Dear Mayor Gloria,
In keeping with the promise of a fair and transparent government, College Area residents deserve to know if grant funding is driving the Planning Department’s decisions to unnecessarily upzone its single-family neighborhoods in order to fulfill grant obligations.
Despite the appearance of a public process, important questions remain unanswered regarding the College Area Community Plan Update (CACPU). To date, Neighbors For A Better San Diego and residents of the College Area have not received requested public documents or answers to these questions:
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What do the SANDAG and LEAP grants require in order for the Planning Department to receive funding?
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What conditions or outcomes did the City agree to in return for grant funding?
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Is the SANDAG grant driving the timeline of the CACPU, rather than encouraging the time necessary to get the Plan Update right?
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Why won’t the Planning Department use the best available and most current growth projections (SANDAG Series 14) to define housing goals for the College Area, as they are doing with other community plan updates?
Neighbors For A Better San Diego first reported in April 2022 that the Planning Department is using outdated and inflated housing and population projections for the College Area (SANDAG Series 13), even though you, Mayor Gloria, as the Vice Chair of SANDAG, made the December 2021 motion to approve the SANDAG Series 14 data which has since been used in other plans and projects.
If the Planning Department is choosing not to use the most current population and housing unit estimates (SANDAG Series 14), then residents have a right to know whether the Planning Department is holding to these inflated projections to reach the housing goals needed to qualify for the LEAP grant, or for some other reason that has yet to be presented to the public.
I am requesting the City of San Diego immediately answer our questions and release all information related to any federal, state, or local grants in connection with the College Area Community Plan Update by posting the requested grant documents on the City’s College Area Community Plan Update website (https://www.plancollegearea.org).
The Planning Department has scheduled a College Area Community Plan Update Committee meeting for July 27th. Therefore, it is important that the community receives answers to these questions and that the grant information be posted by the close of business on Monday, July 25th.
On April 28, 2022, I requested this information from the Planning Department, Council President Elo-Rivera’s office and your office through Public Records Requests 22-2234 and 22-2236. I also specifically asked Nathen Causman for all grant applications associated with the CACPU and he advised me on May 26, 2022 that I would receive them as part of my above noted public records requests. I have yet to receive copies of any grants for the CACPU.
It is impossible for the community to meaningfully engage in the community plan update process until we have the answers to these questions.
Thank you for your attention to this important issue of public trust and concern.
Respectfully,
Danna Givot
College Area resident
Neighbors For A Better San Diego
Policy and Research Chair
