Our View: Voters get freebie on Highlands

What can we say about Yuba Highlands that hasn't been said before?

How about, "Better luck next time"?

In what some might see as vindication for opponents of the housing project, developer Gary Gallelli Sr. is calling for a "no" vote on Measure N. That referendum on Yuba County's Feb. 5 ballot would have upheld or overturned the project's approval by county planners and supervisors. Gallelli pointed to the soft housing market as one reason for his about-face, but it's clear that politics and two pending lawsuits played a large part in his decision.

That's not to say there was anything wrong with the original project, which this newspaper endorsed last year. Private property rights rank high among the tenets of libertarian thought, and those rights extend not just to homeowners but also to those who build the homes. There's no shortage of people who think the property should be put to one use or another, but thankfully private property rights don't come and go based on public opinion. Land-use decisions properly rest with landowners, who have a built-in incentive to put their property to good use.

When it comes to the Yuba Highlands property, we can't imagine a better use than the type of housing Gallelli has proposed. The arguments he's made in support of the project are compelling and incontrovertible. Yuba Highlands sits well above the flood plain, an ongoing concern for flatlanders who face daunting questions about flood protection and the high cost of fixing the levees that protect them. It also makes use of land that was part of the Army's former Camp Beale, land that was laid bare by military training with artillery, tanks and bombers. If you can't build on vacant land littered with cow poop and unexploded ordnance, it speaks volumes about how difficult it is to build anywhere in California.

Much of that difficulty stems from rabid environmentalism that views any development as suspect. It doesn't help when the state attorney general starts spouting off about greenhouse gases, nor when labor groups file suit on environmental grounds when what they really care about is their jobs. The California Environmental Quality Act, in all its glory, has become the big hammer for special-interest groups to push their own agendas. If Gallelli didn't know that before, he certainly does now.

So perhaps it's not surprising that Gallelli intends to scale down his project, from the 5,100 homes first proposed to between 4,000 and 4,400. He's also steering clear of the Spenceville Wildlife Area, a valuable natural resource but hardly an example of pristine wilderness. That action alone should give him a pass from the environmental community, but don't hold your breath. Some folks don't like developers, period, and those same folks live in homes that were built by — gasp — developers. Go figure.

According to Gallelli, retooling the project makes sense because of the soft economy, and he's hopeful the community will respond well to the changes. The move also buys time to rebut the biggest lie advanced by project opponents: that Yuba Highlands would encroach on Beale Air Force Base and threaten its viability. We won't go into that argument here (we're saving it for Yuba Highlands II) other than to say that new housing and infrastructure will benefit Beale workers and make the base more attractive for future missions.

For now, it's something of a no-brainer how to vote on the Feb. 5 ballot. People who hate Yuba Highlands should vote "no," as should people who support the project and the developer's wish to do some fine-tuning. If that seems a little weird, and more than a little pointless, consider that politics is a messy sport. As Winston Churchill put it, "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried." Amen to that.