From SOHO
On Wednesday, January 14, the San Diego City Council’s Land Use & Housing Committee will consider the City’s Preservation and Progress Package A.
This fast-tracked proposal would weaken San Diego’s historic preservation program by allowing the City Council to override expert historic designations, thereby stripping protections from historic districts such as Ocean Beach’s Cottage Emerging District and the Asian Thematic District, while prioritizing new construction over true preservation.
Your voice matters now. Please attend the meeting if you can and send a letter or email urging the committee to reject these harmful changes.
Land Use & Housing Committee
City Council, City of San Diego
Wednesday, January 14, 2026 • 2pm
City Administration Building
Council Chambers – 12th Floor
202 C Street, San Diego, CA 92101
Agenda Item: 3
Preservation and Progress Package A
Agenda: https://sandiego.hylandcloud.com/211agendaonlinecomm/Meetings/ViewMeeting?id=6815&doctype=1&site=comm
Send your letters and emails to Council Administration
Email CouncilCommittee@sandiego.gov
Subject Preservation and Progress Package A / Land Use & Housing Committee
What’s at stake in Package A
The City’s proposals directly threaten San Diego’s preservation program and the places you love that make San Diego thrive. Use these points as your own, or personalize.
De Novo
A de novo process would allow the City Council to rehear historic designation cases from scratch—overriding the determinations of the Historical Resources Board (HRB), a body of trained experts in history, architecture, and archaeology. This politicizes what should remain a fact-based, impartial process.
- It gives developers but not advocates a second bite at the apple
- It creates unnecessary costs, delays, and uncertainty
- It weakens public trust in the preservation program
Erosion of Historic District Protections
Neighborhoods—especially Ocean Beach’s Cottage Emerging District and The Asian Thematic district will be stripped of its current protections opening it up for the City’s destructive Complete Community program, along with pending districts, all are left vulnerable in this misguided initiative.
Misplaced Focus on New Construction
The plan prioritizes streamlining new construction under the banner of “preservation.” This is fundamentally incompatible with preservation policy nationwide. Adaptive reuse, infill, and design guidelines are what is appropriate. Bulldozing protections to clear the way for demolition is not only shortsighted, but it also goes directly against the city’s climate action goals.
View the City’s amended Preservation and Progress Package A (City of San Diego, October 1, 2025).
It’s just yet another destructive blow to our communities, masquerading as something reasonable. Example: in 1990 I added two 2 br 2 ba units with tandem parking, sharing a lot with a 1915 duplex. SOHO gave me (the Architect) an award for Urban Infill & a Mayor’s Commendation. Now in 2026, they’ve just built 9 ADUs on a 20′ lot next door. 12′ wide x 40′ tall, running to the 4′ rear setback, with no off street parking. This is our future in San Diego under these politicians and planners. Our best and last hope is to elect new leadership, as the fix is in.
Please, do not give up! Use the Link on the material provided by SOHO and provide a comment. Would it be too much to hope for 100+ Comments from Ocean Beach? A few words would do: Go to the form and enter your name and an email address. Select “In Objection to”, Enter Item 3, and you have a short block. Use the Word Ocean Beach in your first sentence, while supporting the objection to the whole package. Our Motto at Coastal Caretakers is: “Ocean Beach IS a complete Community!” With only a few minutes of your time, you can contribute to the effort to keep Ocean Beach the way we know and love it. If you hesitate, remember the 22 stories proposed in Pacific Beach could be the Ocean Beach of the future.
Our historic neighborhoods are desirable because of the history. While I don’t live in a historic building of my Mission Hills condo. We bought a home in the neighborhood because we love the quiet and historic neighborhood. A 12 story apartment building is proposed Ft. Stockton and Goldfinch where the historic red cottage duplex was torn down. The building will only have 10 parking places! I live two blocks away. There are plenty of places to build outside of historic districts!
Confused on why we can’t have a nice building for housing instead of a half burned down abandoned building? The thing is an eyesore. Change is inevitable people.