On Friday, Oct. 31, a dozen of us crowded around a long table at NewBreak Cafe on Abbott Street in OB to discuss and learn how to support OB’s historical district, which is on the City of San Diego’s chopping block. All our eyes were on the presenters, Bruce and Alana Coons from SOHO (Save Our Heritage Organization) who had traveled all the way from Point Loma to teach us the basics and guide us through the process.
Formerly entitled the Ocean Beach Cottage Emerging Historical District — which has been around since 1999 — it was on the chopping block as a city staff recommendation because a little over a year ago, the San Diego Planning Commission voted to spare OB from a horrendous development project of 24 ADUs on Point Loma Avenue precisely because of the existence of OB’s historic district. And at the end of the hearing on August 29, 2024, one of the commissioners turned to staff and urged them to change the city’s Municipal Code to get rid of the district as a basis for exempting OB from some of the worse housing policies of Todd Gloria’s administration, called “Complete Communities.”
And a year later, the staff did just that: they came up a “fix” that if approved by the various governmental bodies, would exempt OB’s historic district from being considered as a basis of not allowing Complete Communities being applied to future development projects. It’s a policy that allows developers wide latitude in circumventing time-honored building restrictions if they met some minimum standards.
The so-called Ocean Beach “fix” is part of a package of “reforms” city staff has come up with in order to eventually allow a bunch of politicians — we call them the City Council — to have absolute control over what projects are termed or designated “historic” in San Diego, taking the decision-making out of the hands of experts, historians, and architects. This package of reforms is in “Package A”.
So, Bruce and Alana Coons were there to urge all of us to attend the hearing of the next governmental agency to consider the reforms — which is the San Diego Planning Commission and it’s meeting this Thursday, November 6. (Details below.)
Package A had already been presented to the main body that oversees historic designations,a group of volunteers called the Historic Resources Board. And they voted against the package. City staff also presented it to the Community Planners Committee, and they also voted against it unanimously — and this happened just last week.
But the Planning Commission is more of a conservative body, made up of mayoral appointees, so even though Package A already had 2 strikes against it, the Commissioners have their own agendas and pursuits. After the Planning Commission, Package A goes to the City Council land use and housing committee on December 11, and then eventually to the full City Council in either January or February next year.
Bruce Coons explained that city staff would claim at the hearing that OB doesn’t deserve an historic district because there’s ‘not enough contributors’ in the community at large, meaning there’s insufficient houses, cottages, or buildings of historic value to warrant an historic district in OB.
But this is just not true. During our discussion and gathering on Halloween day inside NewBreak — which included a number of individuals who had fought the project on Point Loma Avenue last year, plus a number of people from the OB Historical Society — including the present and past presidents, at least one member of the OB Planning Board — it was explained that there’s about 70 units within the historic district, but there’s a potential for 200 to 300 more. It’s unknown because the city never undertook a survey of the historic buildings in the OB neighborhood — and it was supposed to and still needs to.
Also, due to the abundance of naturally-occurring affordable housing in OB — all the cottages and bungalows, OB is historically the most affordable beach community in San Diego. Compare OB with Mission Beach, PB, La Jolla. Plus, 70 to 80% of OBceans are renters. On top of that — there’s a number of historic buildings. In fact, we were sitting in one that day. NewBreak is the site within a number of older buildings on Abbott. The OB Library is a 100 years old, as is OB Elementary.
OB currently has an historic district. If the city removes it or greatly waters its purpose down to nothing, it will cause the loss of the existential character of Ocean Beach.
OBceans must show up at these governmental agency hearings — and the first is this Thursday, Nov. 6th at 9:00 a.m. at 7650 Mission Valley Rd. in Mission Valley (NOT downtown). It will be at the Development Services Department Edric Doringo Hearing Room – “The Edric”, San Diego, California 92108. More info on how to participate below. You can either speak for a minute or hand your time to other speakers.
The following is from a print-out from the Coons of SOHO.
PROTECT THE OCEAN BEACH COTTAGE EMERGING HISTORICAL DISTRICT.
The City’s Preservation and Progress Package A includes a proposal that would remove Ocean Beach’s historic district exemption from the Complete
Communities Housing Solutions regulations.
This change is unnecessary, misleading, and contrary to preservation best practices.
WHY THIS MATTERS:
• Ocean Beach’s Beach Cottage District is unique—a rare, intact early beach community that reflects the neighborhood’s original scale, character, and history.
• Applying Complete Communities regulations here would be especially disruptive and destructive to everything that makes this area special.
• The City has never completed the full historic survey that is required. As a result, staff has minimized the number of qualified resources because they rely on a limited, owner-volunteered list from years ago. That list represents only a fraction of the eligible cottages, giving a false impression of how few historic resources exist.
• The City was supposed to complete the process of converting this area into a standard (traditional) historic district more than ten years ago. This would have
provided clarity, accuracy, and protection for the neighborhood.
• Staff now claim they never intended to exempt the district from Complete Communities. The fact is, the district is legally exempt, and Ocean Beach has relied on that exemption for years to maintain its character and balance.
SOHO RECOMMENDS:
• Oppose the removal of Ocean Beach’s historic district exemption from Complete Communities regulations.
• Remove the proposed change applying Complete Communities to the Ocean Beach Cottage Emerging Historical District.
• Prioritize completing the long-overdue conversion of the Ocean Beach Cottage area to a traditional historic district.
TO COMMENT, YOU MIGHT SAY:
1. Please remove the proposed Complete Communities amendment for the Ocean Beach Cottage Emerging Historical District.
2. I support converting this area into a traditional historic district for lasting clarity and protection.
3. The City should complete a professional historic survey before making zoning or policy changes.
4. Ocean Beach’s historic district is legally exempt from Complete Communities, and residents rely on this protection.
HOW TO COMMENT OR PARTICIPATE DETAILS:
DATE and TIME: November 6, 2025, at 9:00 A.M.
LOCATION:
Development Services Department Edric Doringo Hearing Room – “The Edric” 7650 Mission Valley Rd., San Diego, California 92108
AGENDA:
Click to access pc-agenda-11-6-2025-final.pdf
This is ITEM 1: PRESERVATION AND PROGRESS PACKAGE A-
For Agenda Items and Non-Agenda Public Comment/Written Materials:
To send in comments on Package A of the Preservation & Progress Initiative:
WebForm: https://www.sandiego.gov/planning-commission/agenda-comment-form
The link to join the meeting virtually by computer, tablet, or smartphone
is: https://sandiego.zoomgov.com/j/1609440367 ?
Scroll down to the last paragraph for the web form for written comments and Zoom link:
– To send in written comments here’s the Web Form: https://www.sandiego.gov/planning-commission/agenda-comment-form
– To join the meeting virtually by computer, tablet, or smartphone: https://sandiego.zoomgov.com/j/1609440367
Details are also on the website for Coastal Caretakers. Nothing is easy with this form, but persevere. Do you think 100 comments from the community is too much to ask? Please, oh please, take a few minutes to say what you think about Big Development in our community. KEEP OCEAN BEACH HISTORICAL! Please comment now. You don’t always see this right away, but persevere to the very end, and click “SUBMIT.”
https://obsandiego92107.com