Ocean Beach Was Specifically Targeted for Over-Development by San Diego Planners — Oppose This Plan Today at City Hall

See Talking Points for Today’s Hearing Below

It’s true, the community of Ocean Beach was specifically and intentionally targeted by city planners for over-development. How they did this was by including a specific reference to OB’s historic district in a so-called package of “reforms” that would eliminate any historical protections against over-development the district provides for Ocean Beach.

This reference to undermine OB’s Emerging Cottage Historic District is included in an awkward bungling of proposals under the rubric of Preservation Reforms Package A that is headed to the City Council today, Feb. 24th.

The threats of over-development would come from Mayor Gloria’s “Complete Communities” which allows for higher density and a loosening of requirements, such as the 30-foot height limit, parking, set-backs and other restrictions on project developments. If OB’s Historic District is undermined, then OB is susceptible to the ravages of  Complete Communities.

Here’s some background as to how we got here.

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 of 2024 by the San Diego Planning Commission. The developers were using Complete Communities to obtain exemptions from long-held restrictions if they met certain requirements.

Because there appeared to be a legal conflict between the Complete Communities plan and the Municipal Code, the commissioners approved the denial of the project.  . However, at the end of the hearing, Vice Chair Matthew Boomhower, the most developer-friendly commissioner 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.”

In 2024, what saved OB from The Point over-development project was a section of this municipal code that allows certain exemptions; a sub-section says “The regulations in this Division shall not apply to the following types of development, ” and then sub-section (6), among others, which states, “Development located within a designated historical district or subject to the Old Town San Diego Planned District.”

So, here was the conflict — the code exempted any “designated historical district” from the rules of Complete Communities. Period. But staff fixed the proposed language for subsection (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;

The specific wording of the new language in the so-called reforms proposes the removal of most of Ocean Beach’s protection from the mayor’s Complete Communities plan with this: “(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 in 2024 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.\

Here are some talking points to use during today’s hearing, which won’t begin until after 2 pm in City Hall:

Talking Points

OB has an Historical District due to:

• Several hundreds of cottages built since the 1880s;
• The historic nature of OB is undisputed; the entire community is historic, not just single lots.
• Application for an historic district designation was filed with the state Department of Parks and Recreation on June 2, 1999.
• Residents and property owners have relied on this designation for over a quarter of a century.
• OB needs some protections as it is already one of the densest communities in San Diego, what with smaller than usual lot sizes, rear yard homes, and multiple apartments.
• 70-80% of OB residents are renters; OB is not some all-white rich exclusive neighborhood made up entirely of single-family homes.

Package A was opposed by the following:

• San Diego’s Historic Resource Board – the very board that oversees the designation of historic buildings and neighborhoods voted against it.
• The Community Planners Committee (CPC) — the body made up of representatives of all the city’s community planning committees — opposed it.
• The Ocean Beach Planning Board voted against Package A.

The City never completed a survey of all the different historic cottages within the neighborhood of  Ocean Beach.

• The city wants to limit the historic protections just to the 72 cottages identified as historic.
• Local historians estimate there may be up to 300 such cottages within OB.
• Now the city wants to benefit from its lack of follow-through with a survey of all the cottages, and exempt the entire community from preservation.
• Usually historical districts protect the entire neighborhood from over-development to save the community’s character.
• City planners want only the 72 cottages to be protected and allow over-development on the very next lot.

Proposed “Reforms” will benefit developers, not neighborhoods

See SOHO’s Action Alert:

For all these reasons, the future of OB is on the table today. Please attend in person, on Zoom, or comment via the city’s website.