Residents living near a home at 1222 Chalcedony St. turned up with their children, pets and protest signs Thursday, April 26, to thank Councilman Kevin Faulconer and City Attorney Mike Aguirre for halting the conversion of the three-bedroom home into a nine-bedroom mini-dorm.
Neighbors began mobilizing against the conversion at the beginning of April after they became aware that the owners were planning on housing up to 18 college students on the quiet, residential block. Each room would have been rented at $700, bringing in up to $6,300 a month for the owners.
Aguirre announced at a downtown press conference on April 12 that the project has been halted and the owners, Ian Sells and Michael Haaland, agreed to return the house to a three- or four-bedroom home and sell the property.
Currently, the additional are still standing. According to next door neighbor Darren Lee, rather than tear down the new walls, plans include opening the new additions to create a large master bedroom and large a living room. Workers also began working on paving over a section of what remained of the backyard to create off-street parking spaces but instead may use the parking spaces as a foundation for a detached garage.
Although Sells and Haaland were described as the owners, Renee Earhart, Sells’ girlfriend, was listed as the titleholder on public documents. Her name has appeared on at least on other property considered a mini-dorm in the College Area near San Diego State University owned by Sells and Haaland, who are reportedly behind approximately 100 mini-dorm conversions mostly in the College Area.
The agreement included halting a second mini-dorm conversion at 1145 Opal St. Aguirre wouldn’t elaborate on what persuaded Sells and Haaland to stop construction on the two homes.
“This struck a nerve citywide,” Faulconer said.
Faulconer praised the city attorney for his quick response to the neighbors concern about the negative impact the mini-dorm would have created.
“This is an important first step, but now we have to some regulations so this doesn’t happen again,” Faulconer said. ” This needed to be stopped.”
The issue will be discussed in City Council Chambers, 202 C St., Thursday, May 10, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Both Faulconer and Aguirre encouraged all residents to attend.
“This meeting will not put you to sleep,” Aguirre said.
Aguirre said he wanted to see the code changed to prevent future mini-dorms but wants the city to do more by amending the city charter to create a neighborhood bill of rights similar to those found in cities such as Philadelphia, Portland, Ore., and Jacksonville, Fla.
Aguirre said a neighborhood bill of rights would empower the public to stop nuisance projects rather than rely on the city to react to complaints.
“We don’t want this to happen again to other neighborhoods one or two years from now when memories have faded,” Aguirre said.
“We’ve got some work to do, so we’re going to need everyone to turn out May 10,” he said.
After Aguirre and Faulconer finished addressing the crowd, Paul Martin who lives across the street from the 1222 Chalcedony St house, thanked and congratulated the neighbors for coming together to stop the project.
“I would like everyone to come over to my house and join me for a glass of champagne,” he said.
For information about the city council hearing on mini-dorms, call Faulconer’s office at (619) 236-6622.