The San Diego City Council adopted updates to the City’s development regulations on Feb. 14, including an update to the definition that determines the geographical boundaries for certain home construction incentive programs. The move will increase the amount of developable land near major public transit stops.
Every year City staff updates the Land Development Code to keep up with the ever-changing needs of the City’s development regulations. These draft updates include clarifications, corrections, regulatory reforms, and changes to the regulations to bring the City into compliance with state law and advance the City’s housing and climate goals.
Among this year’s 78 adopted items is a new definition for Sustainable Development Area, which is replacing the City’s definition of Transit Priority Area. Properties within these areas are eligible for the City’s local incentive programs like the Complete Communities Housing Solutions program and the Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) density bonus program to help build more homes near transit.
Transit Priority Areas allowed for incentive programs to be used within a half-mile radius of an existing or planned major public transit stop. The distance was measured as the crow flies, or in a straight line, so barriers to accessing transit, like canyons and freeways, which may have realistically made access to transit miles away, were not considered.
The new Sustainable Development Area definition removes the “as the crow flies” distance and instead allows local incentive programs to be used if the development is accessible to a major public transit stop up to a 1-mile walk. The change increases the potential developable areas by more than 5,200 acres while also removing other areas that would otherwise be less accessible to public transit.
“The new definition of Sustainable Development Area aligns development with the City’s Climate Action Plan goals to expand housing near transit so more people can bike, walk, roll or take transit to their work, home, shopping, and other places of enjoyment within their community,” said Planning Director Heidi Vonblum. “At the same time, it furthers fair and affordable housing opportunities in our city that desperately needs it.”
The City will still use the State of California’s definition of Transit Priority Areas for other state-mandated incentive programs.
Developers will continue to be able to use the local incentive programs under the City’s definition of a Transit Priority Area for a full year after the latest Land Development Code Update takes effect.
