2009
2009
2009
2009
Help close loopholes?
On September 1 the Uptown Planners unanimously approved putting forward proposals to close loopholes to address reckless demolitions. What is a reckless demolition? It is when seemingly overnight a building disappears. Sometimes with permits issued, but not always the right permit. Sometimes reports have been manipulated to skew facts in favor of issuing permits or sometimes without any permits at all. (This structure at 4337 Valle Vista had a preliminary review and only a kitchen remodel permit.)
The Uptown Planners group has studied this issue over several years and proposed recommendations to specifically close the loopholes and add checks and balances into the current system. “The end result will be better compliance of the existing review processes,” said Leo Wilson, Chair of the Uptown Planers, “This will better enable preservation of San Diego’s historic architecture and cultural heritage; decrease discarding high quality materials such as old growth lumber; and ultimately result in a clear and more consistent review process that benefits everyone.” Shifting the culture of bypassing the systems that are in place is a challenge, but with numerous reckless demolitions that have occurred in Uptown since a new 45-year-review team has been installed, and the upset that it causes in the community, the Uptown Planners chose to provide proposals to close the loopholes to the City Council. The Land Use & Housing committee of the City Council will hear this issue on September 23. Please help save the character of San Diego’s older communities.
Historic neighborhoods turn a great city into a fine city. For more details, read this press release from Uptown Planners Janet O’Dea & Leo Wilson. Become involved by contacting Todd Gloria.
Many local preservationist groups including the Hillcrest History Guild have endorsed this decision. The item was heard on Wednesday, January 23, 2008 by the same committee.
2009
2009
2009
Over 80 area residents attended last night’s Hillcrest Town Council meeting with many coming because of an interest in the upcoming redo of the Normal Street median.
During public comment, Vic Randal announced his new business, located at 801 University Avenue where people can get cars converted from gas to electricity powered. Ernie Bonn of the University Heights CDC announced the second Taste of University Heights on Sunday, September 20. Joe Kocurek announced this Saturday’s California Coastal CleanUp. Courtney Thompson reported that September 23 is Historical Resources Day. Preservationists should come down to City Hall and provide input. HBA director Ben Nicholls handed out “Fabulous Hillcrest” buttons along with new “Quiet Zone” signs. SDPD Officer David Surwilo announced crime stats for 1st half of the year were down in Hillcrest. Neighbors informed him that police were dropping off homeless in Hillcrest, and the numbers are growing. Surwilo asked that if anybody saw this, to call him with date, time and police car number.
Uptown Planners chair Leo Wilson reported on the Community Plan Update. His emphasis was, if you want to keep the village and stop the “Hong-Kongization” of Hillcrest, stay vigilant. The economy is providing a momentary lapse of development, but this won’t last forever. Erik Camp made a presentation on Hillcrest bike sharing. The ideas were well received, but there were not a lot of specifics.
Julie Ballesteros, project manager for the Normal Street Median made a presentation. Neighbors had many questions, but appeared to get vague answers. Improvement will include 15 new paid spaces and one less unpaid space. The new median will not be as wide. TriGroup construction was awarded the contract which is supposed to start soon and take 50 days. There is no staging area for the equipment, which Ben said was an issue. The neighbors pointed out numerous traffic-related problems with the plan. Including: the need for a left-arrow turn from Eastbound University to Normal; and the need for a crosswalk and 4-way stop at Blaine & Normal. Many residents brought up that the plans deviated on what the city talked about with the homeowners previously. People asked if there were plans to extend northward. When the city said “no,” one resident pulled out the city’s plan from 1996 to the contrary.
Two LION Awards were presented to (1) Mike Singleton of KTUA (who coincidentally designed parts of Normal Street Improvement and answered many questions for the residents) and (2) the property owners at Robinson & Third for their xeroscaping. (For complete minutes visit the HTC website.)
2009
Reforming Community Garden Permits
The City Council has been investigating how to reform the process for obtaining a permit for a community garden. Currently, the zoning code requires a neighborhood use permit or bans community gardens from non-agriculturally zoned lands. The process of getting a neighborhood use permit represents a burden disproportionate to any negative impact a garden might have and is stifling the growing interests in community gardens within the city.
Why is this important? Community gardens in which individuals or families each have a separate plot for growing fruits and vegetables have become increasingly popular in the US over the last ten years as a way to revitalize communities, allow urban dwellers access to the natural world, make available fresh local food, teach children about biology and the food system and improve food security. Right now, there is great interest in San Diego in establishing community gardens — the existing gardens have long wait lists and the city has received many requests for information about establishing new ones — but getting approval to start a garden is a daunting task for local community groups.
What are other communities doing? While community gardens are not an issue in all cities, many jurisdictions are at one of two places. First, some cities, like Seattle, actively promote gardens with funding, access to community resources and/or specialized treatment in their zoning code. Second, other cities, such as Nashville, are like San Diego in having to reform city code to stop discouraging gardens. Unfortunately, in many communities, zoning codes were established at a time when such gardens were not popular and they were arbitrarily pigeonholed into regulations, oftentimes treating them as if they were construction projects with significant negative impacts.
Specific details of proposal — Currently, the zoning code lists community gardens as “-“ (not permitted) or “N” (neighborhood use permit) for commercial and residential zones. It would be more in line with the impacts of community gardens for them to be listed as “L” — that is, they are permitted as long as they follow a list of regulations already spelled out in the municipal code (§141.0203) that require a fence of a certain height range, limit hours of operation, etc. This would turn a community garden permit from a Level 2 process to a Level 1 process, which will make obtaining permits within the means of community groups.
What this proposal does not cover — This proposal does not address issues of how people acquire the right to garden a plot of land (e.g., with the landowner’s permission, on park land) nor the process for reviewing applications on environmentally sensitive lands (which currently face intensified scrutiny).
The “1 in 10 for 2010 Coalition” promotes policies leading to local food production and long-term foodshed sustainability in San Diego through advocacy, education and organizing.
