A Very Special Place

There will never be another community like Warner Springs Estates, also known by Stone Ridge. Located in the Sunshine Summit hamlet in rural San Diego County, Stone Ridge is a peaceful mountain village affordable to people of modest means.  As of December 2024, the average price of a residential property in unincorporated San Diego County was $935,062, more than three times the Stone Ridge average.  

Warner Springs Estates, our legal entity, was created by a patchwork of different projects spanning two decades, starting as a Christian retreat, then a residential rental mobile home park that evolved into occupant parcel ownership of manufactured homes.  Early visionary planners took advantage of the central canyon below the clubhouse and created a beautiful lake that spilled into two lower ponds, setting Stone Ridge apart from similar developments. None of this would be allowed today; environmental and land use restrictions effectively prohibit new small-lot subdivisions.

In 1980 I was hired by the county of San Diego as a land use planner for the vast unincorporated San Diego backcountry.  The new cities of Santee, Poway, Encinitas, Solana Beach, and Lemon Grove had recently incorporated and took control of new development within their boundaries.  Other rural towns elected to stay with the county, notably Ramona, Alpine, and Lakeside.

Consequently, the mission of backcountry planners shifted from the former towns under county jurisdiction to protecting the wildlands from urban sprawl by way of General Plan and zoning restrictions.  This philosophy has persisted to the present day; to encourage new development where urban infrastructure already exists and discourage wildland development by mandating large minimum lot sizes by way of General Plan designations. 

I first visited what was to become Stone Ridge 40 years ago.  I was a county planner sent to Sunshine Summit for a site inspection.  Very little has changed to this day.  Aside from the build-out of Stone Ridge and the planting of numerous vineyards with their boutique wineries along Highway 79, it was pretty much the same.  The Sunshine Summit Market was there.  Explosive growth and rapid changes in neighborhood character were a part of growing up in San Diego, much to my personal dislike.  The beauty of our little mountain community will remain unchallenged by development well into the future, and I like that.

–By Steve Phillips, Chair of the Natural Resources Committee at Warner Springs Estates