By City News Press – Times of San Diego / October 20, 2025
Despite a Court of Appeals ruling once again denying the city of San Diego the ability to lift a 30-foot height limit in the Midway District, Mayor Todd Gloria said Monday the fight wasn’t over.
In a ruling issued Friday, the 4th District Court of Appeal determined the city hadn’t done its due diligence in completing an environmental study on the plan to raise the height limit in the neighborhood — part of an effort to greenlight the nearly $4 billion Midway Rising project.
This is the second time a court has overturned a voter-approved ballot measure to lift the coastal 30-foot limit for new construction in the area on a procedural technicality. San Diego’s voters approved “Measure E” to raise the limit in 2020 by a 13-point margin, 56.6% to 43.4%. [Editordude: In an even closer vote, the second effort to raise the limit, Measure C in 2022 barely passed with only 51%; it was opposed by a group called “Keep the Coast 30” which virtually had no money.]
“The city attorney and I disagree strongly with this ruling and will be asking the City Council to appeal it to the California Supreme Court,” Gloria said Monday in a statement. “In addition to the appeal, city staff have identified multiple paths to keep the redevelopment of the city’s sports arena property moving forward.
“I will not allow San Diego to miss out on an opportunity that holds massive benefits for San Diegans, including thousands of permanent new jobs, affordable homes, a new entertainment center and billions in economic activity. Failure is simply not an option, and we will get this done.”
As a result of the ruling, Gloria on Monday also extended the exclusive negotiating agreement with Midway Rising project leaders to give more time for council review of the project. That review had been scheduled for later this year, but the extended deadline is now Dec. 4, 2026.
The ruling comes just weeks after the project cleared a major hurdle by getting San Diego Planning Commission approval.
As proposed, Midway Rising would allow the developers — housing developer Chelsea Investment Corporation, sports venue developer and operator Legends, market-rate housing developer Zephyr and equity investor The Kroenke Group — to construct 4,254 housing units, including 2,000 affordable units, 8.12 acres of public parks and 6.42 acres of public space, a 16,000 seat, multi-purpose Entertainment Center, and 130,000 square feet of commercial space.
The affordable apartments would be dedicated to households earning 80% of the area median income or below. A family of four with an annual household income of up to $132,400 would qualify to rent an affordable home for 30% of their annual income.
As for the legendary but 59-year-old Sports Arena, now known as Pechanga Arena, it would be replaced with the entertainment center and seat 2,000 more people than the current structure, according to the developers.
Additionally, sustainable features for all buildings are part of the proposal, as well as infrastructure improvements on- and off-site, including roadways, bike paths and transit facilities.
“The economic potential of redeveloping this site is tremendous,” said Economic Development Director Christina Bibler in September. “This project will generate thousands of jobs, significantly boost local revenue and unlock the value of underutilized city-owned land. By creating such a large volume of new housing opportunities — especially affordable homes — we’re not only addressing a critical need but also laying the foundation for long-term neighborhood economic vitality.
“Revitalizing this area, which hasn’t seen major investment since the 1960s, will create a sustainable economic engine for generations to come.”
The road to this point started in 2021, when the city council declared the site surplus land and requested proposals to redevelop the area. A total of five proposals deemed good faith came in, and a competitive selection process began. Those five were shortlisted to three by the city in agreement with the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development. In 2022, the council selected Midway Rising, which offered the highest total number of affordable housing units. [Editordude: Most importantly, the principal behind Midway Rising, Brad Termini, was the largest contributor along with his wife to Gloria’s mayoral campaign.]
Here’s a portion of what I just posted in a reply to an earlier story about the appellate court’s ruling that stopped the Midway area rezoning:
I’m not a lawyer, but I’m pretty confident that the State’s highest court won’t consider — much less overturn a strongly-worded and unanimously ruling by the three appellate court justices.
The Mayor says an appeal is necessary to avoid a “failure” in his efforts to “redevelop” the Midway Corridor with rows of high-rise building, while avoiding any discussion about (or mitigation of) the significant environmental impact of those massive projects, which include the Midway Rising development. I wrote this in response to the Mayor’s Facebook post https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=mayor%20todd%20gloria
in which he declares that “Failure is not an option”
“Following the guidance of a unanimous appellate court decision would not be a ‘failure.’ Performing a legitimate environment assessment of the Midway area would not be a ‘failure.’ Giving your constituents the information they need to make an informed decision on your effort to massively upzone that area would not be a ‘failure.’ Those responses would instead be examples of what we call ‘good government.'”
Love these spot-on comments. I could not understand how an EIR that focused almost solely on views affected could possibly pass muster. What about the traffic, the pollution, the noise and the impacts to biological resources?
Excellent reply.
For real, when can we start the campaign to recall Mayor Gloria? Through his “leadership” he’s done more damage to this city than any other politician in recent memory–through unbridled Complete Communities development, to raising or implementing new fees on San Diegans, etc. etc.
I’ve been (or, at least was) a CEQA practioner for over 30 years. It’s not that difficult to draft and a CEQA document and get it certified. You have to write a project description that accurately and adequately describes the actions you wish to take, then describe the impacts that will follow the implementation of the project, along with any mitigation measures you intend to employ to lessen the impacts of the projects. In other words, you have to disclose your bad facts and proposed ways to fix them.
The City does not seem to grasp that they have to do these simple things to get a CEQA document that passes legal muster. I don’t know if it’s incompetence of its staff and consultants (probably not) or an unwillingness of the professionals to confront the decision makers as to what constitutes compliance with CEQA (more likely), but whatever the reason we will end up paying for additional attorneys’ fees, possibly a new election and probably additional litigation after a new election.
I once worked for a government agency (I won’t say which one) where a CEQA document ended up in court three times because of failure to disclose the actual impacts of the project. It was obvious each time that litigation was going to follow but a kind of stubbornness took hold until the courts finally directed the agency to disclose a certain impact. Big waste of time and money.
RECALL TODD GLORIA
1. Verify Eligibility
* Office holder must have served ??6?months in the position.
* No recall petition may have been filed against the same official in the previous six months.
2. Draft a “Notice of Intent to Recall”
* The notice must contain the exact legal language required by the city charter (see the city clerk’s template).
* It must be signed by at least 65 registered voters of San?Diego.
3. File the Notice with the City Clerk
* Submit the signed notice, a statement of intent, and an affidavit of publication (if you plan to publish the notice in a newspaper).
* The clerk will assign a filing date and post the notice publicly.
4. Publish the Notice (optional but common)
* Many petitioners publish the notice in a local newspaper to satisfy the “affidavit of publication” requirement.
* After publication, obtain the affidavit of service confirming the notice was published.
5. Begin Signature Collection
* Start 21?days after the notice is filed (or after the affidavit of publication is filed, whichever is later).
* Any registered voter in San?Diego may sign the recall petition for the mayor (city?wide office).
6. Gather Sufficient Signatures
* The required number of signatures equals 10?% of the total votes cast for the office in the most recent election.
* For a mayoral race, that typically means tens of thousands of signatures (check the exact figure from the latest election results).
7. Submit the Completed Petition
* Deliver the petition, along with a certified list of signatories, to the City Clerk before the deadline (usually 30?days after the signature?collection period ends).
8. Verification
* The clerk’s office verifies each signature for validity (registered voter status, correct precinct, etc.).
* If the petition meets the threshold, the clerk certifies that a recall election will be held.
9. Schedule the Recall Election
* The recall election is placed on the next regular municipal election calendar, or a special election may be called if timing requires.
10. Ballot Structure
* Two parts:
1. Yes/No on whether the mayor should be recalled.
2. List of replacement candidates (selected via the normal nomination process).
* The recall succeeds if the majority votes “Yes.” If it passes, the replacement candidate receiving the most votes wins the office.
11. Post?Recall
* If the recall fails, the mayor remains in office and the replacement?candidate votes are discarded.
* If successful, the newly elected mayor assumes office immediately (or on the date specified by the city charter).
Practical Tips
* Early Planning: Secure the 65?signer “notice” group well before filing.
* Legal Review: Have an attorney familiar with California municipal election law review the notice language and petition format.
* Volunteer Network: Organize a broad volunteer base for signature collection; reaching the 10?% threshold can be demanding.
* Public Outreach: Use community meetings, social media, and local media to inform voters of the recall’s purpose and timeline.
Following these steps will satisfy the statutory requirements for recalling the San?Diego mayor. You’ll need to draft the notice, locating the exact signature threshold for the most recent mayoral election, and find a recall templates.