Importance of community plans and local planning boards highlighted in tentative approval of Barrio Logan’s long-awaiting community growth plans
With the recent approval of Barrio Logan’s long-awaited community growth plan, it came to note that City staff raised similar concerns with affordable hotel policies in 2015 when the Ocean Beach growth blueprint was being considered. At that time, then-Coastal Commissioners agreed to remove those policies — but current commissioners say that eight years later, the city still has yet to come forward with a comprehensive, citywide ordinance.
By Emily Alvarenga / San Diego Union-Tribune / Nov. 20, 2023
Though San Diego City Council members disagreed with key changes that some considered “inappropriate,” the long-awaited community growth blueprint for Barrio Logan is just steps away from being implemented after nearly two years in limbo. The plan update, which the City Council approved last week, aims to improve public health in Barrio Logan — situated just south of downtown on the San Diego Bay — by separating residents from the neighboring shipping industry, while ensuring no new industrial facilities are permitted in the pollution-weary neighborhood.
Since the City Council first signed off on the plan in December 2021, city planners have been working with the California Coastal Commission, which must weigh in on any planning policies and development that affects the state’s coastlines, to reach a compromise on key changes to the neighborhood plan. After nearly all of the 53 modifications were agreed upon, the commission kicked the plan back to the council in June for final approval. Included were two proposed policies the city had pushed back on regarding affordable hotel accommodations, which have been a point of contention in past community plan discussions.
“The Coastal Commission has placed the city in a very difficult position,” said Councilmember Vivian Moreno, whose district represents the neighborhood. “Inserting these items into one of the most contentious community plan updates in San Diego’s history was inappropriate.” Although Moreno’s disappointment was echoed by Councilmembers Monica Montgomery Steppe and Marnie Von Wilpert, the council ultimately agreed Tuesday to move forward with the amended plan so as to not delay the process further.
The plan will now be submitted to the Coastal Commission for final certification. City planners expect that certification will be completed by the end of December. Julie Corrales, chair of the Barrio Logan Community Planning Group, praised the council’s decision Friday to approve the plan, especially after her neighborhood has waited so long to stop industrial businesses from growing their footholds.
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was being considered
I remember that at one time a CCC coastal analyst said out loud that low cost visitor serving accommodations might be appropriate for somewhere like OB (and, I guess, Barrio Logan) but not for Solana Beach. This may have been said in the context of STVRs, but it sounds to me like the CCC staff has its own version of “red-lining.”