Uptown Interim Height Ordinance

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!