The un-Sustainable Development Area

 

Thanks to Mayor Gloria and his Planning Department, developers can now purchase single-family homes up to a mile away from transit — either existing or planned — and turn them into high-density apartment complexes, even though federal, state, local, and academic studies show that most people will not use transit if farther away than a half-mile walk. This includes high-risk fire zones and environmentally sensitive areas.

 

The mayor's Planning Department has dubbed this area the Sustainable Development Area (SDA). As detailed in previous installments, the SDA is used to permit Bonus ADUs and Complete Communities projects, with the justification that these projects are creating housing near jobs and transit.

 

The actual definition of the SDA undermines these objectives because it uses a walking distance of one mile away from transit to define its borders — including future transit stops that may never exist.

 

This one-mile distance contradicts federal, state, local, and academic studies showing that almost all transit users who walk to transit live within a half-mile walking distance. Within the county of San Diego, 92% of transit users live less than a half-mile from transit.

 

As a result of the SDA’s unjustified expansion of the (already overly-expansive) Transit Priority Area, approximately 5,224 more acres as far away as possible from transit can now be developed with unlimited accessory dwelling units, Complete Communities towers, and other high-density programs.

 

 

The Lawsuit

 

To fight this absurdity, Neighbors For A Better San Diego is supporting a lawsuit that challenges the City's failure to provide a proper environmental analysis of the Sustainable Development Area. Click HERE to read the lawsuit filing. To help us fund this effort, please consider donating by clicking HERE.

 

The preliminary discovery work (administrative record) has been completed, and the next step is for the attorneys to submit a brief arguing why the City’s adoption of the SDA is invalid. The opening brief will be submitted on or before August 5, with the expectation of a hearing in late November. A win would force the city to suspend the permitting of projects under the SDA. This would provide a significant first step toward promoting responsible, data-driven, transit-oriented planning and development for San Diego.

 

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The Map

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The Planning Department relies on residents thinking they won’t be affected by these regulations, even though they target single-family neighborhoods. The Sustainable Development Area is another ploy to bypass purposeful zoning limitations and open up more single-family neighborhoods and low-density, multi-family transition zones to investors for random, excessive density.

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If you're unsure whether yours is among the >50% of San Diego residential properties included in the SDA, click HERE to view the City's interactive map.