Familiar themes were revisited by Midway-Pacific Highway Community Plan Group as the City advisory group Jan. 15 discussed Sports Arena redevelopment and proposed community planning group reform.
Concerning the former Sports Arena, now Pechanga Arena San Diego, group chair Cathy Kenton said, “I want to see redevelopment sooner rather than later.”
Midway planner Dike Anyiwo noted the City is presently focused on redevelopment by SDSU of the former Qualcomm Stadium site in Mission Valley. “Once they (City) wrap that up, the focus will shift over to the Sports Arena district,” he said.
“If I’m the City’s real estate advisor, I’d say we need to strike a balance between having land available to do something meaningful in the largest scale possible if the City’s mission is to do something very grand,” said planner Kurt Sullivan. “On the other end, we don’t want to create vacancies in the meantime.”
“I see an opportunity for us to take a more serious stance favoring redevelopment of a large swath of the Sports Arena,” said Anyiwo.
Midway planners vetted City Council’s San Diego Land Use and Housing Committee’s recent unanimous vote supporting 31 proposed reforms to community planning groups.
The next phases in that process are for the City Attorney to weigh-in on the 31 listed planning group changes, and for the council to docket the item for a vote on them.
Kenton took particular exception to one proposed plan group change.
“They’re asking us to reveal personal stuff like what religion we are, which I consider to be highly questionable and wholly inappropriate,” she said. “I’m shocked the City Attorney’s office hasn’t objected.”
Added Kenton, “They want to control planning groups. One of the things they talked about is that renters (supposedly) do not have a voice on community planning groups. We have four renters on our board of 11 people. The City has reached out to community plan groups to ask them for input. I’m going to develop a statement and bring it back to the board next month for us to modify, reject or do something with it.” In other action • Midway planners unanimously endorsed a maximum three-year lease extension for Dixieline Lumber and Home Centers, which has been at 3250 Sports Arena Blvd. since 1967. “Keeping quality tenants and operations like Dixieline just makes total sense,” said Midway planner Kurt Sullivan adding, “When Black Angus went dark, it sat for a long time. “We support them 100%,” said Kenton. Dixieline’s current lease expires May 31. The company is seeking a longer extension, until Jan. 1, 2029, to coincide with the lease expiration of businesses in nearby Sports Arena Village.