Opponents of Building in Famosa Canyon Once Characterized as ‘Racist’ NIMBYs
By Frank Gormlie
Is the battle over Famosa Canyon over?
The City of San Diego, the City Council and the Housing Authority believe so. The Housing Authority on Tuesday, December 17, approved the sale of Famosa Canyon to Bridge Housing Corporation, to build more than 70 affordable housing units. The vote was 9 to 0.
This clears the way for three affordable housing buildings, each three stories high.
Yet, this lot on the corner of Nimitz and Famosa boulevards has been at the center of controversy for years. Some saw it as a tug of war between the need to preserve open space and the need for affordable housing.
Local residents and neighbors have been fighting the sale of the land to … anyone … for many years. The lot is considered a community treasure and local kids use it as a bike track, crafted by neighbors for many a moon. People have circulated petitions, set up an opposition website, contacted their local councilperson, gone to the local planning board meetings — all seemingly in vain. At one meeting, Housing Commission members called opponents of any project there “racist” NIMBYs.
This has been set up for years. Three and a half years ago, the Rag ran this post:
On Tuesday, July 13, [2021] the San Diego City Council authorized the San Diego Housing Commission to build up to 78 affordable housing units on the 5-acre parcel in Famosa Canyon. The council entered into an agreement with Bridge Housing Corporation to design housing units at the southeast corner of Famosa and Nimitz boulevards.
The decision appears to resolve the controversies over the site, one of the last open spaces in Point Loma and used by kids on bikes for generations. Many in the community have fought this development for years, at the grassroots level and at the local planning board level. But it appears to no avail.
Opponents of the development have been characterized as “NIMBYs” and even “racist” by its advocates, who view any opposition of developing the site as opposition to affordable housing. Never mind the environment, the lack of open areas in that part of Point Loma, and the availability of affordable housing within fractions of a mile away. …
Of course, on the day of the council vote, there was Jen Campbell misrepresenting the situation. She said it’s “been close to 40 years that this property has been set aside for working families …” That’s bull pucky! That open space was part of a much larger tract of land (the Collier gift to “the children of San Diego”) destined for parkland. Campbell pretends to want affordable housing, yet did nothing to ensure Measure E required it.
Yesterday, a local news station interviewed a local resident about the sale of Famosa Canyon.
In 2017, Darren Miller, a Point Loma resident, and his young son began moving dirt and building a bike pump track that is on the open space. “I get very emotional about this place,” Miller told NBC 7. “He and I worked on it for an afternoon, then came out the next day, and low and behold, this is what happened.”
Over the years, Miller has helped maintain the track, and now the track is a community treasure — often packed with people on weekends.
“You can’t create a place like this where community has moved the dirt, and they love it and are invested in it,” Miller said. “It’s so cool to see kids and moms and dads out here. Everyone having a good time.”
But the track’s days will be numbered if the city sells this land for $1.3 million to make way for 72 affordable housing units and 100 parking stalls.
“I understand there is a shortage of housing,” Miller said. “We need more housing. Unfortunately, there is also a shortage of open space. Housing could be developed and created elsewhere, but this cannot be recreated anywhere else. There is no other land. Look on Google Maps. There’s nothing in Point Loma, so this is a pretty special spot.” …
“A little bit of my heart if always going to be here,” Miller said. “It sure would be sad to drive by and not see kids down here riding bikes and having fun with their friends.”
It remains to be seen how the rest of the community will react. Currently, there’s much gnashing of teeth and low grumbling. Perhaps, a lawyer will be hired — that seems to be the regular course these days — needing to protect neighborhoods from the city council through legal means.
Or perhaps, the locals will accept this decision. Or at least the adults. I doubt whether the kids will.
This is not just about affordable housing. There’s a lot of affordable housing within fractions of a mile from Famosa Canyon. If one took a map of the area and drew a circle around the Canyon that was a half mile in radius, one would be shocked of how many affordable housing units fell within that circle.
It’s about open space and a community site that has been used for at least a generation by locals. It’s about watching as every available inch of land in this northern end of Point Loma, the “poor end”, is turned into concrete, asphalt, drywall, and parking lots.
And finally, it’s about neighborhood control over the neighborhood – a last vestige of American “democracy” at the grassroots. Do residents have any say in what happens to their community? Do the voices of the locals have any meaning in deciding what to do with a neighborhood treasure?
Unfortunately, the affordable housing you are referring to is what is termed “naturally” affordable housing, i.e., housing that is relatively cheap because it is older, already existing housing that does not command a premium like newer housing with greater amenities would. The problem, from the mayor and council’s view, is that they cannot take credit for this housing. They can only pat themselves on the back by taking actions to provide new housing.
And, sadly, the naturally occurring affordable housing is often removed from the inventory to make way for new “affordable” housing.
Thanks Paul for the clarification.
In 1981, the City sold this property to the Housing Authority with the intention of developing low-income housing, having determined that it was not required for park purposes at that time. This decision marked a pivotal opportunity to advocate for its preservation as parkland. Nevertheless, both the City and the Housing Authority have implicitly permitted local residents to engage in activities such as biking in the area. As the project progresses, the chance to establish a park appears to have diminished. If the City intends to transform this land into a park, it would need to reacquire it from the Housing Authority. Had the Housing Authority pursued the project in the 1980s, it is probable that community resistance would have been considerably less than it is currently.
I lived next door to this canyon in the 70s and 80s and remember going down to City Hall to protest the original high density housing project proposal forwarded by the city. Then the city sold the lot to the housing commission as a sort or F-U to the neighbors. What I don’t understand is how this canyon bottom land is a good housing site? With buildings and hard scape it will wind up being a giant pond full of flooded apartments after a good rain.
And BTW the original plat map for this property shows an offramp to Famosa from Nimitz. I don’t suppose that’s in the new plans is it?
Is there a housing development this website actually supports? This one is 100% affordable. Isn’t that what the Rag always says it supports?
You’re confusing our rejection of massive developments without much if any affordable housing, and there’s been plenty, with our support in this case of open space and the right of a community to decide what happens to its public space. There’s plenty of affordable housing within fractions of a mile around this site, although “organic” or “natural” and not necessarily preplanned. Put another way, if one was to drive through the local nearby streets particularly down the hill in the Midway District, you’ll find lots of affordable units. People live in them but many are affordable and they’ve been there for decades.
We supported the apartment complex on Abbott being turned into apartments for the formerly homeless. We support affordable housing that’s under the 30 foot height limit at the coast and is being built not as ADUs but as separate stand-alone projects. Neighborhood characters can be protected and affordable housing built.
Frank I’m sorry but I gotta call you out here a little. You say, over and over again, that there’s all this affordable housing around this site but it must be a while since you’ve looked at rents. The cheapest thing west of the 5 on the peninsula is a $1450 studio apartment in Midway. There’s nothing under roughly $1700 in OB or PL. These will start at $845! That’s why this is so great! It’s going to provide homes that working people can afford on a site no one uses that’s essentially the side of an offramp. This is EXACTLY the kind of project those of us who HATE big development but want to see actual affordable housing.
It’s okay Will, we do agree on other issues. But the obvious thing here you’re missing is that the affordable units have people living in them and are not on the market, so they’re not on Zillow and so you cannot see what residents are paying. You’re only looking at what’s now for rent, and not what was for rent. Plus you claim it will be “on a site no one uses ….” Have you not been reading about the history of this site? How it has been a community treasure since the 1990s? How the Housing Authority and the City dissed the local community. If you take away local community democratic-decision making, you’re erasing the fabric that makes a neighborhood.
Sure, there are people who are paying cheaper rent but that price point will never be accessible to new members of the peninsula community so I just don’t get even bringing it up. I mean if you’re like me and bought in the 90’s you’d never be able to afford your same home if it was on the market today. That’s why these units are so important! $600 cheaper than anything on the peninsula, nearly a THOUSAND dollars cheaper than anything in 92106 or 92107. And sure, there is history there but in the past, I dunno, five years or so I have never seen anyone on that pump track so who are we saving it for? WHy would we stop actual affordable housing for an activity that hasn’t happened with any regularity for at least a half decade? And also that pump track could be rebuilt along the inside of the fence in Bill Cleator Park pretty easily – especially as you get closer to West Point Loma. THis is a win-win-win for your community and at some point shouldn’t we say yes to stuff? More of these projects please!