More on the Emerald Hills Radio Towers Project
By Robert Campbell
At the July 7th City Council hearing on the Emerald Hills Radio Towers project, Henry Foster’s Chief of Staff, Dan Horton entered his version of the Footnote 7 historical timeline into the record as “late arriving materials.” While his timeline begins on September 11, 2019, public records requests and review of City Council hearings have allowed me to plug the gaps and correct the record with missing facts.
The true written record starts on April 16, 2019, when Development Services Department (DSD) Assistant Director Gary Geiler wrote to land use attorney and developer Dennis Dawson, saying, “It was nice meeting with you to go over the potential development… I will continue to discuss with the Planning Department the feasibility of the Rezone on a neighborhood basis… given the current density restrictions.”
The following narrative is fully documented and supported by public records requests, public archives, and verified audio and video recordings.
April – May 2019
Internal Reality: DSD Assistant Director Geiler meets privately with developer attorney Dennis Dawson. They discuss “potential development” and “rezone feasibility” for a “Broadway Site” under current density restrictions. Geiler provides Dawson with municipal codes for RS (Residential-Single) zones and Planned Development Permits to map out a strategy.
Public Action: The First Approvals
September – November 2019
Public Record: The Code Monitoring Team, Community Planners Committee, and Planning Commission review and vote to approve the proposed 12th Code Update (also known as the 2019 Land Development Code Update), which quietly introduces a piece of text known as “Footnote 7.”
Public Action: Council Enacts Footnote 7
Dec 17, 2019 – Jan 7, 2020
Public Record: The San Diego City Council officially approves and adopts the 2019 Land Development Code (LDC) Update. Footnote 7 is legally slipped into the Residential Zones Development Regulations Table, reducing lot minimums from 20,000 to 5,000 square feet specifically in Encanto and Southeastern San Diego.
The Political Connection: Out of the entire city of San Diego, only one single person from the public speaks publicly on the record about this footnote and it is attorney Dennis Dawson who appears to own property in Encanto on RS-1-2 zoned lots and had been secretly meeting with Gary Geiler to coordinate this exact change.
Right before voting to approve the LDC and Footnote 7, then-Councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe personally thanks Dennis Dawson by name, along with the YIMBYs, for their work. Orchestrating this legislative session is her then-Chief of Staff, Henry Foster III.
Phase 2: Confirmation of the Secret the zoning loophole that is Footnote 7
April 2020
Internal Reality: Dawson writes to Geiler, panicked that the City’s public zoning website still lists his parcels’ minimum lot size as 20,000 sq. ft. (RS-1-2), despite the council vote he just championed.
Geiler and city staffer David Saborio write back to clarify the workaround: Footnote 7 is a text loophole, not a map layer. It allows the developer to slash lot sizes to 5,000 sq. ft. without changing the base zoning map. To an ordinary citizen looking at the City’s public mapping GIS layers, the land appears as low-density, keeping the developer’s 4x density expansion entirely hidden from the neighborhood.
Here’s an email:
Phase 3: Squeezing Footnote 7 for Maximum Density
March 2021
Internal Reality: Dawson pushes Geiler to maximize the loophole. He asks to not only shrink the lots, but to slash the physical dimensions of the neighborhood to pack more houses closer together. Dawson asks to bypass RS-1-2 rules and use dense RS-1-7 sub-rules.
On March 9, 2021, Geiler officially greenlights the developer’s wishlist, writing: “Yes, I believe the intent was to use those lot dimensions as well.”
Here’s the email:
Approved Dimensional Reductions:
- Lot Width & Frontage: Slashed from 80 ft down to 50 ft.
- Lot Depth: Reduced from 100 ft down to 95 ft.
- Front Setback: Cut from 25 ft down to 15 ft.
- Rear Setback: Cut from 25 ft down to 13 ft.
Phase 4: Modifying the Code for Maximum Potency
April 2021
Internal Reality: Following his private agreement with Dawson, Geiler shifts the focus internally. He writes to city staffer Renee Mezo, directing her to have Footnote 7 officially modified to bake Dawson’s exact dimensions (reduced setbacks, narrower frontages) directly into the rules governing RS-1-2 land. This fundamental rewrite of local zoning laws is executed entirely behind closed doors with zero public notice, community input, or environmental justice review.
Public Action: Codifying the Developer’s Wishlist
Dec 13, 2021 – Jan 11, 2022
Public Record: The City Council approves the 2021 Land Development Code Update. Passed quietly on the Consent Agenda with no public debate, the amendment adds the text Geiler and Dawson concocted: “…and all development regulations of the RS-1-7 zone shall apply to subdivisions.” The loophole is now fully weaponized.
The D4 Staff Briefing
November 7, 2022
Public Record: District 4 office staff (Tiffany Harrison and Eric Henson) meet with community members providing an overview of the land use code and how the development in Emerland Hills is within the code keeping the public narrative contained while the project advances under Footnote 7. How were regular citizens supposed to understand the lengths of complexity the City had gone through to make just their neighborhood different from the rest of the City.
The ‘Institutional Amnesia’ Hearing
November 12, 2024
Public Record: During a City Council session regarding the Klauber Development CEQA Appeal, Planning Director Heidi Vonblum explicitly states that the City does not know the origins or original intent of Footnote 7.
The Hypocrisy: While the Planning Director claims the City’s origins are an untraceable mystery, internal DSD servers hold years of explicit, step-by-step emails between Geiler and Dawson, and public council archives show Montgomery Steppe literally thanking Dawson by name for it in 2019.
The Unanimous Repeal
January 28 – March 2025
Public Record: Facing a wall of community resistance, the San Diego City Council votes unanimously to completely remove Footnote 7 from the Municipal Code.
The Internal Paper Trail Scramble
February 6, 2025
Internal Reality: Sandwiched directly between the first and second council votes to repeal the footnote, Gary Geiler pulls the entire multi-year email chain detailing his collusion with Dawson and forwards it directly to Elyse Lowe (Director of the Development Services Department). This internal flag occurs precisely as public records requests drop and political fallout peaks.
The Bait-and-Switch Approval
July 7, 2026
Public Record: Councilmember Henry Foster III votes to approve the 123-home Radio Towers project. He uses State Law (SB 330 / Housing Crisis Act of 2019) to argue that because the developer submitted applications while Footnote 7 was active, the City is legally required to honor it, completely ignoring that his own department and his own former boss spent years privately fabricating, protecting, and working with this developer using Footnote 7.
The Takeaway
Let’s call Footnote 7 what it actually is: a highly coordinated, map-bypassing zoning hack engineered by City staff and a developer’s attorney to strip Emerald Hills and Encanto of the same land use law enjoyed by wealthy, white communities and quite frankly, the rest of the City. The “mystery” is dead.
So why the cover-up? Follow the money. On February 19th, Dennis Dawson cut an $800 check to Henry Foster, the absolute maximum individual contribution allowed by law.
The City Planning Department and the Council office operate on a single, arrogant assumption that everyday residents won’t look for the truth, won’t request the files, and won’t read the hundreds of pages of backroom emails. They thought you or I wouldn’t notice. But the gaps are plugged, the facts are laid bare, and the truth is finally out.
WOW!!!!! Seems to me, there was/is talk about shady dealings between a couple of sitting Council members, the Dept. of DSD, and Planning Dept. What has a hot dog land use attorney said about this??? And the voters in the County voted for one of the involved council reps, for their Board of Supervisors. SWELL!!!!!
Pat,
Thank you for the comment.
If you find a land use attorney to take this case up, I’m happy to provide the hundreds of other supporting public records that could not be published in this article due to space constraints.
Environmental Justice is not a “nice to have,” it’s California law and it’s critical that land use decisions involve the community and impacts on health be evaluated as cumulative. Decisions must be made in public and not behind closed doors with special interests.
Transparency is critical in free democracy.
This reporter has a source inside city hall. What a great piece of investigative reporting!
Hi Paul,
Thank you for the kind comment.
Fun fact, all of my facts are derived from consuming public records. It is quite amazing what can be discovered when you place specific public records requests. Although not all records are retained, unfortunately.
Finding the comments in public testimony from 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 were a lot of listening and that was time consuming but if you don’t do it, who will?
Please share this article liberally. It is critical that history be captured accurately and not lost to special interest omission of critical facts.
So what actions can we take now? Thus is clearly a cover up into worst way —-now fully exposures. Thank you Rob for all your work and detailing the historical time line of events!
Karen,
Thank you for taking the time to comment.
I think perhaps the best action you can take is to educate yourself and stay informed and engaged with the City. The second best thing you can do is inform your neighbors and friends. The third best thing is to ask pointed questions of those representing us, always. The fourth best thing is to vote. Access to public records is vital for accountability.
Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.
May I suggest reading: The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Color_of_Law
I also suggesting reading: Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty,_by_America
SD is so corrupt. Bought and paid for politics. And Raul Campillo is correct -fruit of the poisoned tree should be negated (any project utilizing Fn 7 provisions)..
Great article, Rob. You need an award for citizen journalism. Have you sent this to other outlets like the SDUT or the VOSD, news stations?
Agree ? this story needs to be shared more widely!! Thanks Rob for the reading recommendations as well!’
This was an exclusive piece for the Rag. Those other news outlets can report on the issue — as they should — but haven’t for a number of reasons for years now. Let them pick up the story. They can copy and paste ours — as long as they give us attribution, credit and also especially to Rob.
Frank,
Thank you for allowing me to be published on the Rag. You have given a voice to what are often the voiceless. Ironically, the “Voice of San Diego” has been the least responsive to my voice.
To Steph’s point, I think she’s simply hopeful that the aperture can be widened so that more people are aware as this topic is deep and concerns all of San Diego.
To your point, the Rag is a great local news outlet and the other news outlets can report on news published here just like you report on their news. I am hopeful that the other outlets pick this up and credit the Rag, that’s the best that can happen for all of us.
Cheers to freedom of the press and the Rag for publishing!
There is an interesting dynamic between the Rag and the rest of San Diego’s media. We try to have a cordial, even friendly relationship with each , but invariably, their numbers-driven motivation prevents them for some reason of mentioning the Rag, or giving us any credit for certain news we break. Also, we’ve had hot stories and tried like heck to get a local reporter to cover them.
For instance, we broke the story that the OB Pier had met its “service life,” and could no longer sustain itself. To this day, hardly any media gave us any credit for that, and ignored Geoff Page who wrote the breaking news story on the pier.
For instance, we had the story on the effort to give away Mission Bay land by the city for housing or hotels — the Rag published numerous articles about it by Donna Frye — and no one touched it — for weeks … until UT’s Jeff McDonald did.
I was once told by a friendly TV reporter that one of the reasons stations and papers don’t mention or quote other media is because they want to be seen as the originators of the story.
Please get this story out! Copy it, paste it … and let your readers know where it came from.
Steph,
Thank you for the kind words. I’m not in this for any award, I’m in this for the right reasons, just honest reporting and asking tough questions from the ground. Encanto is my home and Emerald Hills is my neighbor, I’m going to defend my home with all of my effort and you better believe I want San Diego to live up to its slogan of Americas Finest City. I’m going to fight like hell to make sure we are the best version of ourselves.
The short answer is yes, I have shared these facts with several of our local journalists. Specifically, Voice of San Diego (VOSD) has declined to correspond with me or report on ‘Footnote 7,’ and the San Diego Union-Tribune (SDUT) hasn’t made much of an effort either. If you have any insights on how to get local outlets to actually cover citizen-reported news, I’m all ears!
In the meantime, I highly recommend submitting a public comment to them for publication. While the SDUT did run an opinion piece of mine a few months ago, they unfortunately rejected my follow-up reporting, letting me know it was a bit too technical for the general public.
I do want to thank KPBS, iNewsSource, Voice & Viewpoint, CBS 8 and NBC 7 for their local reporting and of course, OB Rag. These organizations have done a good job of listening and taking time to understand the issue – or at least make an effort considering their own financial constraints and timelines..
Here’s a sentence about Footnote 7 from the link:
“There’s probably a fascinating story about the bureaucratic bumbling that led to this original mistake and the clumsy fix.”
https://voiceofsandiego.org/2025/02/01/politics-report-oh-henry/
Unfortunately, they won’t want to hear the fascinating story from me. I was blocked from commenting on their website years ago. Hopefully someone else sends it to them.
Thanks Steph, that was a great re-read.
Great work, Rob, extremely well written. The other news outlets should be picking this one up.
Geoff,
Thank you for your words. So far all the other local news outlets have declined to report the background on Footnote 7. The closest has been KPBS with a few articles that take a less direct approach than I. May I ask that you please write them or write opinion pieces to them for publication.
Post this on all your social media platforms and share away!
A special thanks to OB Rag for publishing.
I’m pretty sure part of the ‘corruption’ in the title has to do with the max campaign contribution of $800 to Henry Foster. And we need to keep in mind over many years republican SCOTUS members have legalized bribery (Billotti, Buckley, Citizen’s United, McCullough) and have determined money is free speech. Add to it last month in- National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission (June 2026). The 6-3 decision ruled that these coordinated spending caps, which were a key component of the post-Watergate Federal Election Campaign Act, violated the First Amendment rights of political parties to engage in free speech. By overturning this precedent, the Court effectively allows national, state, and local political parties to spend unlimited, coordinated funds on their candidates’ campaigns.
Pocket change to billionaire$. Corruption on steroids that starts at the very top.
Thx very much, Rob, for this very well-written and researched timeline covering a very regrettable series of decisions that bypassed community input. Reporting like this is crucially important in our efforts to limit and expose favoritism at city hall.
Paul,
Thank you. I wish I could add in all the details, there is so much more but that’ll have to wait for another time. The goal was to get some of the core published.
Not published but also part of the timeline:
January 28, 2025, Item 331 and March 4, 2025 Item 330 and S-507 was the repeal of Footnote 7 where Henry Foster took a strategic step and made a motion to remove the ADU Bonus Density program. This was done to distract the public from Footnote 7 and get the public hyper focused on a different policy that had City-wide impact rather than what the show that day was about, Footnote 7.
The city council spent only 5 minutes and 31 seconds discussing Footnote 7 and 28 minutes and 55 seconds on Henry’s ADU reform. Then on March 4th, the council spent 28 minutes and 55 seconds on Footnote 7 and 2 hours, 28 minutes and 52 seconds on Bonus ADU.
Why were both highly charged topics intertwined? Because the desire for the news to cover Bonus ADU as the bigger story.
It’s no coincidence.
On January 28, the public comment on the repeal was creating direct pressure for the Council to make the repeal meaningful for projects already relying on Footnote 7. Instead, the unagendized ADU Bonus motion was joined to the Footnote 7 action. Whitburn asked that the issues be bifurcated, Foster refused, and the chamber erupted over the ADU issue. That redirected the crowd’s and Council’s attention away from the central question: whether the repeal would protect the community from Klauber and Emerald Hills.
The later March 4 rehearing corrected the Brown Act problem procedurally, but it did not restore the January 28 political moment or provide pipeline relief. The result was a repeal that removed Footnote 7 prospectively while leaving the two projects that had made repeal necessary able to continue relying upon it.
I’ll see if I can’t get my story modified to include these important facts.
Wow! I never thought the specifics of this deception would come to light. There were rumors about Geiler’s role but no substantiated facts. Thank you so much for your perseverance and methodical stating of the timeline of events.
Would love a fat lawsuit overturning Footnote 7 and an effective end to the careers of Geiler, Steppe and Foster. It’s been several decades since I went to law school but isn’t this a denial of equal protection per the 14th amendment? Would love input from someone who knows.
LKBruce,
Thank you for the comments. I’ve got plenty more public records but the story would run long. If you know an attorney interested, I’m happy to provide the documents I have complied over time. Most information is available in the public domain, you just have to know where to look and what to ask for.
Thank you for reading, please share.
Will absolutely do! Thanks again!
OMG. I am so sick to my stomach right now of the outright corruption of Gary Geiler, Elyse Lowe, Monica Montgomery Steppe and Henry Foster I feel like I am going to throw up.
As for the developers attorney Dennis Dawson, what can I say…….there is a reason there is a book out called “100 things to do with a dead lawyer”. He is a weasel and has chosen to profit off the backs of others. Good job Mr. Dawson, how much did you get for the land you own in Encanto!
Thank you so much Rob Campbell for doing all this research to expose this dishonest City Leaders we currently have.
And thank you Frank for posting this for the rest of us to see and SHARE!
Please EVERYONE SHARE THIS AND THE NAMES OF THE CITY LEADERS WHO BETRAYED US.
One question this article raises for me is whether the same rules were really applied equally across different neighborhoods. If similar communities were treated differently without a clear planning reason, shouldn’t that be reviewed by an independent attorney?
Whether the issue ultimately involves constitutional rights, California planning laws, or simply a failure to follow the City’s own rules, the timeline and public records presented here seem significant enough to deserve an objective legal review. It may even be worthwhile to seek that review from an experienced municipal law attorney outside the immediate San Diego area who can evaluate the evidence with fresh eyes and no prior involvement.
Hi Karen,
I agree with your assessment. Do you have a suggestion on who would be willing to do an independent assessment? Please share this article with as many people as you know in San Diego.
Great job Rob!!
Sept 11, 2019 Renee Mezo presents 24 items to TAC. Only 10 members voted.
Minutes state: “These items have all been workshopped and the draft language was provided with agenda along with matrix. CMT approved all items.”
[Draft language must have been a late arrival provided at meeting.]
Matrix states: Regulatory Reform – “Development Regulations Table for Residential Zones- Clarification that the minimum lot size in the RS-1-2 zones within Encanto and Southeastern San Diego community planning areas is 5,000 square feet.”
[Again a “Clarification”? Same reasoning behind change in Transition Plane for Complete Communities in 2024! This allows 6 story buildings abutting SFD on RS 1-7 lots.]
CM Whitburn was Chair of Land Use committee that passed it unanimously along with Elo Rivera, La Cava & Moreno in January 2022.
Planning Director Von Blum doing a CYA: “Amendments that only affect a small area should be addressed through either specific rezoning actions, or with intentional and inclusive engagement with the communities specifically affected.”
CM Foster doing his version: “10. November 12, 2024 (Footnote 7 Origins) – Heidi Vonblum, the Director of the Planning Department for the City of San Diego, stated during the afternoon session of City Council that the City does not know the origins of Footnote 7
City Staff reviewed City records and emails but could not conclusively determine the original intent of Footnote 7 or its subsequent amendment.”
And the beat goes on…la dee dady dee, la de dady dah!
Michael,
Thank you! The beat goes on. Let’s keep our beat going on. Please share this story!
HOLY MOLEY!!! Many of us know that there is some SHADY behavior happening in the confines of City Hall on a daily basis. When Todd Gloria was elected, the level of SHADINESS was upgraded to “Every Day; Every Minute”
I spend a lot of time following all of the ENDLESS questionable antics of the Gloria Administration , but had stopped myself from fantasizing about it ever being revealed with evidence to back it up. Until TODAY!
I know this required an unbelievable amount of time to research; bonus that it’s been written by someone who seemingly is in this to make the public aware of the problem.
THANK YOU FOR THAT ??
Rick,
Thank you for the comments! The unresponsive and often contradictory answers from our elected representatives and City officials prompted our community to launch our own inquiry. By auditing public records and reviewing recorded council testimonies, we uncovered a troubling pattern of decision-making. Piece by piece, the official documentation revealed a network of influence and policy manipulation that demands public accountability.
I’ve got a whole lot more public records and video that are not published in this article due to time and space constraints.
I am truly inspired by your article ; especially that it’s motivated by a desire to improve how the City of San Diego functions and ultimately improves.
My guess is that purchasing a home is the largest and most important decision we will make in our lives.
We are so careful to choose the right home in the right neighborhood . Hopefully the zoning will help prevent things being built that might have a negative impact on the home.
It INFURIATES me to think that a few people can decide to team up and secretly , illegally, scandalously change the zoning of an area.
They can access these City files , write addendums and then slip out unnoticed and not be revealed for YEARS.
How would a person living in San Diego go about creating a measure to get rid of our current “Strong Mayor” form of government and get that measure on the ballot?
We have Todd Gloria through 2028, and need to do what we can to REDUCE HIS POWER In decision making
; FOUR CITY COUNCIL SEATS ARE UP FOR GRABS.
We have a chance to restore San Diego and then ELEVATE it to levels we haven’t even imagined.
Fyi, all of Emerald Hills had a brownout for approximately 3 hours yesterday evening. Our grid is under considerable strain. I guess we can look forward to a lot more of this….