Options for Neighbors of the Controversial Froude Project

Neighbors of the controversial project coming in at 2257 Froude Street and the Peninsula Community Planning Board recently lost an appeal of the project at the San Diego Planning Commission.

Here, then, are some thoughts on the various options that those neighbors have.

1.  Appeal the decision of the Planning Commission; §112.0508 of the San Diego Municipal Code allows for appeals of Process Four decisions of the Planning Commission to the City Council.  This is the most likely option to be pursed by the Peninsula planners. Yet we don’t know when or even if an appeal has been made.
2. Change the zoning in that area of the Peninsula Plan to match or reflect the floor-area-ratio of the adjoining neighborhoods of Ocean Beach, which are 0.70. This could occur through a concerted effort by the neighbors working through the Peninsula Community Plan update process to make those changes.
3.  Join the Ocean Beach Community Planning Area;  the blocks and streets of this neighborhood of the Peninsula area in very close proximity to Ocean Beach could be joined to the OB Community Planning Area, but it would take a petition drive to have all – or many – of the property owners agree to the switch. But for decades many in OB have always considered this area to be the north-east section of Ocean Beach, near Collier Park – which is definitely OB.  If one looks at the precinct maps of these neighborhoods, you’d find many titled “Ocean Beach”.
4.  Go guerilla. To be clear, we are not advocating or endorsing this option, but truthfully, OB has a history of guerilla warfare against developments. Here’s what we wrote about OB’s ruffians and rowdies:

Torching of Apartments: During the late Sixties, the Seventies and even into the early 1980s, there were a number of apartments under construction that were torched. These were all done anonymously – no individual or group ever claimed responsibility for any of them, and no one was ever arrested and convicted of any of the fires.

Most if not all of the apartments were successfully rebuilt, and there was even one building on Niagara where the developer simply painted over the blackened timbers – and it still stands today.  These torchings were probably connected to the surfer and surf gang subculture and to the rise in a raw, very grassroots eco-militancy.

Whatever option or options neighbors take – including none at all – this project coming in on the 2200 block of Froude will present challenges that herald a coming gentrification trend for this neighborhood, and whatever the neighbors do, the rest of Ocean Beach and nearby neighborhoods of Point Loma will be watching with keen interest.