Babita Souza, a Point Loma resident who lives near the 40-foot tall project at 3144 Emerson Street, is planning a protest rally at the site this Saturday, June 25th – at 10 a.m.
Souza was widely quoted in a recent San Diego Reader article by Julie Stalmer about the history of hers and her husband’s concerns as they watched the project rise from dirt level to what it is today.
They are being joined by members of the Peninsula Community Planning Board who have been publicly against the project. Those upset with the project believe the City has wrongly approved the project, which violates the 30-foot height limit – which applies to the neighborhood where the project is being constructed.
Jon Linney, the newly elected head of the Peninsula Community Planning Board, made a statement that if this project is allowed to continue, then the 30-foot height limit means nothing!
The OB Rag ran an article just yesterday by Geoff Page stating that everyone must stand up and oppose the project and bring it to a halt. Page said:
This is it folks, this is where we have to draw the battle line for the 30-foot height limit.
Meanwhile, as a reader pointed out in a comment to the Rag article:
“The duplex developers are basically thumbing their nose at the residents in the area. Look at their FB page which has a link to the article in the San Diego Reader. They say “Want to build higher ? Ask us how!”
And linked to their facebook: https://www.facebook.com/watchmebuildinsd/
Even former District 2 City Councilman, Bryon Wear, has come out against it. In a comment to the OB Rag article, Wear stated:
This project does NOT conform to the voters intent of the Prop D 30 foot limit. Building a planter box and then measuring the 30 foot height of a building is crazy.
I am glad to see the neighborhood, the Peninsula Community Planning Group and Councilmember Lorie Zapf taking swift action now to prevent future abuses.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
See you tomorrow!!!
Plus there is a Town Hall Meeting on Monday June 26th at 6:30PM at the USPSES Hall. Portuguese Hall.
Thank you for the info.
The newly elected mayor better be there! Otherwise, recall him!
Only in the San Diego government does 30′ actually equal 40′. The voters that approved the 30′ height limit for this area had a clear understanding of what that meant for themselves and their neighbors. If you’ve lived here very long, you begin to notice the degradation of the quality of life piece by piece. All with behind the scenes and able assistance from the staff at the Developmental Services Department helping greedy builders circumvent the voter’s intent. Don’t tell me those DSD staff aren’t given a wink and a nod by the City Council and Mayor because the number of recent cases alone in Pont Loma represent a shameful City-enabled legacy of destruction of neighborhoods (e.g. Froude Street. Shell House, 30 year old unfinished “castle”, etc, etc).
Roseville is already constrained in terms of available parking, so come out and protest the Mayor’s and City Council’s complacency in not only willfully failing to enforce the local building code, but actively helping builders skirt the law. Kevin Faulconer and Lori Zapf can cry me a river of crocodile tears because their relationshios with interests in the building industry speaks for itself.
Since this issue surfaced last week, Council member Lorie Zapf has been leading effort to resolve the problem by working with the Peninsula Community Planning Board.
The Roseville zoning has been the same since the 1950’s. You can see the transformation as you drive the neighborhood. The development projects built (1980-2013) were ALL 30 feet or under until the Avenida de Portugal and Locust project in 2014. From what we know now, the Development Services Department standard for measuring the height of “finished grade” as defined by the UBC and wording of Prop D was, in my estimation, flawed. In my opinion, it was incumbent for the Development Services Dept to propose a land use solution that should have been brought forward to the City Council to correct any technical or legal issue. I have let my feelings be known to everyone in and out of City Hall, having served on the Peninsula Planning Board (1981-86) and City Council (1995-2002).
Let’s give our Councilwoman Lorie Zapf and the community planning board the opportunity to fix the mess that they did not cause.
There is talk of updating the Plan for Point Loma; so far just rhetoric. Notice that there is absolutely no concept of traffic mitigation; the urban planners seem concerned solely with shoehorning in more bars and adding to the problem. This seems to fall right in with Froude Street fiasco. Why can’t the victims of the two join forces and work together for the common good?
Here’s what Kevin Faulconer had to say on this topic before becoming Mayor…….
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/height-limit/faulconer-coastal-height-limit-isnt-going-anywhere-ever/
Perception now is that mayoral campaign contributions have lead to a change to his formerly unequivocal position and is evidenced by the continuing issuance of >30’+ building permits within the coastal zone. Leadership on this growing problem is coming from the affected property owners; not Lori Zapf or Kevin Faulconer who both remain missing in action.
If Filner was ousted from office for harassment, surely the current Mayor can be ousted for not upholding the intent of Prop D and his prior commitment to uphold Prop D
“Faulconer: I’ve been a very strong supporter of the 30-foot height limit. I think it’s one of the most important tools that we have to protect the coastline.” quote from the link above
If Faulconer cannot commit to his promise a recall may be an option for the people of this area to pursue.