By Ken Williams | Editor

Uptown Planners continue to edit Community Plan update draft

Uptown Planners, facing a tight November deadline to complete public comments on the update draft of the Uptown Community Plan that will guide development over the next 25 years, have tackled two more key elements of the document.

The group, which advises city planners from the grassroots level, edited the “Economic Prosperity” and “Historic Preservation” elements at a public meeting Aug. 19 in the Guild Room at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Bankers Hill. More than a dozen residents also attended the session, which lasted more than two hours, and many of them offered suggestions on improving the document.

The “Historic Preservation” debate generated the most comments, with historic preservation allies butting heads with the business community and a local architect who argues that Hillcrest, in particular, has no need for a historic district.

Representatives from Mission Hills Heritage and Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) joined Ann Garwood and Nancy Moors with the Hillcrest History Guild in urging planners to preserve historical structures in the sprawling Uptown district that includes Bankers Hill, Hillcrest, Mission Hills and the eastern portion of University Heights.

Resident Carol Emerick advocated that Cleveland Heights — a subdivision bounded by Albatross Street and First Avenue and extending from Walnut Street to Florence Canyon — should be designated historic since it dates to the 1890s and was home to some of the city’s pioneers.

The University Heights Historical Society also submitted a letter in support of efforts to preserve historical places.

Ben Nicholls, executive director of the Hillcrest Business Association representing 1,200 local businesses, said the HBA is opposed to designating the commercial corridor of Hillcrest as a historic district. Instead, Nicholls urged the planners to put in the update document that the commercial corridor be encouraged to join the Main Street national program.

The National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is a popular program that works to create preservation-based commercial district revitalization in cities and town across the U.S.

Ian Epley, architect with i.e., Design, read a long statement he had written in advance. “Should we let a small group of people whose passion is the past effect an entire community’s future? A good community plan embraces not only what was, but what will be. So, it is equally important that the voices of those with a passion for the future also be considered,” he said.

“A historic survey requested through the city of San Diego and carried out by Ione Stigler determined that the only historic resource in Hillcrest was the sign at Jimmy Wong’s. The Hillcrest Community Development Corporation agrees,” said Epley, who represented that group.

“The built environment is completely eccentric in nature and future development can be themed with the use of the national Main Street program, a program that is supported by both the HBA and the Hillcrest CDC. A historic district in Hillcrest is not needed.”

The Uptown Planners voted to approve the statements and recommendations of SOHO, University Heights Historical Society and Mission Hills Heritage, and advised the city planners to include them in the revised document.

Editing of the “Economic Prosperity” element proved to be less controversial.

Goals were set:

1. Increase employment within the community by increasing small business opportunities.
2. Create a diverse mix of businesses that provide a variety of goods and services.
3. Increase the aggregate buying power in the community.
4. Promote successful entertainment districts that appeal to local and regional residents as well as tourists.
5. Encourage vibrant neighborhood commercial districts where residents purchase a significant share of their basic needs and services from within the community.
6. Create parking and multimodal transit options for the automobile-oriented commercial districts.
7. Expand medical related development and employment.

The draft document expects Uptown will add 2,200 jobs by 2030, mostly in health services. Uptown has several major hospitals and numerous medical offices, which amount to 40 percent of all office space in Uptown. Uptown has about 3.6 million square feet of office space and 2 million square feet of retail space — and most of the space consists of older structures.

A disturbing trend is forecast: the loss of jobs in the leisure and hospitality fields, affecting workers at hotels, bars, restaurants and entertainment businesses. Resident Sharon Gale questioned the SANDAG statistics and was told by planners that such data are not always accurate when peering that far into the future.

The document notes that Uptown’s entertainment and dining districts — largely located along University Avenue and Fifth Avenue — could benefit if transportation links are enhanced, especially from the touristy Gaslamp District via a proposed sky tram up Sixth Avenue to Balboa Park and a streetcar line. The draft encourages the marketing of Uptown to visitors who come to Balboa Park or stay Downtown.

Another transit bonus could come from Mid-City Trolley Extension that SANDAG is planning to traverse from Downtown along Park Boulevard to El Cajon Boulevard and eastward to San Diego State University. That light rail line — expected to be completed by 2035 — could bring visitors to the east side of Hillcrest.

Eastern Hillcrest appears most poised for future growth, and the document encourages higher-density projects to be built along major transportation routes, such as along Park Boulevard between Robinson Avenue and El Cajon Boulevard. The documents recommends preserving the Egyptian Quarter, a historical neighborhood in that vicinity.

A Bankers Hill resident lamented about “dead blocks” along Fifth Avenue where the first floors of high-rises have no commercial or retail businesses. Planners were asked to support commercial and retail businesses on the first floors of high-rises as an incentive for people to walk, shop and dine in their neighborhoods.

Nicholls said the HBA is excited that the draft recognizes the importance of the entertainment districts, but asked that the city define what that means in the document. He liked the incentives for developers to create public spaces.

Some on the advisory group urged planners to find solutions for sprucing up alleys so that small businesses such as cobblers, tailors and key makers could find affordable spaces that were also safe for shoppers. That triggered a discussion about affordable rents for small business owners, and whether shared spaces should be encouraged in larger buildings where the rents are too high for one business.

Nicholls pointed out that many of the older buildings in Hillcrest were built in a time and an era when large spaces were affordable. He pointed to the former City Deli restaurant as a good example of a business that could not thrive in such a large space.

Michael Brennan, secretary of Uptown Planners, supported the concepts of live/work spaces and subdividing larger buildings to be used by several businesses. He joined Nicholls in embracing the Main Street approach to revitalizing Hillcrest’s commercial corridor.

The draft document also calls for boutique hotels and a new parking garage near central Hillcrest, perhaps casting an eye at the Pernicano’s property that is up for sale. The potential buyer seems intent on putting underground parking on the site, as well as a boutique hotel, restaurants and retail shops. That site — between Sixth and Fifth avenues just south of University Avenue — is considered the heart of Hillcrest.

—Ken Williams is editor of Uptown News and Mission Valley News and can be reached at [email protected] or at 619-961-1952.