Eric Law is the chair of the Project Review Committee of the Peninsula Community Planning Board and this morning, he sent the following to Rag writer Geoff Page about the proposed 56-unit complex for Rosecrans and Talbot:
Yes, I went and reviewed the plans. The city didn’t allow me to take any photos, but I can confirm that the project is indeed 4 stories and 56 units. The bulk of the units are ~420 sq ft studios, many of which have nothing more than a single window onto an internal breezeway.
My overall impression is this project is a sardine can. It’s effectively an out-of-place tenement building looking to create a slum. Much larger than the surrounding buildings, the “housing” offered doesn’t equate to anything needed for the Village/La Playa area. The Roseville and La Playa neighborhoods don’t need this kind of housing; what’s needed are larger, multi-bedroom apartments or condos that were envisioned by the 14-unit density allowance base zoning.
The builder is going to take the entire lot footprint, so Cabrillo Elementary will face a 30 foot sheer wall of apartments right along the common boundary. Similarly, historic Jennings House will be directly overshadowed by a monstrous 30′-40′ sheer wall.
I confirmed there is no parking offered for residents; it is all listed as commercial parking, which will likely be leased separately from the apartments as “unbundled amenities,” which translates to having 50+ vehicles trying to park on the surrounding narrow streets (which have no “new” parking).
It will indeed amplify the existing parking and traffic problems in the surrounding area, imperil small children during drop off and pick up at the adjacent Cabrillo Elementary, and will cause traffic flow problems on Rosecrans. The Navy will have to contend with more problematic traffic — already horrendous — through this bottle neck to the sub base.
Mayor Gloria has decided to screw the community and not allow them a public venue to review and comment on the project that will impact their quality of life. He has intentionally created a mechanism that prevents the public from availing themselves of the protections of the state’s CEQA law. Clearly Gloria has no problem screwing over hard working folks who’ve sunk their life savings into getting a home with some quality of life…only to lose it to some Gloria benefactor.
I like your use of the term “tenement buildings” – yes, this is exactly what it is.
Thank you for taking your time and energy to go to the city and review the plans.
Should be rebranded as the PL Projects.
Sounds like a slum being constructed. There is already no parking in the area. This will only make it worse.
Not to out do itself, Mayor Todd Gloria and Council Preesident Sean Elo-Rivera announced on Friday a new policy to declare all urban subdivisions on less than 1.3 acres to be “MINISTERIAL” and not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act and probably not the 45-year review for historical buildings. Just to remind you all of my lecture last week, ministerial means the property owner can plunk down money on a counter and walk out with a permit. Ministerial means no land use review, no engineering review, no public services (fire, police, sewer, water) review, no community review, and certainly no Planning Commission or City Council review. By Sunday afternoon, I learned of two projects that will be requesting demolition permits to destroy potentially historical buildings. One was designed in La Jolla by Master Architect Russell Forester in the highlands over La Jolla Shores and the other involves the home of the late internationally famous Bill Walton. It is my sincere hope that everyone reading this report will vote Larry Turner for Mayor of San Diego to end this insanity and return us to a City Manager form of government.
Why don’t we not jump to conclusions here. I’ve lived in small studio apartments that were not “slums” or tenements”. How else are young people and students going to afford their first homes. While I join you in your concerns about parking, I think we need not categorize low-income housing as slums from the get-go.
3 very low-income, 2 low-income, and 3 moderate-income out of 56 cracker jack boxes.
Eric, did they give any legal justification/citation to back up their refusal to allow photos?
Paul,
The Development Services Department refuses to allow the public to copy, scan, or make any other image of construction plans on file. This has been their policy for several years, which I believe would be legally challengeable. More to the point, the declaration by fiat on Friday that the City can declare a subdivision ministerial should be legally challenged because the California Subdivision Map Act was adopted by the State of California, not the City of San Diego. Any judge can see this is not the same thing as declaring a fence permit ministerial because there is no way there will not be a need for professional staff to review under the Uniform Building Code, State health and safety codes for sewage and water, and plumbing and heating facilities. This is pure Todd Gloria BS pandering to his developer buddies.
Is there no end to the Toadville insanity ?
Projects just like this are one of the main reasons why we must defeat Todd Gloria’s campaign for a second term as mayor.
He consistently refuses to present these projects to neighbors and community groups, or hear their feedback. Our best hope now is to elect a new mayor, and Larry Turner at least pledges to listen to communities and to hear their concerns about these disruptive, poorly-planned, and out-of-scale projects. I also believe Larry Turner will take immediate steps to moderate the size and scope of these projects and insist the developers include parking when state law allows. The development industry has a monopoly on votes and influence at City Hall and to stop that and try to even things out, we need a new mayor.
If you live in city council District 9 also please vote for Terry Hoskins, who is running on the same community-focused platform as Larry Turner.
A mix of units would be nice but there is certainly demand for studios. The only reason the developer is doing it is you can turn more profit with more rent checks.
I’m very disappointed at the lack of parking on these. It’s going to negatively impact the school and surrounding neighborhood. This doesn’t create any homes for families and is a massive giveaway for 2 or 3 truly affordable units for 15 years.
The mixed use is nice, and the bulk isn’t the worst thing for this area.
I’d love to see a poll on how many cars the tenants of these places own.
There must be some way to demand underground parking, and or prohibit car owners to rent space in the building.
Vote Gloria OUT, unfortunately won’t happen. All of the malfeasance in recent years has its origin with the election loss of the city manager form of government to an elected “executive,” most of whom have little substantive experience. Poor public decision that could be reversed if the will is there.
Many of you miss the point. This kind of project makes perfect sense if you look at it from the standpoint of the Bureaucracy and its unspoken goal: MONEY! Think about the huge increase in property taxes that the city will reap once the project is complete. They don’t care about providing housing. They want more money.