Interstate 8, Old Highway 80 or state Route 94 for a rest stop, to wanting a local center where children could safely gather and dedicated animal services to care for dogs that get dumped by visitors to the region.

Hayes provided a sounding board for the community, offering tips on how to get some of those concerns better heard. He took on questions from the crowd and offered insight and suggestions, including forming nonprofit groups to oversee needs. Wall said at least one nonprofit, Jacumba Boulevard Revitalization Alliance – is working on building a stronger relationship with Hayes.

But chief among the collective backcountry concerns was Starlight Solar, a project residents contend will bring blight and loss of the quiet, open spaces, natural landscaping and starry evening skies that people cherish.

The project would create glare off a proverbial sea of solar panels and threatens Boulevard’s efforts to pursue International Dark Sky Community designation. It has raised concerns abo

ut Native American cultural resources protection.

But fire hazards are the most pressing worry.

The eastern backcountry is recognized as one of the most wildfire-prone areas in the U.S. The region faces an ongoing threat of large-scale wildfires, particularly in the wildland-urban Interface where development meets undeveloped land.

Updated CAL Fire maps released in March 2025 show a 26 percent increase in areas classified as “Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones” in the County, growing from nearly 647,000 acres to more than 871,000 acres.

If it passes through County vetting, Starlight Solar will join the JVR Energy Park, a 90 Megawatt solar and 70 megawatt battery storage project in Jacumba Hot Springs. The Starlight Project includes photovoltaic solar arrays capable of generating up to 100 megawatts of alternating current electricity and a 217.4 MW battery energy storage system, to be constructed in two phases.

The JVR project, scheduled to be operational by fall 2026, the project aims to power over 57,000 homes. with a 435-acre biological open space easement and a new fire station included in the design.

The Starlight site, south of Old Highway 80 and north of the international border, is less than a mile from Clover Flat Elementary School, near key evacuation routes, and encompasses land that is home to sensitive species. The land is owned by the Haagen Company[1].

Some green energy projects already built in East County and adjacent Imperial County have posed threats to residents, including wind turbines bursting into flames and sparking fires, multi-ton blades hurled off, chemical leaks, stray voltage, noise and visual blight.

Former Boulevard Community Planning Group Chair Donna Tisdale described the region as an “energy sacrifice zone” after the county approved numerous massive wind and solar projects across the rural southeastern part of the county. Tisdale moved out of the state, after unsuccessfully fighting to oppose projects approved by the County, including a large wind project next to her ranch.

One resident at the Town Hall meeting lamented the lack of solar panels over parking structures in the county, offering that San Diego Gas & Electric makes more money building these large industrial energy sites and then transporting the power long distances, including to Los Angeles.

Another resident wanted to know how much of the power generated in the backcountry was going to locals, and if it would lower their electric rates, which are some of the highest per kilowatt hour in the County.

Previously, Jim Whalen[2], the land use consultant hired to lobby the County for the project, has said that Starlight Solar’s proposal does not include a community benefit fund for Boulevard. Whalen said that Haagen would refurbish Boulevard’s Backcountry Resource Center.

When asked if the County and the solar developers were to offer a “community benefit” package that actually addressed the trash, a park and restrooms, if that would change how people feel about the project, Wall said that “it would at least feel better, rather than these projects only taking from the community.”

Osbourne said the piecemealing of the region is deeply troubling as well as against the law and that he felt “we’re turning into a sacrifice zone.”

“None of us are planners, or engineers, or biologists…the county just facilitates this. “Experts who know the process are gaming it.”

He said that Whalen has 18 projects and said “he literally is here to destroy this community with these big projects… The county needs to do more to represent this community against these experts… There is no way to level the playing field.”

Hayes urged residents to participate and submit comments as Starlight Solar goes through the process. He indicated that he would speak with the County’s Planning and Development Services Department to state, “This is what the community wants. What are you doing about it?”

Harris and others are working together collectively to send a message to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors that Boulevard, Campo, Potrero and other locales are not part of a “dead desert, but in fact a precious ecosystem filled with valuable families, unique artisans, rare plants and animals,” she said.

Harris and several other locals have been working hard to create the Backcountry Resource Center on Ribbonwood Road next to the main fire station, and are working toward a park in the back of the center.

Local businessowner Dennis Berglund has applied for a grant to bring the center’s kitchen up to compliance so locals can serve food as well as build a new outdoor patio area.

Berglund said that the Backcountry center was a vision of the late Mark Ostrander and his wife, Lorrie, and that he is confident that the community will step up and see it all through.

“Mark and Lorrie bought this building from the county,” Berglund said. “The community owns this building. This (where the meeting was held) was the firetruck bay. He made it into a community meeting room — 2,000 people can meet here! There’s a community room out back and another room will be used by artists.”

An art show was held before the meeting, displaying creations by local artists and crafts people in the new Boulevard Community Resource Center.

Artwork by Linda Churchhill, photo by Miriam Raftery (right) on display in new Boulevard Community Resource Center.

Hayes offered to return hold a county-led grant-writing workshop in Boulevard to help the community members fulfill their visions for the new resource center, such as creating a backcountry visitors’ center to highlight the attractions in this beautiful but often overlooked area in San Diego’s East County.

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Endnotes:

Haagen Company: https://haagenco.com/
Jim Whalen: https://ceqanet.lci.ca.gov/2023030603

Source URL: https://eastcountymagazine.org/backcountry-residents-raise-concerns-over-industrial-energy-projects-during-energetic-townhall-meeting/