See below for specifics if you plan on attending the meeting.
Before meeting: It’s time to flood City Council offices with messages before the Council’s Land Use and Housing (LU&H) Committee meets Thursday, May 15, 1:00 p.m. to consider Todd Gloria’s newest proposal to “reform” his Bonus ADU policy by tinkering with it but refusing to make significant changes.
There are two ways to send your pre-meeting comments:
1. Submit your comment through the LU&H Public Comment Webform
The meeting date is 5/15/2025. Comment type is Agenda Comment. Agenda item number is 4. Comments submitted via the webform will be officially posted.
2. Send emails directly to the LU&H Councilmembers (Kent Lee, Sean Elo Rivera, Raul Campillo and Vivian Moreno) and their chiefs of staff.
You can copy and paste these addresses into the Send line. The Subject can be “Bonus ADU Reform.”
kentlee@sandiego.gov, SKamiab@sandiego.gov, seanelorivera@sandiego.gov, MollyW@sandiego.gov, raulcampillo@sandiego.gov, msimonsen@sandiego.gov,
vivianmoreno@sandiego.gov, gramirezborj@sandiego.gov
Here is a message you can copy and paste into the webform or an email. At 180 words, it is under the 200-word limit imposed by the webform.
We urge you to reject the Planning Commission’s new Bonus ADU “reforms” proposal.
It does not address serious problems in the previous proposal including:
It still won’t increase the affordable housing supply San Diego badly needs. The units typically charge monthly rents of $2,500 to $3,000, far more than working-class people can afford.
It still won’t increase the supply of family housing San Diego badly needs. The Bonus ADU studios and 1-bedroom apartments that have flooded the housing market are far too small for families with children
It still will increase the threat of wildfire disasters by adding density in high-risk zones. You will see compelling evidence Thursday that massive Bonus ADU complexes in urban communities choke off evacuation routes.
It still will inflict the disastrous neighborhood blight captured in the OB Rag’s “Worst ADU in San Diego” contest.
Please show the courage displayed by your colleague Henry Foster and three Planning Commissioners who all denounced the Bonus ADU Program. This terrible housing policy has done enough harm. You have the power to stop it.
Here’s what you need to know about participating in tomorrow’s meeting at 1:00 p.m. on the 12th floor of City Hall:
The Bonus ADU item is the 3rd of 3 discussion items, so it won’t come up until later in the meeting. Here’s the agenda link:
Forward this message to your friends and neighbors. Please let everyone know by email and social media that they can attend in person or via Zoom.
Consider public transit if you want to attend in person. The Metropolitan Transit System’s homepage has a “Trip Planner” where you can map routes from your home to San Diego City Hall. Students and seniors qualify for reduced rates.
Consider carpooling. The SpotHero and Parkopedia websites will help you locate parking lots that are walking distance from City Hall. It’s safest to pay the daily rate.
City Hall’s entrance has a security checkpoint, so leave pocketknives and other sharp objects at home.
If you plan to attend in person and are willing to cede your time for remarks on behalf of the San Diego Community Coalition, please look for Paul Krueger and Kate Callen in the waiting area outside the chamber.
This suggested messages was put together by OB Rag staff and by the new San Diego Community Coalition.
Sorry. Two articles are posted won the same day ith slightly different positions regarding the development we all see going up. The earlier one is:
San Diego Residents Urged to Speak Up Now Before May 15 City ‘Bonus ADU’ Hearing
It is a stronger position, and it is fair to publish both.
In addition to the ravages on our neighborhoods from the Bous ADU program, it leaves many of our neediest residents behind. According to the San Diego Housing Commission, there are 69,000 families in the city of San Diego on the waiting list for Section 8 rental assistance. Current waiting time is 15 years. Nationally, families with children account for 43% of the applicants. The proliferation of studio and one bedroom ADUs does nothing for them.
Did you mean the Bogus or Bonus ADU program?
Or maybe it’s the Box-us ADU program.
This post has been updated today for those planning on attending the council committee meeting; it has links to the agenda and to ZOOM if you’re staying at home.
I’ve got a 20′ x 100′ lot next door to my 110 year old duplex in Banker’s Hill, zoned for two units, and it’s currently under construction with NINE units, three stories and zero off-street parking. I’m sure that a 380sf studio for 2000 dollars a month with no parking is somebody’s idea of Urban Nirvana, but all it does is undermine the work from generations of San Diegans who worked hard to achieve community plans that represented community desires. It is essentially extremist legislation, to undo the entire concept of zoning. This was once the province of the extreme right, to allow developers to build at whatever density they wanted. The polarity has changed, but the results will be equally catastrophic.
This proposed amendment does not go far enough. If your neighboring property is zoned for two units, it is RM, Residential Multiple. A building NOT in RS, Residential-Single, is still a major target for developers in San Diego. The amendment to be heard on Thursday is for Single-family ADU additions. Many of the older rentals being torn down were larger with lower rents. So, three houses with low rents are being replaced with an eight-story building in Golden Hills with one low-income set-aside out of 180 units. These proposed Municipal Code improvements do not change that.
4:55 pm, and many more miles to go at the City Council Land Use & Housing Committee meeting over building multi-units on single-family zoned properties. The people are not happy with what is happening with our neighborhoods!
From the City Council Chair: “Living in a single-family house is a privilege, not a right.”
It was a full house at the hearing today, the city council was appropriately chastised by making the Bonus ADU the last item on the docket and making citizens sit over 4.5 hours to be heard, running well past 5:00pm
Campillo and Lee were on the bench the entire time listening to everyone. Elo-Rivera was as usual a disappointment by leaving chambers several times for extended stretches. Moreno was stifling yawns.
Some SD City Council Reps. never fail to disappoint. They appear determined to charge on with the destruction of SF homes for their flawed policy of backyard apartment buildings sans the amenities of reg. apartment developments- design/codes/zoning/difs/infrastructure. Well we are determined too.