From Neighbors for a Better California
The latest public records released this past week confirm that Project Vela remains under active City review. No final decision has been made on the project’s requested height, scale, incentives, or waivers.
Before the City can make those determinations, the developer must still resolve key technical issues identified during the review process, including floor area calculations, fire protection, stormwater management, and the legal basis for the project’s requested waivers.
Rather than becoming clearer as the review has progressed, the records show that important questions remain unresolved across multiple technical areas.
NFABC has submitted an additional Public Records Act request for missing documents referenced in the file. Our volunteer team brings experience in law, city planning, community planning, public communications, and state housing legislation. This expertise allows us to analyze complex records, ask informed questions, and help hold the City’s review process accountable so Project Vela is not approved for more height, density, or scale than California law and the San Diego Municipal Code allow.
What the Latest Records Show
Fire Safety Review Continues
The City’s Fire Suppression reviewer stated that, after multiple rounds of review, proper and complete responses had still not been provided for the issues identified. The reviewer noted that little progress had been made and advised the design team to resolve the outstanding issues before additional reviews continued.
Stormwater Questions Remain
The records include a letter from the developer’s own geotechnical consultant concluding that stormwater infiltration is not feasible at the site due to nearby contaminated soil and the potential for impacts to neighboring properties. As a result, alternative stormwater treatment methods are being pursued.
Key Project Calculations Are Still Being Reviewed
The documents also show continuing discussion regarding the project’s floor area calculations, requested incentives, and waiver requests. The records reflect that these issues were still under review and that differing interpretations existed during the permitting process.
At the same time, the developer’s attorneys urged the City to issue a final determination, arguing that all outstanding issues had been resolved. The City’s own review comments, however, show that multiple technical disciplines were still requesting clarification and additional information.
NFABC has consistently maintained that this project deserves a careful, transparent, and thorough review. These latest public records reinforce that important technical and safety questions were still being addressed and that the review process was far from complete.
Why Sacramento Matters
Project Vela is only possible because California housing laws have changed. The developer is relying on State Density Bonus Law, SB 330, AB 1287, and related state-law waivers to seek more height, density, and development than local zoning would normally allow.
NFABC is also tracking new housing bills that could further change what can be built in coastal communities like Pacific Beach.
- AB 1751 would make it easier to divide single-family lots into much smaller ownership lots, allowing new lots as small as 600 square feet each for qualifying townhome projects.
- SB 79 takes effect July 1, 2026. It allows taller and denser buildings within one-half mile of qualifying transit stops. Depending on the location, new buildings could be 6 to 8 stories—or even taller—where local zoning would normally allow much less.
- SB 958 responds to the Midway Rising litigation and could limit CEQA challenges based on building height for certain qualifying projects.
These bills are just a few examples of the many housing proposals moving through Sacramento that could affect neighborhoods across California.
To learn more about these bills, Project Vela, and other housing laws affecting our community, visit the updated Turquoise Tower Resource Center on the NFABC website.
Explore the Updated Turquoise Tower Resource Center
We have expanded NFABC’s website to provide residents with the latest information about Turquoise Tower (Project Vela) in one place.
The updated Resource Center includes:
A plain-language overview of Project Vela
Recent project updates and Public Records Act findings
Information about state housing laws affecting the project
Key issues involving height, density, fire safety, stormwater, infrastructure, and community impacts
Ways to stay informed and get involved
Visit the updated Turquoise Tower Resource Center to explore the latest information and follow future developments as the project moves through the City’s review process.
How You Can Help Right Now
Project Vela (Turquoise Tower) is still under review, and public attention matters. Her are three ways to help:
1. Share This Newsletter
Forward this update to neighbors, HOA boards, community groups, local businesses, and anyone who wants to better understand Project Vela and the state housing laws affecting our community.
2. Contact Your Elected Officials Today
Reach out directly to let them know this matters to you. Use the sample message below as a starting point—feel free to personalize it in your own words.
Councilmember Joe LaCava at: joelacava@sandiego.gov
Mayor Todd Gloria at: mayortoddgloria@sandiego.gov
Sample message to adapt:
Dear Councilmember LaCava and Mayor Gloria,
Please ensure Project Vela receives a full, transparent review before any approval is issued.
The latest public records show unresolved issues involving fire safety, stormwater, project calculations, waivers, height, and scale.
Project Vela should not be approved for more height, density, or scale than California law and the San Diego Municipal Code allow.
Sincerely,
[Your Name and City]
3. Support NFABC’s Legal and Technical Review Fund
Project Vela requires ongoing review of public records, technical documents, legal claims, and City responses. This work takes significant time and resources.
Your donation helps NFABC continue obtaining records, reviewing new information, consulting legal and technical experts, and holding the City’s review process accountable.
Please consider supporting this work today.
In solidarity,
Neighbors for a Better California
9855 Black Mountain Road
SAN DIEGO
GoFundMe Set Up to Stop Turquoise Tower Development
June 30, 2026 —A community group called Fight Turquoise Tower has set up a GoFundMe page to stop the development of the 23-story Turquoise Tower/Vela development on Turquoise Street in North Pacific Beach. The proposed project includes 139 hotel rooms and 74 living units, 10 of which are for low or moderate income.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/stop-the-turquoise-tower-legal-fund?attribution_id=sl:2dada931-ae63-4940-a592-513d0469199c&lang=en_US&ts=1782686032&utm_campaign=man_sharesheet_dash&utm_content=amp20_t1&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link
The development has been controversial because of its extreme size in a costal area that has a 30-foot height limit. New state Bonus Density laws allow builders to bypass local review, height limits, and environmental and safety studies.
“This project is a gross misuse of the new state bonus density law,” said Lisa Barron, who lives in the area neighboring the proposed tower and is the creator of the GoFundMe page. “This would be a 238-foot building on a narrow two-lane street which is already at 400 percent of its usage.”
The development is currently under review by the San Diego Development Services Department. In December, the city asked the builder to clarify certain proportions of the project to justify the extreme height. According to DSD, the developer has yet to respond, and a building permit has not been issued.
“This part of Turquoise St. is also a designated evacuation route for Pacific Beach, Bird Rock, and portions of South La Jolla,” said Barron. “A building of this size on such a narrow street will pose serious health and safety issues for the surrounding neighborhoods.”
Barron said this is not an NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) vs. YIMBY (Yes in My Back Yard) fight. Leaders of the San Diego YIMBY Democrats have said they do not back this project. Mayor Todd Gloria and council member Joe La Cava have come out against it. And U.S. Congressman Scott Peters (founder of YIMBYs in Congress) has called it a “mistake.”
“Everyone knows this is the wrong project in the wrong area. So why are we stuck with this?” said Barron. “We have to fight back. That is why we started a GoFundMe page, so we can take action and get the legal advice we need.”
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GoFundMe
Fundraiser by Team Fight the Turquoise Tower : Stop the Turquoise Tower Legal Fund
Petition to stop the Tower
Cindy Weigle
cweigle@daumweigle.com
858-663-9753
Yet another example of an Authoritarian State Government that has taken zoning, density, & development decisions from local community planned districts and City Officials. Not that there aren’t local politicians doing similar, some of the worst under the banner of Complete Communities. In the City of San Diego, 4 of 9 Council votes were to continue with Unlimited Bonus ADUs (now called Transit Priority Areas, as the previous brand is poisonous). The only hope is the restoration of a 2 party system here and in Sacramento, at every level of government, so that the radical nonsense on each side gets cancelled out.
My only hope is a constitutional amendment, or new federal legislation, that overturns the decisions the republican appointed judges in SCOTUS are STILL making allowing unlimited amounts of money in politics to own candidates & politicians and buy elections.
But you should embrace what your Dem progressive cohorts in the state ascribe to. North Park infill building at the coast. Close off access to everyone by mass infill. Did you not vote for that?