First, some great news… SB 10 IS GONE!
The City Council's Land Use & Housing Committee* Agenda for Thursday, September 21st, confirms the removal of SB 10 from the Housing Action Package (HAP 2.0). We thank everyone who wrote to their Councilmembers, submitted public comments, planted yard signs, and showed up in person at Planning Commission meetings. Your efforts made this possible.
Feel free to take your "No SB 10" yard sign(s) down, but you may want to hang on to them in case SB 10 is resurrected in the next Housing Action Package. Thank you to everyone who displayed a sign and helped spread the word on SB 10.
There are still some significant remaining items in HAP 2.0 that San Diegans should know about including Complete Communities and the Bonus ADU Program:
COMPLETE COMMUNITIES
Perhaps the biggest prizes for developers are the proposed changes to Complete Communities, which will allow locating the affordable units off-site while adding another 2 or more stories to any Complete Communities project.
As an urban planning concept, “complete communities” is supposed to be a form of medium-rise, horizontal development that integrates commercial uses with mixed-income housing. Turning these projects into exclusive high-rise residential towers with limited commercial activity defeats the original purpose of this program.
BONUS ADU PROGRAM
HAP 2.0 also contains tweaks to the Bonus ADU program. Instead, NFABSD recommends that the City take a fresh look at the loopholes and unintended consequences of the regulations so that these projects are more compatible in scale with their surrounding neighborhoods.
In total, there are 11 proposed programs in HAP 2.0. NFABSD supports many of these proposals, albeit not without questions about the details of the regulations and their implementations.
Here's the full list of items included in HAP 2.0 and our position on each:
Assembly Bill 2097 (AB 2097) Implementation
(NFABSD recommends delaying implementation pending legal clarification)
Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit (JADU) Revisions
(NFABSD supports changes)
Accessible Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) Home Incentive
(NFABSD opposes and recommends reevaluation of Bonus ADU regulations)
Housing on Publicly-Owned and Non-Profit-Owned Land
(NFABSD recommends making regulations consistent with other similarly zoned properties)
Housing on Underutilized Commercial Sites
(NFABSD urges the city to look at the negative economic consequences of upzoning)
Student Housing
(NFABSD supports with concerns and suggested revisions)
Single Room Occupancy (SRO) Home Incentive
(NFABSD supports with observation that San Diego’s homeless crisis was triggered by the razing of downtown SROs to make way for redevelopment)
Complete Communities: Housing Solutions (CCHS) Amendments
(NFABSD opposes proposed off-site option, increased FAR allowances, and modifications to lessen affordability)
Anti-Displacement Measures
(NFABSD urges examination of potential unintended consequences that may bar tenants from securing housing)
Discontinued Incompatible Uses
(NFABSD supports with further recommendations)
Amendments to Neighborhood Enhancement In Lieu Fee (R-313282)
(NFABSD has not taken a position on this proposal)
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You can read our full HAP 2.0 analysis and recommendations here.
QUICK & EASY CALL TO ACTION: We ask that you take a few minutes to submit comments in support of our recommendations BEFORE this Thursday, September 21st.
Click here to access the web form.
Fill in your contact info and the date.
For "Comment Type" click Agenda Comment
The agenda item number is Item 3.
Enter your comment in the comment box and submit. (There's no need to include any attachments.)
For reference, here is a link to the City's HAP 2.0 webpage.
*Land Use & Housing is a City Council sub-committee made up of four of the nine council members: Vivian Moreno, Joe LaCava, Stephen Whitburn, and Kent Lee.
