The Bottom Line: If (LUZ)Land Use and Zoning isn’t reinstated into the Morena Specific Plan prior to its submission to the San Diego Planning Commission, the decision maintain the 30 Ft Height Limit in Clairemont will not be made until sometime in 2020.  The City Planning Department’s move of LUZ element  into the current (CPU) Clairemont Community Plan Update effectively stalls approval or rejection of the Height Limit until the Plan Update is completed and approved by the City Council in late 2020- early 2021.  City Planners proposed to bust the 30 Ft Height Limit in the last CPU meeting.  See map of bust area.

If our current Councilmember, Lorie Zapf, instructs the Planning Department to reinstate LUZ into the Morena Specific Plan, we could see approval of the 30ft Height Limit in early 2019.  Zapf has refused to do so and has yet to provide an explanation as to why she refused.

Despite Zapf’s campaign promises to the contrary, she has refused to take the steps necessary to protect the 30 ft Height limit.

(Update 12/20/2018- Now that Dr. Jennifer Campbell has won the election for District Council Seat 2, replacing Lorie Zaph, RTB Committee will be working with Dr. Jen to re-instate the LUZ.)

Now that the Public Review and comment period for the draft Morena Specific Plan has expired, the next stage of the process is submission to the San Diego Planning Commission. 

The October 4th Planning Commission Meeting demonstrated why the  community must enlist the help of our District Councilmembers to navigate through the ill-conceived notions the Planning Group is attempting to push.  In short, they want Height Limits busted, maximum housing levels at every transit hub, and insistence that developers use density bonuses in their project whether the developer wants them or not, and whether the community wants more density or not.

The October 4th meeting concerned the approval of Fairfield’s apartment homes at the corner of Morena Blvd and West Morena Blvd where the old trailer park was located. The commissioners complained that since Fairfield’s project was the first proposal since the Morena Plan was initiated, it would send the “wrong message” about future project proposals in the area.  Nevertheless, they voted unanimously to approve Fairfield’s project with the caveat that future projects must bust the existing Height Limits.

Commissioner Vicki Granowitz’s comments are particularly enlightening about where the Commission stands on the future projects along Morena Blvd. First, she asks why no affordable housing was included in the project and if it was because the neighbors didn’t want affordable housing, she suggested that decisions shouldn’t be made on “want the neighbors want.”  I stated later in the meeting that the community wasn’t against affordable housing, but was cut off before I could explain that small projects, like Fairfield’s, shouldn’t bear the brunt of affordable units because of their small project size and that larger developments, such as the proposed 1700 units on Jerome’s parking lot, should be mandated to provide 40% affordable units if the existing height limits were to be busted.

Granowitz tries to pit communities against one another by saying each neighborhood should take on its “fair share” of new housing.  This is particularly disturbing when she compares North Park, where she previously was on their Community Planning Group, with the Morena Specific Plan residents.  The numbers of proposed housing units within the boundaries of the Specific Plan are nearly quadruple the number in Northpark.  We’re not only are being forced to take on “our fair share” but much more than that because of the 3 trolley stations under construction at Clairemont Drive, Tecolote Road, and Balboa Ave.

Another misconception that the Commissioners have promulgated is that we want affordable housing, just not in our neighborhood.  Again, we are objecting to forcing smaller projects to take on inclusionary housing where such housing is more appropriate in larger developments primarily because the number of units produced is more important than applying affordable housing mandates on every project regardless of size.

Almost all of the Commissioners questioned why Fairfield didn’t attempt to bust the 30ft Height Limit, and asked the developer how many more units could have been built on the subject site if they had busted it.  This is not only a clear signal that the Planning Commission wants our height limits busted in our neighborhoods, but they also decided to send a letter to the City Council suggesting that all other projects proposed for the Morena Plan Area include the busting of the existing limits.

I encourage everyone who cares about the future development along Morena Blvd, and the subsequent Community Plan Update in Clairemont, to watch the entirety of the meeting. The first clip is my presentation to the Planning Commission during the request for approval of the Morena Apt Homes.

You can watch  the entire meeting in the black box below. During my presentation, I pointed out that Fairfield was the victim of the City Planning Department’s refusal to include the public’s input regarding Land Use and Zoning in the draft Morena Plan.   I reminded them that they recommended that the Land Use and Zoning element of the Clairemont portion of the Plan be included in the draft and that the City Planners had rejected the Commission’s advice.