From Neighbors For A Better San Diego
We need your help. But first, let us bring you up to date on what’s happening this week…
Planning Commission to hear Land Development Code Update this Thursday, October 27, 2022, at 9:00 AM.
As we explained in our last email, the Planning Department is finally proposing to use walking distance to define proximity to transit, as Neighbors For A Better San Diego has been advocating for over a year.
Unfortunately, this change is negated by the proposed overall expansion of walking distance from one-half mile to a full mile. This expansion means that MORE San Diego single-family neighborhoods will be targeted for overdevelopment.
Worse, the Planning Department is proposing to base its Sustainable Development Area (SDA) maps on transit lines that may not be built until 2035, if at all. It’s one thing to walk a mile to get to a bus stop, it’s another thing to wait decades for the bus to arrive.
This is our chance to correct the profound flaws in the proposed Sustainable Development Areas before they go into effect.
The Planning Commission will hear the Planning Department’s Land Development Code Update this Thursday. Neighbors For A Better San Diego will present our proposed changes to the code update as well.
Please support our changes by submitting an online comment on the Planning Commission’s Public Comment webform (link below) before 7:00 AM this Thursday, October 27, 2022.
Click the button here and follow these easy, step-by-step instructions to submit your online comment:
Contact Info: Fill in the top with your information
Meeting Date: Enter October 27, 2022
Comment Type: Select “Agenda Comment”
Agenda Item Number: Enter “ITEM 2”
Position: Select “In Opposition to Item”
Comment Box: Enter your own comment or simply copy-and-paste the statement below into the Comment Box:
Please replace the definition of Sustainable Development Areas in the Land Development Code Update with the following definition proposed by Neighbors For A Better San Diego: “Sustainable Development Area means the area within an established walking distance along a 0.5-mile pedestrian path of travel from a major transit stop that is existing or planned, if the planned major transit stop is included in the Regional Transportation Improvement Program.”
If you would like to attend the meeting in person or via Zoom, please see the Agenda for the updated meeting location and/or Zoom instructions.
Thank you for taking the time to us help save San Diego’s single-family neighborhoods!
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Nice of them to not provide a map anywhere, but this appears to be taking our existing Transit Priority Area map and expanding them up to 1/2mile further.
Note that there are 2 transit plans in play, the RTP and the RTIP.
The RTP is the long range plan and covers more areas, including OB, and is used for the current Transit Priority Area map. Expanding this to 1 mile walking distance would cover probably 90% of the city’s population.
The RTIP is smaller, and is used in the zero parking regulations. It doesn’t cover OB.
In layman’s terms,
Neighborhoods for a Better SD thinks the development incentives should apply if you can walk 1/2mi or less to a high frequency bus stop that is likely to be in place within 5 years.
SD Planning staff thinks the incentives should apply if you can walk 1 mile, or fly to a bus stop that might or might not exist 20 years from now.