There goes the neighborhood,
I just returned from a meeting of the City Planning Committee in downtown San Diego, where a project at 4824-4836 W. Point Loma Blvd. was approved for seven new living units. Seven new houses and one duplex.
I was the only one to oppose this construction that will completely destroy, forever, the historic quality of the entrance to Ocean Beach.
The properties are located just two parcels in from the corner at Sunset Cliffs Boulevard.
Since the early 1900s this palm tree-lined boulevard has been known for its row of Craftsman homes. They were all built in the early 1900s, all single-story homes, set back by front lawns.
That will be no more. This new construction will tear down two existing homes, one 93 years old, the other 95 years old, to build seven two-bedroom, two-bath dwellings. They will all be three-stories tall. Yes, three stories tall, and it looks like they will be situated inches from the sidewalk. In my opinion, this is a monstrosity.
This mammoth construction will be the greeting that people get when they enter our little beach community. The builder denied that this could be considered the “gateway,” or “entrance” to Ocean Beach, even though it is just feet from the new pedestrian entrance to the park that is to be developed on the corner. I don’t know what else you could call it, if not the very gateway to Ocean Beach.
Heartbreaking as it is, our hometown beach community will soon, very soon, be no more. The developers win again.
I found it interesting that not one committee member had any concerns about the dramatic affect this will have on the traffic, or the parking, or the historic nature of this corridor. Their only concern was a retaining wall, a silly retaining wall, at the back of the development.
I have to wonder how in the world this ever got approved by the Ocean Beach Planning Board. Go figure.