Due to a tentative ruling handed out Friday, Jan. 25, the court case brought by Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) against the City could end the $45 million, Council-approved Plaza de Panama Project. In the tentative ruling, Judge Timothy Taylor said the city violated their own municipal code regarding property deemed historic.![\"SOHO](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/images.jpg\" "\\"images\\"")
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Initially, the City said it would suffer \u201ceconomic hardship\u201d if the Plaza de Panama project were not approved, and that there was currently \u201cno reasonable beneficial use\u201d of the Balboa Park plaza, which serves as parking as well as a throughway for automobiles.<\/p>\n
In this instance, Judge Taylor disagreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe code does not <\/strong>say there \u2018will in the future be no reasonable beneficial use of a property.\u2019 It says \u2018there is no reasonable beneficial use of a property\u2019 \u2013 denoting today, right now, based on present facts, not future facts,\u201d Taylor wrote.<\/p>\n The case involves three counts, two of which Taylor tentatively ruled in favor of the City. The third, regarding \u201cbeneficial use of property,\u201d could be decided in SOHO\u2019s favor once the final ruling is announced, potentially as soon as Friday, Feb. 1. In similar cases, the judge releases a tentative ruling to help attorney\u2019s focus their arguments come final deliberation.<\/p>\n Following the Jan. 25 announcement, both SOHO and Council President Todd Gloria released statements.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are thrilled with the court\u2019s strong tentative ruling regarding the City\u2019s abuse of discretion in violating its municipal code, and we look forward to the final ruling on Feb. 1,\u201d SOHO Executive Director Bruce Coons said in a statement.<\/p>\n Gloria, however, was not as pleased.<\/p>\n \u201cThe judge\u2019s ruling is a blow to the people’s dream of polishing our City\u2019s crown jewel in time for the 2015 centennial celebration,\u201d he said in a separate statement. \u201cThis is a sad day for those of us who understand the need to reclaim precious parkland from cars and give it back to the people for their enjoyment.\u201d<\/p>\n Judge Taylor came to a similar conclusion in his tentative ruling regarding beneficial use, saying, \u201cThe fact that the Plaza de Panama is now used (and, if SOHO has its way, will continue to be used) as a parking lot perforce establishes that is has a reasonable beneficial use.\u201d<\/p>\n While the centerpiece to the conclusion is false \u2013 SOHO has repeatedly stated they in no way support the continuation of parking in the center of Balboa Park \u2013 the fact of present parking on the current Plaza de Panama seems to have helped their case.<\/p>\n SOHO representatives said they did not agree with the parking comments nor the perpetuation of the idea that they desire parking to remain in Balboa Park as it is today.<\/p>\n In his same initial statement, Coons said the tentative ruling will allow the nonprofit to work with others \u201cto achieve the long-held goal of eliminating parking in Balboa Park\u2019s Plaza de Panama in a non-destructive and un-intrusive way.\u201d<\/p>\n Additionally, SOHO representatives said the proposed project would actually increase cars in Balboa Park.<\/p>\n \u201cThis project in no way whatsoever reclaims the park from cars,\u201d they said. \u201cIt, in proven fact, does exactly the opposite. One small area is freed up while the rest of the park is awashed in a sea of automobile traffic, new buildings and acres of concrete, and turns once tranquil park areas, such as the Alcazar Gardens, into an automobile, bus and semi-truck delivery zone.\u201d<\/p>\n Construction on the project was to formally begin October 2012, and was halted to hear and decide the SOHO suit. Supporters have said they wanted construction to be complete by the Balboa Park centennial celebration in 2015, however in Taylor\u2019s tentative ruling, he brings the feasibility of this into question.<\/p>\n \u201cNot lost on the court is the very real possibility that this decision will cause [the Plaza de Panama committee] to abandon its efforts to raise money for a long-desired project in Balboa Park, and at the minimum render very difficult a centennial celebration along the lines hoped for by so many,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n In response, SOHO called any plans to \u201cdestroy our crown jewel\u201d for the centennial \u201cludicrous.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe work of the community and the people that are represented by more than 30 organizations, including elected planning groups, neighborhood, environmental and civic groups, along with historic organizations and tens of thousands of citizens, is the people\u2019s dream that should be the concern of our elected officials, not the dream of a select few,\u201d SOHO representatives said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe thank the tens of thousands of San Diegans who agreed that the historic integrity and character of Balboa Park\u2019s landmarked structures, gardens and open space must be preserved,\u201d Coons said. \u201cThis important victory is yours.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Current Plaza de Panama parking confounds nonprofit; final ruling expected soon By Anthony King | SDUN Editor Updated: Judge Timothy Taylor issued his final ruling on Monday, Feb. 4 after hearing oral arguments on Friday, Feb. 1, the day this article was published. Taylor stood by his tentative ruling from Jan. 25 and declared the […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":225008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"SOHO suit against City tentatively wins in court","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}