A resident-organized presentation Thursday, March 15, outlining the proposed amendments to the affordable housing density bonus ordinance sent a key message to coastal community members: Get involved before it’s too late.
About 80 residents from Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, Point Loma, La Jolla and Clairemont gathered at the Christ Lutheran Church in Pacific Beach to discuss impacts of the proposed measure, which would allow developers to increase building heights and floor area ratios in exchange for providing a percentage of affordable housing.
“It’s very difficult for people to get involved in planning groups and volunteer all their time to then find out that some law came in and says that it’s all out of the community’s hands,” District 6 Councilwoman Donna Frye said in reference to changes that would allow developers to receive ministerial, or over-the-counter, approval on project incentives. “It’s wrong, and I don’t like it, and I will fight with you to stop it.”
Frye, who asked for a continuance on the issue at a Feb. 27 council meeting, said she did not believe the amendments would be presented March 27 to City Council as an ordinance. Frye added that she believes council can and should work together to develop language that protects the public.
City officials created the amendments in response to a series of changes to the state’s affordable housing law. The amendments will update a section in the city’s municipal code that references the affordable housing density bonus.
But many residents fear that the proposed changes go beyond what state law requires and jeopardize the coastal zone’s 30-foot height limit, which was put in place in 1972 by Proposition D. The voter-approved initiative capped building heights in areas that extend eastward from the shoreline as far inland as Interstate 5 in some areas.
Existing code indicates that developers can build more units per building if they are providing a percentage of affordable housing. The proposed amendments would increase the number of additional units from 25 percent to 35 percent and would add a provision that provides incentives such as smaller side-yard set-backs and less parking, according to the city’s Development Services Department.
Incentives under the amendments will also be provided for moderate-income housing, as the existing code allows bonuses for low-income housing only, city officials said.
At the meeting, representatives from the San Diego Coastal Alliance, the Historic Preservation Group and Friends of San Diego as well as State Assemblywoman Lori Saldaãa voiced opposition to the proposed amendments.
“I wish developers did want to build true affordable housing,” Tom Mullaney, a member of Friends of San Diego, said. “It’s under the guise of affordable housing that they want to expand the moderate housing into the range of $60- to $70,000 homes. The developers in this city want to build market rate housing because that’s how they make money.”
But according to Jim Waring, the city’s deputy chief of economic development, Mayor Jerry Sanders’ priority is to provide affordable housing in San Diego.
“There is absolutely no hidden agenda to this,” Waring said at Thursday’s meeting. “We have no idea, if this ordinance passes, whether it will produce 20 units or 200 units of affordable housing. We want to make sure it’s as understandable as possible and that this ordinance will never be used to bust the 30-foot height limit.”
Waring also told residents that all projects proposed for the coastal zone must obtain Coastal Development Permits and go through the Coastal Commission, making them subject to community planning group review.
John McNab, a member of the San Diego Coastal Alliance, told residents to be wary of promises made by the City and said it was the communities’ duty to make sure the law at federal, state and city levels be as clear as possible.
“The City of San Diego has consistently said that Prop D is safe because the Coastal Commission protects it,” McNab said. “The Coastal Commission is a discretionary body that can do whatever it wants. If you think the Coastal Commission is going to protect you, think again.”
Point Loma resident Katheryn Rhodes, who gave a PowerPoint presentation on the issue, alleged that under the new amendments environmentally sensitive lands such as steep slopes, wetlands and canyons would be not be protected.
Projects would also be exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), meaning developers would not be required to mitigate for environmental impacts, according to Rhodes.
Rhodes asked Waring to reconsider the first option for the amendments, a plan that would implement the ministerial process and possibly endanger the height limit, she said. The second option, which she discussed in her presentation, would only enforce the state’s changes to the law, she said.
Waring, who told Rhodes and audience members that some statements in her presentation were incorrect, said that he was working closely with the City Attorney’s Office in order to narrow the options down to one. Despite unanswered questions from the audience, Waring left mid-meeting, announcing that he was late for the Eric Clapton concert.
City Council is scheduled to meet Tuesday, March 27, at the City Administration Building, 202 C Street, to vote on the amendments for the affordable housing density bonus.
For more information, visit www.sandiego.gov/citycouncil.