In a recent OB Rag poll, nearly three out of 4 respondents indicated their support for the thirty foot height limit – with a good portion wanting to see the limit extend throughout the City of San Diego.
58% supported it and agreed that it was “passed in the public interest by the public”; another 15% want to see it “expanded throughout much of the rest of” San Diego, and obviously support it, for a supportive total of nearly 73%.
5% felt it had outlived its usefulness and needs to be removed from the books. Another 7.4% would like to see some flexibility in how it was applied and want some exemptions. That’s less than 12 and half per cent that want to see it changed or loosened or abolished.
A last 15% admitted they didn’t know enough about the issue.
The poll ran for a week, from January 16th to and into January 23rd. A total of 81 readers responded. Again, as all of our polls, we cannot determine whether respondents live in Ocean Beach or not, or even the city of San Deego. Here is the poll (the first number is the total vote for that option):
OB RAG POLL: What is your opinion of the 30 foot height limit, passed by the citizens of the City in 1972?
Option 1: It was passed in the public interest by the public to protect the coast from greedy developers.
47 — 58%
It has outlived its usefulness, and needs to be deleted from our laws.
4 — 4.9%
It’s time to be more flexible and allow some exemptions to the rule.
6 — 7.4%
It needs to be expanded throughout much of the rest of the city of San Diego.
12 — 14.8%
Don’t know enough to comment.
12 –14.8%
Total Votes: 81
Started: January 16, 2013 — to January 23, 2013
The original vote adopting the 30′ height limit (Prop. D 1972) was 58.58% in favor. How interesting that the OB Rag poll also is 58% favoring retaining the height limit.
I’m guessing that most of those voting in the OB Rag poll are coastal residents. Prop. D, however, was voted on by voters from throughout San Diego, so it’s clear that it’s not simply coastal residents and property owners who value the height limits.
So very true, Judy. In fact I’m working on a post right now about the 30 foot height limit – and the tunnels that have been built under it. Stay tuned. Same Bat Station.
Hey Frank, I noticed you’re using WordPress for the website. This poll plugin (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/cardoza-wordpress-poll/) keeps track of the voters IP Address. Then you can trace that IP to get a general idea of where that person voted from. While not 100% accurate, it’s better than nothing.
The 30 ft. is the best thing to happen for San Diego’s Coast. “The old sang if it ain’t broke don’t break it!” The original creators put years of thought into the boundaries and height. They were right in keeping it simple. The developers that want to take chunks of the areas out and extend heights would have eaten away at it and made it so confusing we would be facing the same problems the rest of San Diego is with varied height limits being broken one-by-one. The VOTE group were right to make it a people’s initiative.
My recollection is that the building at the top of the alley by the lot was the impetus for the 30 ft. height limit. It raised the hackles of all of us that, just after we stopped the jetty, some ass bite would try something like that. Wasn’t it torched a couple of times? Someone out there might have a different rememberance.