Yes, indeed. What if they did hold a hearing to abolish OB’s Historic Cottage District and nobody from Ocean Beach showed up?
Well, that’s exactly what happened October 23 — at last Thursday’s hearing held by the San Diego Historic Resources Board. They were scheduled to discuss and accept a city staff’s recommendation that the Ocean Beach Cottage Emerging Historical District not be a basis to prevent massive developments from being built.
To jog your memory, dear reader, the OB’s Historic District was the reason a project called The Point and consisting of 24 units slated for Point Loma Avenue in south OB was unanimously rejected in August 2024 on appeal by the San Diego Planning Commission. The developers were using a San Diego housing policy called Complete Communities which allows builders exemptions from long-held restrictions if they met certain requirements.
As Rag writer Geoff Page recently reported:
Because there appeared to be a legal conflict between the Complete Communities plan and the Municipal Code, the commissioners approved the appeal. However, here is what Vice Chair Matthew Boomhower, who was chairing the meeting, had to say in his closing remarks:
(to city staff) I hope you take this as an opportunity to change the Municipal code. I think it is a great project. Normally, I and the rest of this commission would have wholeheartedly supported it and denied the appeal.
So, city staff apparently took Commissioner Boomhower’s advice and came up with a recommendation a year later to get around OB’s protection. They came up with a proposed change to the Land Development Code that would “fix” this for the city. The Municipal Code they wanted to change is §143.1002 entitled “Application of Complete Communities Housing Solutions Regulations.”
Last year, what saved OB from The Point was a section of this code that allows certain exemptions; a sub-section says that “The regulations in this Division shall not apply to the following types of development, ” and then listed certain exceptions including sub-section (6) which states, “Development located within a designated historical district or subject to the Old Town San Diego Planned District.”
So, then — as now — the code exempts any “designated historical district” from the rules of Complete Communities. Period. But staff now want the following language in (6) to state:
(6) Development located within a designated historical district or subject to the Old Town San Diego Planned District., with the following exceptions:
(A) Development on properties that are not designated as contributing resources to the Ocean Beach Cottage Emerging Historical District;
As Page reiterated:
The specific wording the city is proposing that will remove most of Ocean Beach’s protection from the mayor’s Complete Communities plan is “(A) Development on properties that are not designated as contributing resources to the Ocean Beach Cottage Emerging Historical District.”
One of the arguments the city staff used to recommend denying the appeal last year was that the building on the site was not designated as a “contributing resource” to OB’s Cottage Emerging Historical District. There was no basis for their argument then but this change fixes that problem.
What happened then on Oct. 23? Nobody from OB appeared at the hearing. Not a soul. None of the people who celebrated the “win” back in August 2024 showed up. Fortunately, folks from Save Our Heritage Organization (SOHO) did, people like Alana and Bruce Coons. The Coons reported to the Rag that the Board did reject the recommendations from staff — including the exemption for OB.
What does this mean?
The recommendation about Ocean Beach was part of what staff called “Package A” and according to the Coons, it “failed at the Historical Resources Board—a significant win for preservation.”
Yet, staff recommendations of the overall Preservation and Progress program “continues to move forward at full speed, but for now, at least, it does so without an HRB recommendation—a crucial and hard-won advantage.”
The recommendations do go before the Committee of Planning Committees tonight, Oct. 28 — and the Coons and supporters will be there. Next up, however, is the San Diego Planning Commission which will hear the proposals — including the one about getting rid of the OB Historic exemption — on Thursday, November 6. The Coons say “it is imperative that your (Ocean Beach) voices are heard at the Planning Commission on November 6.”
In the meantime, the Rag plans to organize a small presentation by Alana and Bruce for OBceans on all of this, probably at a local coffeehouse. (If you’re interested, send me an email at obragblog@gmail.com .)
We weren’t there because we didn’t know. And this is the first we have heard of for tonight. This is part of a huge municipal code package that is making its way through the system. I knew about it after Geoff Paige wrote about it. Without the OBRag, none of this would be known.
Next they will say, “Complete Communities includes a special 50-unit bonus for all the properties within 1/2 mile of the Bruce Coons Residence” in the municipal code, and the City Council (mostly) will obediently vote “yes.” Who knows what other hearings are to be held, when and where? YES, we will be there.
Geoff Page alerted us in his Oct 10 Rag story https://obrag.org/2025/10/what-if-they-held-a-hearing-to-abolish-obs-historic-cottage-district-and-no-one-from-ob-showed-up/comment-page-1/#comment-505011
Does anybody have a link to details for the meeting tonight? Please reply.
Hi Nostalgic: Pls see details of the upcoming (and past) meetings here here and if you join SOHOs email list, you will get all the info and updates directly to your inbox. https://myemail.constantcontact.com/UPDATE–City-Preservation–Reforms–initiative.html?soid=1101889363559&aid=aTa3QKxMFj8
You can join SOHOs email list here: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/sh2UFlb
I’ve lived in OB for 45 years, so when I say OB is not the OB it once was, I think I can do so with some weight. And, yes, any place would change in that amount of time, of course. In OB’s case, it looks more or less the same, the physical changes have not overwhelmed the look and feel of OB. But, underneath, it has changed.
The high rents and vacation rentals are now a bar to many of the kinds of people who used to live in OB. They loved their little piece of heaven and fiercely protected it from development ever since the 60s. Those people are either gone or dead or just plain old and when they reach behind for someone to take the baton, no one is there.
This isn’t about blaming anyone. It’s about the losing battle of saving a feeling about a place that, unfortunately, too few people have now for a variety of reasons, mostly transience. Not to say there isn’t anyone out there trying like the town council and the planning board. But, the fire is not there.
Those of us who are no longer young are not the answer. One of the drawbacks from aging is that younger people don’t take you seriously. A roomful of old farts, with white hair and beards, trying to speak up on something is entertainment to many people. The younger faces need to step in. And, by “younger,” I mean 40s, 50s, and even 60s. But people have to care.
We tried to ring the bell in The Rag, that is the best of our contribution. And, we will continue to do so. We hope that someone will see the alerts and step up and carry on.
Agreed 100% thanks for your letter,I first came to OB in the early 60″s,I know how it used to be.Thanks for your input.
The meeting tonight is the Community Planners Committee (Recommendation). I hope the OB Representatives are prepared to be opposed to targeting OB for Complete Communities Development. This is the ONLY community so targeted, because we defeated the City’s plan for 4705 Point Loma Ave. I know, it’s best not to make the city angry. –Barbara
Without Geoff Page’s October 10 OBRag.org article, we would not have known this is going on at all! Thank you to Geoff. The meeting of all Community Planning Groups described is tonight at 6:15 pm. The link to the agenda is:
https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2025-10/cpc-agenda_oct-28-2025_combined.pdf
At the top of the Agenda in Green is the Zoom link, the Meeting ID, and the passcode. If anybody can chime on behalf of OB, that would be great! Yes, we will be back to that same slot, the Planning Commission.
SOHO presentation on keeping OB’s historic district –Friday, Halloween, Oct. 31 at 12:30 pm at Newbreak cafe, 1959 Abbott. As seating is limited, please if you plan on attending, leave a comment here or email me at obragblog@gmail.com
frank
HORRAY OB!!!! VICTORY at this meeting!!!