Councilmembers Campbell and Cate Push for Measure on November Ballot to Remove 30 Foot Height Limit in Midway Area

Our dire prediction nearly 2 years ago that the City of San Diego was poised to dismantle the 30 foot height limit in the Midway District in order to allow massive redevelopment is coming true.

Just yesterday, Feb. 27, Council members Jen Campbell and Chris Cate in a memo have asked a San Diego City Council committee to place a measure on the November ballot to rescind the 30-foot coastal height limit “for the entirety of the Midway -Pacific Highway Community Plan area.”

The thirty-foot height limit was a citizen initiative that was approved overwhelmingly by voters in 1972 for the area essentially west of I-5, which included areas north of downtown, in the Midway, Pacific Highway and Sports Arena communities. (See this history of the 30-foot height limit.)

Campbell and Cate argue that any Sports Arena area development plans “are constrained by the voter-approved 30-foot height limit, and that “the public should have the opportunity to vote to remove the height limit for the entirety of the Midway -Pacific Highway Community Plan area.”

They’re asking the Rules Committee to consider placing such a City-sponsored measure on the November 2020 ballot.

Here’s the full text of the Memo, dated Feb. 27, 2020, from Campbell and Cate to Council President Georgette Gomez:

SUBJECT: Amendment to San Diego Municipal Code 132.0505 Coastal Height Limit

Housing continues to be a priority in the City of San Diego. Since population growth has outpaced housing development by more than double, the San Diego Housing Commission projects the City will need between 150,000-220,000 new units by 2028 to meet local demand. The City must explore innovative solutions to address this crisis.

For over 50 years, the Sports Arena has been part of San Diego’s cultural fabric. The recently adopted Midway – Pacific Highway Community Plan establishes a vision of the Sports Arena Community Village as a vibrant, pedestrian and transit-oriented entertainment destination that has the potential to be a landmark for surrounding communities. Currently, the City is requesting proposals for the development, lease, and use of the City-owned property within the Sports Arena, and other associated parcels, consisting of 48 acres. Nevertheless, any development plans for this City-owned parcel are constrained by the voter-approved 30-foot height limit.

To take full advantage of the vision of the current community plan and with the potential for a mix of entertainment, office, retail, residential, recreational, public, and park use on this site, the public should have the opportunity to vote to remove the height limit for the entirety of the Midway -Pacific Highway Community Plan area. We respectfully request that this item be heard at the Rules Committee in conjunction with the process for the Committee’s consideration of placing City-sponsored measures on the November 2020 ballot.

Here’s what we stated in May 2018:

It appears the City of San Diego is getting set to dismantle the 30 foot height limit in order to allow massive redevelopment of the Midway District.

With the Midway area community plan update – okayed by the Midway planning committee on March 21, 2018 – about to be approved by the City Council in June, all the chips are falling into place to set the stage for some kind of political action that would get rid of the sacrosanct height limit for the some 1324 acres being considered for the redevelopment. The redevelopment would bring in dense housing – some of it affordable -, “modern commercial districts”, and 7-fold population increase to the area.

But the 30 foot height limit stands in the way of the dreams of developers, city planners, and their sycophants within the mainly commercial zones of the district.

Here’s a San Diego Union-Tribune report, referencing statements by the chair of the Midway planning committee, Kathy Kenton:

Another hurdle facing the transformation of the area is the city’s 30-foot coastal height limit, which covers all of the Midway District. The arena, which is 75 feet tall, and the former Cabrillo Hospital exceed the limit because they were built before it was put in place in the early 1970s.

Any new construction exceeding the limit couldn’t move forward without a ballot measure seeking majority approval by residents across the city. Some have suggested the city place a measure on the ballot exempting all city-owned properties from the height limit.

Kenton, contending the Midway District probably shouldn’t have been included in the area governed by the height limit in the first place, said the ballot measure might also include exempting all property there – not just city-owned lots.

When the Midway community plan update was approved by the San Diego Planning Commission in late April, 2018 “… commissioners lamented the city’s 30-foot coastal development height limit, which limits housing density potential. Bypassing the limit requires a successful ballot measure.” Fox 5

… Once approved, the updated community plan will be the blueprint for a massive overhaul and redevelopment of a huge section of the Midway District -1370-some acres, envisioned by the San Diego City Planning Department over the next 20 years.

The plan includes:

• • a transformation of the area around the city’s sports arena, where the city owns 100 acres.
  • changing commercial and industrial zoning to residential zones;
  • raising the district population from 4,600 to 27,000;
  • adding dense housing with an increase of housing units from just under 2,000 to more than 11,000, with some reserved for low-income families.
  • breaking up the industrial mega-blocks into smaller residential “villages”;
  • creating “modern commercial projects” that require heights over 30 feet;
  • making a series of small parks, totaling less than 30 acres – which is less than 2.3% of the acreage being considered for redevelopment.
  • installing a “bay to bay” walkway for pedestrians and bicyclists;

One of the decisive decisions the city must make is what to do with the sports arena – currently branded as the Valley View Casino Center – and the surrounding city-owned 100 acres.

By the year 2020 many of the commercial leases expire and the city is currently not talking about what they’ll do. (We discussed this in our February 13 report.) There’s a whole bunch of businesses that don’t want to leave and want the city to extend their leases, businesses like Dixieland Lumber, Pier 1 Imports, the Salvation Army, the sports arena of course and the sports teams, Kolby’s Swap Meet, numerous affordable housing apartment complexes. (See chart)

One thought among city planners is – if the than city-owned acres around the arena are redeveloped quickly then that development would serve as a catalyst to other projects.

Here’s the memo:

Here’s the Voice of San Diego‘s hit on the recent developments:

Come November, voters could be asked to get rid of a sacrosanct development restriction for a portion of the coastal area. …

That area has been eyed for increased development for years. In 2018, the city adopted a new outline for growth in the area that made way for 11,000 new homes, twice as many as are there today. The city is also asking developers for proposals to revamp the city-owned property underneath and surrounding the Pechanga Arena, after it strategically timed many of the private leases there to expire simultaneously. …

When the coastal height limit turned 40, we examined the legacy of one of the city’s most impactful land use regulations. Doing so elicited an … uh, impassioned … response, such that then-Councilman Kevin Faulconer felt it necessary to release a statement assuring everyone that there were no plans, of any kind, to change the height limit and that he would never support anything of the sort. “My sense is it’s working, and it’s working well,” he said then. “It doesn’t need any tweaks.”