Proposed SB 79 Makes SB 10 and Bonus ADUs Look Like ‘Gentle Density’ — Contact Our Assembly Members Today to Oppose It

By Danna Givot

The State Assembly’s Local Government Committee will vote on Senate Bill 79 on Wednesday, July 16. SB 79 will allow 45 to 75 foot tall apartment buildings to be built up to ½ mile from transit (as the crow flies), which can be several miles walking distance from transit across freeways and canyons). You can view a 1 minute video explaining SB 79 here or an 8 minute video here.

State assembly member Chris Ward of San Diego sits on the committee that will vote on SB 79 this Wednesday.  It was Assemblymember Ward who told the Housing and Community Development Committee on July 2nd that the City of San Diego supports SB 79.  But we now know that the supposed support letter from the City of San Diego was drafted and signed by the City’s lobbyist, not an official representative of the City of San Diego (i.e., Mayor Todd Gloria or the City Council). READ the OB Rag for full details.

SANDAG (the San Diego Association of Governments) opposes SB 79, which confirms that this supposed transit-oriented development bill is just a ruse to expose California’s neighborhoods to massively out-of-scale apartment buildings.

There are many good reasons to vote against SB 79:

• Undermines and conflicts with local planning efforts
• Targets single-family neighborhoods for high density development
• In San Diego targets lower opportunity areas and spares higher opportunity areas based on where our transit is
• Allows dense development based on future transit that may never be built
• Calls for “transit-oriented” development that could be miles walking distance from transit across canyons and freeways  because it is based on ½ mile as the crow flies instead of walking distance
• Drives up home prices and make home ownership even less attainable
• Demolishes existing naturally occurring affordable housing without effective requirements for its replacement
• Ignores fire safety by allowing dense development on canyon rims in high fire areas on cul-de-sacs and roads with single ingress/egress points

Please tell Assemblymember Ward to OPPOSE SB 79 on Wednesday. You can write to AM Ward here or call him at (916) 319-2078.

Please also call the other assembly members on the Local Government Committee (listed below) to urge them to vote NO on Senate Bill 79. You cannot write to them because you are not in their districts, so their online contact forms won’t work.

Juan Carrillo (Chair)    (916) 319-2039
Tri Ta (Vice Chair)       (916) 319-2070
Josh Hoover                (916) 319-2007
Blanca Pacheco           (916) 319-2064
James C. Ramos          (916) 319-2045
Rhodesia Ransom       (916) 319-2013
Blanca E. Rubio           (916) 319-2048
Catherine Stefani        (916) 319-2019
Lori D. Wilson              (916) 319-2011

We must stop SB 79 before it destroys San Diego’s single-family neighborhoods forever.  It has already passed the Senate, and we are running out of time. Make your calls Monday or Tuesday so they will be counted.

Danna Givot is a resident of El Cerrito.