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Planning Policies
Ocean Beach Gateway Permitting Process
onion
The Ocean Beach Entryway Master Plan was started in 1997 by the community of Ocean Beach. A consultant team was retained by the Ocean Beach Community Development Corporation (OBCDC)to develop a comprehensive master plan, for beautification and enhancement of the entryway to Ocean Beach. The goal was identification of an Entryway Master Plan which would respect the sense of place, identity, and diversity of the Ocean Beach Community. The community effort and project itself deserves an Orchid.
However, the City’s permit process and cost deserves an Onion. According to the project website, the estimated project cost for Phase I and II is $635,000
http://www.obcdc.org/projects/obentrywaymasterplan.
According to the information sign located on Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, a total of $216,000 has been raised for construction documents, the City’s project management and processing fees. A total of $150,000 has been raised for construction costs with an additional $269,000 needed to complete Phase II of the project.
Should civic spaces like these really require at least 34% of the budget to be allocated to construction documents, permits and paying for City staff time to process such plans?
Mandatory Uptown 65' Interim Height Ordinance
orchid
If a 65 foot height limit is good enough for cities like Paris and Amsterdam it is good enough for Bankers Hill and Hillcrest.
While it is logical and desirable for downtown the be filled with high-rise buildings and for a neighborhood such as Mission Hills to feature lower scale construction, it is equally logical for the Bankers Hill and Hillcrest neighborhoods to serve as the transition between the two. For anyone yearning for the sort of active, mixed-use neighborhood described by Jane Jacobs, the height limit is a no-brainer. Indeed, we need to encourage the city to go further by requiring retail storefronts along the major avenues, reduce the parking requirements to make construction affordable and ban full-block consolidation to insure quality design.
Still, the height limit is a reasoned and reasonable start and a building-block to a more rational policy that encourages a medium density, mixed use, diverse and active neighborhood.
Mi Arbolito was awarded an Onion last year and was re-nominated this year; do we really want Uptown to be filled wall-to-wall with this sort of building?
Gateway San Diego, Airport Intermodal Transportation Center
orchid
The NewSchool of Architecture and Design, Design Clinic, created the Gateway San Diego project to illustrate how Lindbergh Field could be integrated with local and regional tansporation systems in a sustainable manner.
At the request of the Destination Lindbergh Committee and the S.D. Regional Airport Authority, the student team, led by James Frost, AIA-E, produced a long term development concept located on the north side of the airport.
The project:
- integrates all regional transportion at a single location;
- creates a major urban park over the parking garages;
- develops an iconic landmark as a gateway to San Diego;
- establishes a large economic generator through multi-use functions on and off site;
- and provides a sustainable transporation solution that reduces the transporation carbon footprint resulting from less auto trips.
The project was presented to the Destination Lindbergh Committee and the Airport Authority Board of Directors and was commended for its innovative approach and solution to a critical regional issue.
Flower Hill Mall (Promenade) Expansion
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Flower Hill Mall (Promenade) is planning to expand an additional approximate 70,000 SF with an anchoring Whole Foods Market, office and more retail, as well as a 4 story parking structure in full view of the freeway and surface roads. The new architecture will not blend in, nor match the existing 1970's wood frame buildings that are now functionally obsolete. The developer is making no effort, or plans to renovate the existing architecture to match the new. The materials and finishes, as well as the bulk, scale, vertical (in your face) orientation, and general "big box" commericial style of the architecture is not appropriate for the Del Mar neighborhood, nor a small 14 acre property of this type, formerly featuring very high-end boutique shops.
Many believe the developer has a secret plan to build this current phase, then return shortly thereafter to tear down the existing 1970's structures and build phase 2. This would be deceptive and misleading, as the entire project should be reviewed and approved at one time.Whole Foods is known as a "category killer" tenant in that they sell virtually everything edible, assuring that at least 7 existing 30 year tenants will be put out of business, such as the wine shop, cheese shop, candy shop, bath shop, flower shop, and more.
This developer is greedy and attempting to overbuild this site with a floor area density that is typically only found in urban areas, not a country coastal, low rise area such as Del Mar. He is unwilling to scale back his plans and renovate this shopping center a style, character and size befitting the community. He refuses to design and build a lower profile, higher quality specialty center like the internationally award winning, nearby Del Mar Plaza.
The community is outraged about this project. A significant effort of opposition has been spearheaded by the Citizen's Against Flower Hill's Excessive Expansion at http://www.stopflowerhill.com, now representing over 250 neighbors.Greed is not good, nor is bad design taste!
Jamul Casino
onion
Planned to be opened in a small community located on a dangerous Hwy. The views would be destroyed along with the safety of the Jamul residents as well as the other Hwy 94 travelers.
Planned Casino
Opening date has not been announced.
JAMUL CASINO
Jamul Indian Village
Gaming
75,000 sq ft of casino space
2,000 slots
75 table games
Asian Gaming Room
Poker Room
Restaurants
* Steakhouse featuring an upscale, yet comfortable lounge offering premium wines and liquors
* An elaborate Buffet featuring cuisine from around the world
* A 24 hour casual dining restaurant
* A Cafe-Deli featuring over-stuffed sandwiches
* An Entertainment Bar
* A Full-Service Poker Bar
Hotel
402 guest rooms
Mandatory Uptown 65' Interim Height Ordinance
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If you look up in a dictionary, or nowadays Google, the term ‘unintended consequences’ the mandatory 65’ Interim Height Ordinance in Uptown will be the definition given. In the spirit of ‘do not built it and they won’t come’ this ill conceived planning policy has met it’s objective. Brought about by a few ‘concerned’ citizens, who apparently want Hillcrest to look like the Shire in lord of the rings, 65’ was a compromised height limit compared to the 200’ allowable height because shade is now somehow bad and of course ‘quality of life’ issues were threatened. If the mandatory Interim Height Ordinance remains through the Uptown Community Planning Update, watching the stucco crumble from existing building will turn into a spectator sport. One only has to drive down Fifth Avenue in Hillcrest to see an abundance of ‘For Lease Signs’ to understand that an imposed height limit will not contribute to a vital or renewed Hillcrest business core.
Uptown Interim Height Ordinance
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The Uptown Interim Height Ordinance (IHO) is an example of the worst of planning. While over 20 years old the Uptown Community Plan was visionary in its anticipation of smart growth concepts and created a path for the evolution of one of San Diego's best communities. However, the IHO does great damage to the visionary plan, and insults the idea of planning. By restricting one metric in the planning toolbox -- height -- without modifying other related elements like Floor Area Ratio (FAR), density, parking requirements, etc., the City Council (and the many citizens and planning groups that promoted the idea) created two great problems:1) They dealt a blow to Smart Growth and contradicted the great planning begun with the City of Villages Framework Plan; and, 2) They made sure that every building built will achieve its development in the same way: five-story, wood-frame construction built setback to setback. We've created stucco boxes when we had the hope of elegant towers.The IHO will result in more shadowing at the street level and a monotony of form as buildings are relegated to the same massing.Former councilman Jim Madaffer said it best,“We are going to have to make sure that we plan San Diego from a regional standpoint, and not just from a myopic perspective. And if we operate in a myopic perspective, we will end up creating interim height ordinances all over the city.” Give the IHO an Onion and put an end to bad planning!
Designing for Smart Growth, Creating Great Places in the San Diego Region
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The quality of a community’s design can make the difference between a sense of overcrowding and a feeling of vibrancy. This is particularly true where smart growth development principles result in more intense development and a greater mix of uses. Designing for Smart Growth, Creating Great Places in the San Diego Region was developed by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), with the assistance of Design Community and Environment (Berkeley CA), as a resource for policymakers, local agency planning and engineering staff, developers, and interested citizens that shows how good design can contribute to the quality of life in the San Diego region.
The guidelines address the importance of design in maintaining and enhancing community character and in creating great public places. It serves as both a primer and a technical reference. It addresses a range of community defining topics including site design, building design, multimodal streets, transit stations, civic buildings, parks and civic space, and parking. It also includes a smart growth scorecard that can be used to evaluate buildings, large developments or streetscape projects and simulations of how existing places in the region might be transformed.
This document – a component of the smart growth toolbox – supports the smart growth strategy initiated in the SANDAG Regional Comprehensive Plan, which envisions a future for the region that includes more compact mixed-use development that supports a wider variety of housing and transportation options. Designing for Smart Growth can be downloaded from the SANDAG Web site at www.sandag.org/smartgrowthdesign, or by contacting the Public Information Office at pio@sandag.org.
Pacific Highwayt from Barnett Street to Sassafras Street
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Sadly for many first time visitors to San Diego the first thing they see as they go to pick up their rent-a-cars is the blighted and dilapidated section of Pacific Highway from Barnett St at Spawar and MCRD to the prison-like Port building at Sassafras St. The rusted fencing and trash strewn weed patches at Washington St make the improvised skateboard park under the overpass look charming by comparison. Once a hub of war-time manufacturing and a historically significant preparation area for troops and equipment entering WW2, Korea and Vietnam,this area has been largely overlooked and abandoned by the surrounding businesses and especially by the Federal government which owns much of the land. MCRD's answer was to put up concrete K-rail and hang tarps over the fences along the highway to partially block the view of all the RV's and boats stored along the Eastern boundary of the base. All the other boundary fences are attractive and have well maintained fencing and landscaping. The Port District's best use for the land was to open a giant rent-a-car storage lot visible for miles and from the air. The majority of the cars stored there in the dust bowl never seem to move. Caltrans and the city both treat that section of highway like an unwanted step-child providing zero maintenance or even basic trash removal. Signage and guard rails are bent and damaged and remain that way indefinitely. The hillsides and vegetation are strewn with trash and debris. Weeds do require only the bare minimum of water so if that was the plan it's working well as that is the only thing growing in that area. The only green we see is in the spring for about thirty days. Maybe a large onion patch would be appropriate. MTS and the Coaster both figure that if they move the trolley and trains through fast enough no one will cast any glances in their direction or at all the graffiti on the abandoned buildings along their tracks. The Mission Brewery Plaza building stands alone; a proud building, knee deep in refuse and blight. A monument to poor urban planning and poor inter-agency coordination. You only get one chance to make a good first impression and we make a poor one with this onion patch. Let's show visitors and potential investors that we can get agencies to talk and implement planning ideas that work for San Diego. Cleaning this area up will act as an economic stimulus by drawing businesses to the area and with it, jobs for San Diegan's.
Broadway Pier Cruise Ship Terminal
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Nomination for an onion San Diego Unified Port District’s Broadway Cruise Ship Terminal. Turning over the City’s important waterfront doorstep to commercial purposes erodes rather than supports this important community icon. By manipulating the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan and its associated approved environmental report they are constructing a non-compliant structure on one of the most important public spaces in our city. The North Embarcadero Visionary Plan envisioned four unobtrusive glass stair towers for visiting cruise ships. Since this is no longer allowed because of Homeland Security issues, the Port used this as an excuse to construct a complete second Cruise Ship Terminal on this public space. Instead of the view down Broadway of a grand celebratory space they will see another commercial enterprise obstructing the view of our bay.
