By Steven Mihailovich / Monthly
San Diego U-T / August 6, 2025
About 20 local activists from Neighbors for a Better Pacific Beach attended their first Pacific Beach Town Council meeting after recently becoming members.
They led the discussion on housing policy and proposed developments by questioning representatives for City Council President Joe LaCava and state Assemblymember Tasha Boerner on where their bosses stand on accessory dwelling units during the July 16 meeting. LaCava and Boerner’s districts include Pacific Beach.
Cambria Head, LaCava’s representative, was asked about the City Council’s repeated delays on a ceremonial second reading to pass an ordinance that would reform the city’s ADU Bonus Program. It was approved on June 16.
Ross Tritt, Boerner’s representative, was asked about Boerner’s position on Senate Bill 79, which, if passed, would annul the city’s 30-foot height limit for buildings within a half-mile of public transit.
The group’s zeal permeated to subsequent topics, providing a concrete example of Discover PB president Randall Engstrom’s observation on the purpose of a united community.
“Sometimes there can be people that want to divide us,” Engstrom said. “We just can’t allow that to happen. We have to hold a very strong front together. That also helps get the city representatives listening to us. When we’re all together, the city has to respond to us.”
Merv Thompson of Neighbors for a Better Pacific Beach expressed his group’s dismay with the City Council’s inability to pass the ADU reform bill into law while large ADU projects continually get approved.
“We’ve now had three different continuances with respect to that (act) and we’re becoming very concerned that something may be amiss,” he said.
Head said LaCava insisted that all nine councilmembers be present for the second reading, but Thompson said he was baffled that the council again postponed a vote, yet approved a 20-plus unit ADU project by 6-3 during the same day.
Head explained that the council must follow set agendas at its morning and afternoon sessions and not all members were present for both.
According to Head, there are discussions with the city attorney on pausing the permitting of large scale ADU developments until the enactment of ADU reform, which will prohibit them.
“Previously the answer has been no. But our policy team is really working closely to try and figure out if there’s any way to stop that door from opening,” Head said.
The potential for a proposed 116-unit ADU project on Chalcedony being approved before the ADU reform ordinance is enacted was the greatest cause of alarm for the activist group.
“That’s a fire hazard at the bottom of Pacifica (Drive),” said one member. “It’s just waiting to happen … if they do build there. That permit has to be paused. There’s a whole lot of other stuff, like the (Kumeyaay) heritage site that’s there.”
Head acknowledged problems with the project and said LaCava’s staff was working on ways to “figure out” the issue.
Thompson pressed Tritt on whether Boerner would support SB 79 when it reached the Assembly for a vote. Tritt responded by highlighting Boerner’s longstanding support of the California Environmental Quality Act process, which would be bypassed by SB 79.
“We don’t want to give any false information,” Tritt said. “But I would say her voting record would indicate that she typically does not vote for anything that would streamline CEQA. She almost always votes no for that. So her voting history would indicate that she probably would not, but I don’t want to make any promises.”
PB Planning Group Chair Marcella Bothwell said Kalonymus, the developer of the proposed 22-story Vela Tower on Turquoise Street, released a statement earlier in the day to NBC7 about its project.
“This is the first time the developer actually talked,” she said. Bothwell opined that Kalonymus has maintained a low profile while awaiting the results of SB 79 because its passage would strengthen the project’s prospects.
She noted that at the most recent California Planners Committee meeting, 17 of the 22 chairpersons of local planning boards voted to oppose SB 79.
“We are truly battling a high-rise phenomenon,” Bothwell said. “If we don’t fight the Turquoise Tower, then it’s going to be all over.”
Other Issues Discussed
As for other topics discussed, San Diego Police Community Relations Officer Tom Cairns said the Neighborhood Policing Division will begin enforcement of the city’s Oversized Vehicle and Vehicle Habitation ordinances following a settlement of lawsuits against the laws.
A squad will be dispatched two or three nights a week to the Northern Division to enforce OVO between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. The initial focus will be on east Mission Bay.
Oversized vehicles are any vehicle greater than 27 feet in length or seven feet in height, or any unattached trailer.
VHO enforcement will also fall under the purview of NPD. Police must first call a safe parking lot to learn if they have an open spot, otherwise they can only issue a warning.
“They don’t want Northern Division or any other division officers on their own conducting enforcement on OVO or VHO,” Cairns said. “It has to be NPD or an officer from here working under a supervisor from NPD.”
Police Officer Jessica Dishman introduced herself as the new community relations officer once Cairns transfers to the night beach team.
Caryn Blanton, executive director of Shoreline Community Services, said this year’s Point in Time Count showed that one in three homeless people are age 55, with the eldest being an 80-year-old man.
With the new enforcement rolling out, Juan Pablo asked whether it was fair to punish vulnerable people who have less means to follow developing news.
“Not everything we do is completely enforcing the law,” Dishman said. “A lot of us don’t come to work everyday to arrest every single person that we can and to give every single person that we can a ticket. Most of us officers are trying to educate everyone.”
Police Lt. Bryan Brecht said the NPD will be applying the progressive enforcement model, in which there must be at least three contacts on separate occasions before an arrest can be made.
“Everybody they’re talking to, they’re explaining the rules and giving them flyers where they can go and letting them know this is the law,” Brecht said. “Here are the consequences. It’s your decision. You have an opportunity to leave. We can’t tell you where to go, but you can’t be here at a certain time.”
BeautifulPB President Ryan Stock gave an update on his organization’s two projects.
One is to beautify the recently constructed roundabout at the intersection of Loring Street and Foothill Boulevard with artwork, succulents and stones, or other options depending on funding.
The other is the phase three expansion of PB Pathways, first established in 2014 to provide alternative, safer routes for non-motorized travel through neighborhood streets, designated by the iconic green PB Pathways surfboard signs.
After a round of community workshops last year, most of the extensions identified were north-south streets connecting Crown Point to the center of town along Haines, Jewell and Lamont streets.
“Those are the two guiding principles: where do we already see a lot of active travel and could use a little extra help, and where are the routes to schools that kids use,” Stock said. “Now it’s left to, OK, how do we fund it? How do we actually go about selecting the intersections? What tools do we deploy at those intersections? Those are the questions that we’re trying to answer now.”
