The University Community Planning Group (UCPG) met last Tuesday for its monthly assemblage and discussed myriad issues, from their bylaws to the increasingly popular question of mini-dorms. The group also responded to Westfield shopping center’s draft environmental impact report for the proposed construction project at University Towne Centre.
The proposed $900 million upgrade to UTC that would add commercial retail space and more than 225 condominiums was panned by the planning group for being incomplete and for including too many alternative projects.
“We may do this and we may do that, it says,” UCPG chair Linda Colley said. “It’s too wishy-washy. It would be wonderful to revitalize UTC, but what does that mean?”
Colley said the project includes so many alternatives that it’s hard to get a handle on how the project might impact the area. Also of concern to the board is traffic congestion, although Westfield’s plan does include a large transit hub.
“We always come back to this one, too, concerning traffic: the lack of fire and police in the community,” Colley said.
Westfield, an Australian company that owns several shopping centers in San Diego County, wants to expand. The proposal would double UTC’s retail space and add approximately 250 condominiums. One proposal includes an upscale movie theater where patrons can drink wine while watching movies from couches.
No representatives from Westfield spoke at the meeting.
The planning group voted 12-0 with one recusal to reject the draft environmental impact report that Westfield submitted because it lacked specifics on the massive construction project.
In other business, the planning group voted to send a new proposed ordinance to city hall concerning mini-dorms. The ordinance would change the definition of what constitutes a rooming house or what has come to be called a mini-dorm.
Deputy City Attorney Marianne Green amended an existing city ordinance and explained that San Diego would be the first city to adopt the definition and would become the largest city to tackle the issue of a master lease.
A rooming house is defined as a house with three bedrooms and three leases. Anything under three leases is not a rooming house. If the ordinance passes, any existing rooming homes will be grandfathered in. This will regulate the mini-dorms by providing a ratio of parking spaces per unit and other regulatory changes.
The board unanimously voted to pass the ordinance Green presented, 13-0, in favor of supporting the amendments to the existing ordinance to present to the city.
The group also read over its bylaws, noting the differences between those of the University Community Planning Group and the city. The board formed a subcommittee to focus on the issue of the bylaws, formed of members they appointed from the board.
UCPG meets the second Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. in Forum Hall above Wells Fargo Bank at UTC, 4545 La Jolla Village Drive. For information, call (858) 546-2875.