Dozens of Pacific Beach residents and supporters gathered Monday, August 4th, at the site of a controversial large-scale ADU development planned for the corner of Pacifica and Bluffside as an attorney announced a lawsuit against the City of San Diego.
The neighborhood group Neighbors for a Better Pacific Beach is the chief plaintiff in the suit, designed to halt the planned Chalcifica project, with more than 100 units.
The suit argues the planned project would harm the environment and public safety, and the group behind it points out it’s on the site of a well-known Kumeyaay coastal village.
In today’s San Diego Union-Tribune, writer Jemma Stephenson reports:
According to the plaintiffs, the city should have processed the project application on a discretionary basis but instead has handled them all on a ministerial basis, based on set standards rather than individual judgments. They also say the city never responded to the Kumeyaay Cultural Repatriation Committee’s request to meet about the issue.
“Rather than requiring critical environmental review and discretionary permits as mandated by CEQA and the municipal code, the city has adopted a practice of categorically exempting projects under this program from meaningful analysis and public oversight,” attorneys wrote in the 48-page filing.
“This results in unchecked development that risks irreversible harm to the city’s environment, endangers public safety by circumventing requirements intended to mitigate wildfire risk, and undermines protections for tribal cultural resources,” it adds. …
The Chalcifica project in particular has drawn fierce opposition, along with the developer behind it, Christian Spicer, who is also behind many of the city’s other large ADU projects.
Spicer has told The San Diego Union-Tribune he understands concerns about the scale of his developments but believes they help solve a serious housing shortage. … Much of the new lawsuit centers on the issue of ministerial review, which opponents say is effectively rubber-stamping all of the projects — even large-scale ones like Chalcifica — that participate in the city’s bonus ADU incentive program.
Merv Thompson, the chair of Neighbors for a Better Pacific Beach, stated, “Every single ADU project in the city is rubber stamped through.” He added that the approvals come without consideration of issues like fire safety, slopes, environmentally sensitive lands or property that has been treated as discretionary in the past.
Josh Chatten-Brown, an attorney for the plaintiffs, was also quoted and said his clients’ lawsuit aims to address how the city processes ADU projects broadly, not just in Pacific Beach.
“The city has effectively allowed these projects to move forward because they’re being processed on a ministerial basis,” he said. “We don’t know how many of these projects there are — but we do know that it’s not just the Chalcifica project that would be impacted.”
Instead, he says, the city should be considering each proposed project at its discretion. He cited a section of state housing law that says a development project can be subjected to standards adopted later to reduce its environmental impact under the California Environmental Quality Act.
“What that means is that for bonus program projects that result in significant impacts under CEQA — and this would be one of those — the city may apply the newly revised ADU density bonus program to mitigate those impacts,” he said.
Marcella Bothwell — a Pacific Beach community leader who leads Neighbors for a Better California was also quoted. She said the city’s current process of reviewing ADU projects was intended for things like garage remodels, not large-scale developments.
“I don’t care what my neighbor does to his garage, but a 136-unit apartment complex that has only half the needed (parking) spaces for each unit — that is going to affect me, and it’s going to affect the entire neighborhood,” she said.
Fox5 also reported on the protest and announcement of the suit. The TV channel reported that attorney Chatten-Brown also stated, “We have been informed by the city that the project is being processed as a ministerial project. That means it can be approved at any moment without community input, environment analysis or transparency.”
Chatten-Brown says each ADU would be about 450 square-feet, and Neighbors for a Better Pacific Beach say the rent has been advertised to investors at about $3,000 a month. Chatten-Brown says the city could give the project a green light without public input, cultural and environmental analysis. He says the project would sit on well documented Kumeyaay Nation land.
“I want to make sure it isn’t destroyed and lost. If there are human remains there we want to make sure they are not disturbed,” said Kumeyaay Elder Jesse Pinto.
Fox5 also interviewed local resident Trudy Grundland, who stated, “It’s not affordable housing.” “This should be as complicated as putting up a high rise. It’s 136 units. It should be looked at with detail so it’s done correctly,” added Grundland. The project would sit next to military housing and worried residents say there’s not enough street parking to accommodate that many residents.
“There there will be Ubers, deliveries, Amazon,” said Grundland. “It’s just going to be chaotic.” Grundland is a member of the steering committee of the San Diego Community Coalition, which supports the suit and protest.
County met it’s State required housing construction mandates thru 2050 in March, 2024. There exists now a 27 year housing surplus & additional 4000 units are coming online over the next few months. There is no ‘housing shortage.”
Please explain to me how this classifies as an accessory unit to a main dwelling unit?
The loopholes that the city has created are staggering, its like a fish net.
Cindy, Todd Gloria written legislation in the State Assembly is directly responsible for this. Upon arrival in the Assembly Gloria immediately turned on his constituents, stumping and championing highly profitable pro-corporate “density” developement eminent domain laws. He then wrote legislation to neuter and then neutralize local community planning groups. Gloria fabricated the loophole that led to unmitigated “renovictions” forcing tens of thousands of Californians out of housing and leaving them to die in the streets, by design. Sean Evil-Rivera and a corrupted City council adopted an off-site affordable housing waiver for developers, “conveniently” void of any legal requirements to procure or own “off-site” land, submit any proposals nor plans for or actually build affordable housing. So developers simply walk away…
And then the next Cali power grab to entrench the Dem way BC of the Texas map BS. I can’t stand Issa but this is circumventing voters on the Dem side also.
Yes, but, Chris S — we’re no longer in a democracy but in authoritarian America; it’s us or Trump, period. There’s no more rules of playing “fair.” So, gloves are off.
what a diverse group of angry wealthy white people who don’t actively do anything to make this city more welcoming and affordable to anyone under the age of 40 —
Once in a while, we post comments that show the ugly side of San Diego.
SFZ: I recently met two young women in their late 20’s with college degrees, decent jobs and can afford to live in Pacific Beach. They moved here from two different states. They think San Diego is welcoming and a little expensive, but they expect that from a major coastal city. Did you grow up here?
There will be nothing “affordable” about these units …not the rent, the additional traffic in an already over-taxed part of PB, parking, ridiculous density, or quality of life for those living in and around the project. I am a PB native, and I don’t with for the “old” days. Times change. However, common sense instead of greed still needs to be the guiding course.