Author: Staff

By Geoff Page

The only way to access the site of the “cottages” is by turning west off Catalina Blvd. onto Lomaland Drive and driving onto the Nazarene University campus. Just past the intersection of Lomaland Drive and Lomaland Drive – yes there is such an intersection – is a dirt road to the west that is easy to miss.

The four units are on the west side of the dirt road, facing Sunset Cliffs Park below. At the end of the short road are Units #4 and #3.

Unit #4 is a very small building, only 400 square feet according the to the tenants in Unit #3. Unit #3 is a small one-bedroom place next to it. Unit #2 has been empty for 18 years and it looks like it. Unit #1 is referred to as the Corbin House. Unlike the other three, Unit #1 is a substantial house, inhabited, but also in a state of disrepair. This is the house proponents are pushing for historical designation.

The retired couple renting Unit #3 were home and happy to talk about what was happening. Joe and Debbie Corr’s house is small, a one-bedroom. The living room has a spectacular wide view – what some might call a million-dollar view – of the Pacific Ocean below. There is a small deck outside the living room window. The house is mostly wood and concrete block, clearly old.

Here are the details for the Historic Resources Board meeting on the Point Loma cottages.

Today, Thursday, May 22, 2025, at 12:00 P.M.

Location: Public Utilities Department Metropolitan Operations Complex II (MOC2) Auditorium
9192 Topaz Way San Diego, CA 92123

See this for HRB Agenda

At noon there is an awards program, the business agenda will likely not begin until 1pm.

ITEM-1 Continued from March 27, 2025:  ROSE VOLLMER/ RICHARD LAREAU RENTAL HOUSE Applicant/Owner: City of San Diego represented by Heritage Architecture & Planning

Staff: Suzanne Segur — Consider the designation of the property located at 4101 Lomaland Drive, 92107, Peninsula Community, Council District 2, as a historical resource. Report Number: HRB-25-011

PROPOSED ACTION

Designate or not designate the property as a historical resource under adopted designation criteria.

Here’s a short video of the OB Kite Festival 2025 by Charles Landon.

By Kate Callen

San Diego’s widely-abused Bonus ADU policy lost more ground May 15 when the City Council’s Land Use & Housing (LU&H) Committee voted 3-1 to chip away at its most egregious aspects.

But even in the face of overwhelming testimony about the misery caused by saturation density, three of the four committee members doggedly stuck to the Todd Gloria script: If we build more and more housing, an infinite number of people can afford to live in a coastal city with a mild climate.

The proposed changes to the Bonus ADU program look good on paper. And they might work if developers and corporate lawyers don’t find devious ways to slip through cracks in the policy.

The committee voted to limit the number of ADUs per property and to cap units at two stories. Cul-de-sacs and high-fire risk areas would be off-limits. Some on-site parking requirements would be restored.

But these good intentions could easily collide with political reality. The City is brazenly redrawing fire maps to push high-risk areas into low-risk categories. The “Transit Priority Areas” have eliminated parking requirements in neighborhoods that don’t currently have bus lines and probably never will.

By Steve O SanDiego

I stopped by Val’s Coffee Corner’s newest location, right on the corner of Voltaire and Ebers, to check out their soft opening. They’re still fine-tuning some of the small details, but the place is fully up and running.

Owner Val Fiorini already has a well-loved spot on Cable Street, just half a block south of Newport Avenue, sharing an alley with Kilowatt Brewing. She brings together strong Brazilian roots and easygoing San Diego vibes, creating a space that blends the best of both worlds. She’s the kind of person who remembers your go-to order, your name, and yep, probably your dog’s, too.

For Val, it’s never just about what’s in the cup or bowl. It’s about the moment, the connection, and those small sparks of joy that come with every visit. She and her crew serve up organic, feel good favorites that leave people smiling whether it be a hot coffee, a smooth açaí blend, or a cheesy pão de queijo.

In the end, there were forty-five activists and leaders from communities all over San Diego, and they held a truly historic meeting this past Saturday, May 10. It was and is a rare moment, a moment when that many neighborhood leaders and people active in their community meet together in one room with their own agenda — and without the presence of some governmental board, agency or council.

The beautiful and vintage Point Loma Assembly Hall — over one hundred years old –was the venue for this historic occasion. Hosted by folks from Protect Point Loma who provided the hall and pizza, there were brief welcomes and introductions from Frank G and Kate C of the coordinating committee. Then there was a dramatic moment — a roll call of the communities and hands shot up after each neighborhood was named. From Bay Ho to Encanto, from University City to Linda Vista, Ocean Beach to Mira Mesa, Middletown to Clairemont. La Jolla and Point Loma.

As people settled in, Kate C gave a special shout-out to two groups: to SOHO, Save Our Heritage Organization and to Neighbors for a Better San Diego, both of whom had done needed and crucial spadework on the issues for years.

Frank G then explained that the coalition was actually a coalition of community leaders — that hopefully some day would be a coalition of all the different neighborhood groups themselves — a direction the current network is moving. He said there’s at least two types of leadership. There’s one that shows by example and gets up to the top of the hill. Another is a type of leadership that gets to the top of the hill but takes everyone else with them. People nodded their heads and murmured in acquiescence. And the coalition, he said, needs that type of leadership right now.

Kate spoke of the three Planning Commissioners who back on May 1st were bold enough to just not go along with Mayor Gloria’s so-called ADU reforms, coming up with restrictions in number, height, set-backs, parking and adequate evacuation routes.

Residents of San Diego County have been subjected to two recent devastating news reports about our area.

A doctor expert says San Diego County’s jails are the worst than he’s ever seen them and are ‘far behind other jail and prison systems in California.’ The County has faced dozens of lawsuits that have cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in recent years.

And children taken from their parents for their own safety were abused by county social workers. The county is currently confronting hundreds of lawsuits filed by now-grown victims who say they were sexual assaulted at Polinsky Children’s Center and other facilities.

San Diego County might have the best weather around, but perhaps it helps hide an ugly, dark underbelly.

U-T writers Jeff McDonald and Kelly Davis recently published the following on our jail conditions:

‘No meaningful treatment’: Doctor says San Diego County jails are the worst he’s ever seen —
An expert for the plaintiffs suing over jail conditions says San Diego County’s lockups are ‘far behind other jail and prison systems in California.’

A Rag reader just recently noticed that the Blick Art Materials store in Little Italy (a large, two-story space at 1844 India Street) would be closing and relocating to the large space that was recently vacated by Joann Fabrics at 3633 Midway Drive in the Point Loma Plaza shopping center.

Blick will be opening on June 8th at that location in the Midway District.

A 51-year-old male pedestrian died Saturday, May 10, after being struck by a car in the Midway District. The as-yet-to-be identified man was crossing the street outside of a crosswalk in the 3400 block of Sports Arena Boulevard.

Police responded to the scene just minutes before 11 pm and determined that the victim was walking from the south curbline to the north curbline. He was struck by a Toyota Camry driven by a 22-year-old man.

There was an armed robbery attempt at one of OB’s high-end restaurants Saturday night, May 3. Apparently, the robbery at Cesarina was unsuccessful and no one was hurt. Here’s how the restaurant described the event on Instagram:

On Saturday evening, around 10:30 p.m. as we were closing, something unimaginable happened. An armed individual entered our restaurant and demanded money before fleeing.

We are beyond grateful for the immediate and effective response of the San Diego Police Department, who apprehended the suspect shortly after. Most importantly, we are overwhelmingly relieved to share that no one was harmed during this terrifying incident.

By Geoff Page

Ocean Beach will soon have a big empty eye sore right on Sunset Cliffs Blvd. The Rite Aid store, with an address of 4840 Niagara, will soon be a shuttered shell. A very big shuttered shell. Its closure was confirmed.

Rita Aid has filed for its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the first was in 2023. The result this time appears to be liquidation or sale to another company. These proceedings can take a long time so, until it all shakes out, the building will eventually end up closed and empty.

Rite Aid has said it is committed to keeping the stores open during the bankruptcy process. The pharmacies will keep operating in-store and on-line for now. But, the remainder of the available inventory in the store will slowly disappear and not be restocked.

Long time OB residents may remember when the building was a grocery store, the Mayfair Market. It was one of only two large scale grocery stores in OB at that time. The other was the Safeway on Santa Monica and Cable, later the Apple Tree Market, before it became CVS.