A voter-approved ballot measure lifting the 30-foot building height limit in the Midway District was improperly placed on the November 2020 ballot and cannot be implemented, San Diego Superior Court Judge Katherine Bacal said in her final ruling last week.
Bacal said the city of San Diego should not have asked voters to remove the 30-foot coastal height limit in the Midway area on the 2020 ballot finalizing a tentative ruling that throws a major city redevelopment effort into limbo.
The vote on Measure E lifted the height limit in the entire Midway area, but the city considered it essential to make way for the redevelopment of the nearly 50 city-owned acres it’s trying to revitalize around the Sports Arena.
The court ruled the city needed to conduct an environmental review on the effects of removing the height limit before it put the question on the ballot, therefore siding with petitioner Save Our Access, determining that the city should have studied the environmental impacts of taller buildings before putting Measure E in front of voters. The judge granted the nonprofit’s request for a Writ of Mandate, an act that invalidates the measure and bars the city from striking the Midway District from the coastal zone.
Bacal rejected the city’s argument that the environmental review for a new community plan for the area, which dictated how many homes could be built in the area with or without a height limit, should suffice. Views qualify as an environmental effect under state law, and the city’s review of its community plan did not analyze the effect lifting the height limit would have on views, she said, so the city needed to conduct another environmental review.
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I have mixed feelings about this. I’m glad that Campbell’s end run around EIR laws and using the pandemic as an excuse to try and hide her nefarious actions without public input have come to a spectacular end. On the other hand, that whole area is an absolutely blighted wasteland and it sure would be nice to have it revitalized.
The midway community plan update provides for rezoning, mixed use commercial/residential, parks, and new road and transit connections. And that was approved before any height limit changes hit the ballot box.
It’s a false narrative to say you can’t have one without the other. Don’t believe everything you see come out of the city propaganda department. In fact that distinct separation between the two items is precisely why the judge shot this down.
It’s also false to claim the only way to replace the sports arena is to exempt the entire neighborhood from the height limit. A ballot measure could be passed to just exempt it for the sports arena parcel. Sea world has exemptions like this.
No media outlet has linked to the final ruling, can someone share here?
How is this suppose to work for people coming from other parts of S.D. to the Sports Arena and other events venues at night if the are only a minimal parking spaces available? Are people really going to ride their bikes for miles to get to night time events? Are the bus routes going to run until midnight? Are whole families going to take public transpiration? It seems like this will be mostly venues for only the people who live there, or the wealthy with limos! Is this what we should do with are public lands? Maybe folks can boat over when the reports about the water table rising in that area comes true in a few decades!
I agree with your comments, and got a chuckle imagining the possibilities of “public transpiration”. Is that like when a bunch of people crowd into the arena and sweat a lot?
I find it amusing that most of the neighbors I have with “save our access” signs up hide behind the guise of environmentalism while simultaneously largely having the largest homes with the greenest lawns, the biggest SUVs, and even one with a major sprinkler leak that I see each morning that they couldn’t be bothered to fix it probably spiking their water bill and causing a mini river down the curb each time I walk the dog in the AM. Even without the height limit issue they’d be against it. Just a shame as this ruling is likely to keep Midway blighted for at least the next decade or more.
Okay, but look closely at the Measure “E” vote. You’ll find a lot of voters did a thumbs down to the measure.
Save Our Access has been pretty clear to me that their priority is to fight against over-densification of the coastal area. They’ve presented an alternative, and it inevitably involves environmental benefits. I don’t think they’ve misrepresented or really greenwashed their position.
Good ol Mayor Gloria. News item:
“Mayor Todd Gloria has vowed to appeal a Superior Court ruling invalidating the ballot measure than ended height restrictions in the dilapidated Midway area.
“Gloria told KPBS on Tuesday that the city would “fight like hell” to defend voters’ wishes.”
I wish mayor Gloria would fight like hell to end homelessness, police abuse, and get us some affordable housing without destroying the city.
Prop E forgot to tell the voters MCRD was included. The “Pro E” Midway/Sports Arena Area blighted using a description from two decades ago.There are only tree strip clubs left, and I bet their days are numbered. How many people go to shop at Home Depot, Dixieline, Loma Square, Staples, Target, The Gap, See’s Candy, Big Five, Michel’s, Orchard Senior Appartments, restaurants, small business and services, etc. It seems like any other shopping area in San Diego, maybe better. Don’t we all use some of these businesses? This area was planned this way so these businesses didn’t have to be in O.B. and P.L. This isn’t blight, this is smart!
Excellent point, Kathy. I was in the room when the city’s planning department representative showed the Midway-Pacific Highway Community Group that MCRD was now a part of their territory. This was during the meetings the group was working on its updated community plan. It was apparent they were all surprised by this. But, it became clear what the game was, when the effort began to remove the height limit. Imagine, folks, tall high rises populating all the MCRD land when the Marines finally give it up.
“Prop E” forgot to tell the voters MCRD was included. The “Prop E” Midway/Sports Arena area “blighted using a description from two decades ago.” There are only three strip clubs left, and I bet their days are numbered. How many people go to shop at Home Depot, Dixieline Lumber, Loma Square, Staples, Target, The Gap, See’s Candy, Big Five, Michel’s, Orchard Senior Apartments, restaurants, small business and services, etc. It seems like any other shopping area in San Diego, maybe better. Don’t we all use some of these businesses? This area was planned this way, so these businesses didn’t have to be in O.B. and P.L.! This isn’t blight, this is smart!