Donna Frye: ‘How High Could the Buildings Be In Clairemont?’ Part 2

By Donna Frye

On November 13, I sent an email to the city requesting information about how high the buildings could be in Clairemont if the Community Plan Update is approved, taking into account the State Density Bonus Law and Senate Bill 79 (SB79).

On November 21, the OB Rag published this as part of my ongoing requests to the city for some answers.

This is Part 2 which is my progress to date. In case you’re wondering why this even matters, it’s because we have the right to know what’s going on in our communities. And even though my question is about a specific community, the height limits and many other development issues, are not unique to Clairemont.

On November 21, I received the following email response to my question from the city:

“Under SB79, development would be allowed at 65 feet in height if within 1/4 mile of a trolley stop, and up to 55 feet in height if within 1/2 mile of a trolley stop, which is generally consistent with the 65-foot height limits in the overlay zone. Regarding other development incentive programs, both at the state and local level, projects that include affordable housing may also be eligible to receive development incentives and waivers that could allow a project to further exceed these height limits.”

I responded with this email the same day:

“Thanks for this but my question is how high could the tallest building be with all the development incentives and waivers included? In other words, by how many feet could the 65-foot height limit be exceeded if all the development incentives and waivers are included?”

But rather than wait for a response, I did my own research. I sent this email to the city on Monday morning, November 24:

“I did some research over the weekend and wanted to share with you what I have found regarding SB 79. The legislation includes different “tiers” and those tiers impose different heights. For example, according to the language in the legislation, a transit-oriented housing development project within one-quarter mile of a Tier 1 transit oriented-development stop shall not impose any height limit less than 75 feet. If the development is further than one-quarter mile but within a Tier 1 transit-oriented development stop, a local government shall not impose any height less than 65 feet.

This is 10 feet more than the numbers in your response so I wanted to bring that to your attention since perhaps your answer was specific to Tier 2 projects.  https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB79

See Government Code Section 65912.157. (a) (3)

In addition to the height allowances shown in SB 79, I also learned that the city offers its own program to allow for increased heights for projects that are located within a Transit Priority Area and set aside 100-percent of the total dwelling units as affordable. In exchange for that, the projects receive unlimited density, an additional 3 stories of 33 feet in height and five incentives.  Link: https://www.sandiego.gov/planning/work/housing/toolkit

So add the 33 feet from the city to the 75 feet in SB 79 from the state and it’s now up to 108 feet.  I thought you might appreciate knowing the actual numbers.

I do not know yet it if that number could be even higher under the State Density Bonus Law or some other laws if other incentives/concessions or waivers from development standards are allowed. However, while I wait for an answer from the city, I will continue to try and figure it out for myself.”

Later that same day, I received this email from the city:

“Thank you for sending this over, and my apologies for the delay. I am working to get you a response and hope to have something by tomorrow.”

I responded to the city on Tuesday, November 25, with this email:

“I appreciate your effort to get a response to my questions. There is no need to apologize since I know how difficult it can be to get information from the city even if you work there.

In the meantime, I did more research and the State Density Bonus Law says that a developer is entitled to certain benefits if they include five or more units of affordable housing in a project. Those include additional units; incentives or concessions to reduce the city’s development standards such as height limits; waivers or reductions of development standards that would prevent the project from being built as designed; and greatly reduced parking requirements.

Height limits are considered development standards, so it looks like the height limits in a community plan can just be waived if a project includes a few affordable housing units that qualifies it for a density bonus.

Knowing this, I looked to find an example of what it might mean as it relates to height limits. It wasn’t too hard to find.

For example, the 6th & Olive Project in San Diego proposed building a total of 204 units (18 of which are affordable) so it qualified for a density bonus. So even though the height limit for the area is 65 feet, the building will be 20-stories at a height of 223 feet because of the concessions or waiver from the height limit due to the density bonus.

That is just one example, but it gives me a better understanding of what is likely to happen, not just in Clairemont, but in every community in our city; the buildings are going to get a lot higher and more massive and not just in transit areas.

I am still not sure just how high a building could be, but I do know that it could be at least 223 feet. That’s more than a 200 percent increase from the 65-foot height limit in the Clairemont Community Plan and many other communities.

Now I am wondering if there really is a height limit or if the sky’s the limit?”

I will let you know when I hear anything back. Meanwhile, I am very thankful to the OB Rag for providing all of us a place to share information that we otherwise may never know.