College Area residents are advocating for their future in growing numbers.
They want city planners to reflect their ideas in the College Area Community Plan Update (CPU). Last updated 33 years ago, community members know the CPU will serve as the blueprint for approved land use and other development factors in the College Area through 2050.
According to Geoff Hueter, Chair of Neighbors For A Better San Diego (NFABSD), “College Area residents understand the City has a development framework they aim to align with housing, climate and other regional goals. Because they also know there are many ways those goals can be met, residents want a say in how much density will be accommodated in the College Area, what development will be zoned where, and how the City plans to actualize development where it makes the most sense.”
Residents like Sharlene Thompson are now taking part in the planning process. She wasn’t happy with the direction things were going.
“I was really disappointed that the City totally ignored the 7 Visions Plan, supported by the overall neighborhood,” Thompson remarked. Thompson is referring to the Plan proposal developed after some three years of work by the volunteer College Area CPU Committee, which was convened by the City to do so. In a survey to solicit community input, the City neglected to include the 7 Visions Plan (named for its seven development goals), asking people instead which of two other plan proposals they preferred. Community members rejected both, giving rise to two forums in June which were held to engage more residents and facilitate their feedback toward new Plan proposals.
With COVID numbers down and in-person meetings allowed once again, community members came out in force to have their say. The first, a meeting early last month at Faith Presbyterian Church on Montezuma Road, was co-hosted by NFABSD and the College Area Community Council (CACC). Both not-for-profit organizations teamed up to inform more than 100 residents about key land use issues, equipping them with insight and then maps and markers. In groups of 8-10 people seated around tables, residents answered questions about life in the College Area and worked together to draw out their Plan Update recommendations for the City. They indicated preferences for the type, height and placement of housing development, as well as their ideas for the placement of more parks and open spaces.
Results of the meeting were professionally tabulated and shared directly with those who attended, those on community email lists, and with city planning staff. According to Hueter, who was one of the meeting organizers, “focusing high density development along major corridors instead of scattering it into single-family neighborhoods remains a top priority for community members.”
Danna Givot and her College Area neighbors are in agreement. “We don’t want transitional zoning, like townhouses or apartments, between the major thoroughfares zoned for higher density development and our single-family homes.” She says, “We have been saying this for months and expect the City Planning Department to respect the input we’ve provided at all the meetings. We want higher density development to be built only along the major transit corridors and in the nodes!”
In late June, City of San Diego planners and other key staff hosted an Open House as a second opportunity to give input and a chance to meet personally with planning professionals.
Set up in the gymnasium of the College Avenue Baptist Church, residents could arrive anytime between 5 and 8 p.m. for a self-paced experience. Staff said 325 people pre-registered to attend the meeting. Participants read about various Plan Update elements on professionally-prepared poster boards and then used Post-it Notes to give feedback. Elements included: Mobility and Streetscape; Parks and Public Spaces; Conservation, Sustainability, Safety and Noise; and Urban Design, Land Use, and Economic Prosperity.
Staff had also planned several different exercises focused on the topic areas.
For Mobility, participants were asked to identify which potential future mobility options they would prefer for a segment of El Cajon Boulevard between College Avenue and Montezuma Road. For Parks, people were also asked to identify which types of parks make sense for the College Area. For Land Use, participants were asked to do a mapping exercise similar to the one done in early June, indicating where and in what scale they envisioned housing. Eighty-eight maps were completed.
In addition to reading the informational poster boards, completing planning exercises and giving input, many took advantage of the opportunity to meet one-on-one with staff.
Nathen Causman, the City planner assigned to the College Area CPU, had a line-up for his attention as he fielded questions and took time to listen to residents’ concerns and ideas. Martin Flores, the College Area Parks planner, encouraged community members to give feedback about where parks and open spaces might be added and to tell him what types of amenities they would like to see added to the existing park and joint use agreements.
Rich Ingardia rendezvoused with eight of his neighbors at the Open House. He has lived in his Piedmont Estates home in the College Area for 40 years. They’ve been working together to safeguard their neighborhood from proposed zoning changes which would allow multi-level apartments to be built next to their homes. He shares a compelling reason for why they’re getting involved, “Our tract of 62 homes was built in 1952. The City should recognize that it wasn’t just homes that were built here. We’ve been investing in pride of home-ownership and building a strong sense of community for 70 years. We are telling the Planning Department and Mayor Gloria that we want our history and the integrity of our single-family homes to stay intact.”
According to Tara Lewis, a senior public information officer for the City of San Diego, several next steps will take place in the coming months.
Staff will first meet on July 27 with the College Area CPU Committee to share revised land use scenarios based on the input received during the Open House and from other comments made by community members. In the fall, the scenarios will be shared during a workshop to gain input from the Planning Commission. Lewis said, “Planners anticipate releasing a first draft of the updated Community Plan as a ‘Community Discussion Draft’ later in the fall, which will be greatly informed by all the valuable feedback we have received.” Meetings with the CPU Committee will continue through the fall and will lead to the development of the Draft Community Plan. There will be an Environmental Impact Review (EIR), in early to mid-2023, and eventual adoption hearings by the City will be in the fall of 2023.
City planning staff say they will continue to welcome feedback throughout the CPU process at CPU Committee meetings, hearings, and by emailing: [email protected].
Next meeting: College Area Community Plan Update Committee. July 27 at 5:30 p.m.
City staff will discuss community input given during their Open House and present revised land use scenarios. For meeting location and additional information, visit: plancollegearea.org
For more College Area information, visit:
neighborsforabettersandiego.org
– Karen Austin is a College Area resident and new member of the College Area Community Council, not the Planning Board.
Photos by Karen Austin.
