San Diego Planning Follies

From the U-T:

The City Council voted 6-3 on Monday to reject plans to build three homes on the Jessop estate in Point Loma, adding to the single one built in 1926.
. . .
"When you have properties this big, you shouldn't be putting the houses 12 feet apart," said Council President Sherri Lightner, adding that the design would make firefighting difficult. "I have grave concerns about public safety."
Councilwoman Lorie Zapf, whose district includes Point Loma, said she could support adding­ development to the site, but not this particular proposal for La Crescentia Drive because of the locations of the new homes.
Monday's council vote was actually in favor of a res­ident's appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval of the proposed subdivision last June.
. . .
The owner of the property, Carolyn Kutzke, has been trying for several years to develop it.

The OBRag has more background on the story.  Apparently, there were 700 signatures on a petition to overturn the planning commission vote.  I think that Carolyn Kutzke should sue under the takings clause of the U.S. Constitution if she is not given a way ahead to develop her 1.5 acre property.

I hope that the city council is as fearful of resident's dismay when they vote on jamming dense development into the Morena district.  I am sure there will be far more than 700 people willing to sign a petition.  In the meantime, the council approved the path ahead to change the Bay Park community plan bypassing an update of the entire community plan.  This is a process foul that didn't go unnoticed by RaiseTheBalloon:

While we appreciate that the city threw out the original timeline to complete the Morena Blvd Area Specific Plan and replaced it with a more reasonable one, Raise the Balloon and residents of our community have made a formal protestation of the City’s attempt to change/amend our community plan through the Morena Blvd Station Area Specific Plan instead of updating our ENTIRE plan through the process of a comprehensive community plan update (CPU).

Meanwhile, all that money that the city collects from developers to make your neighborhood better?  It's not getting spent.  Apparently $78 million isn't enough cash to start a real project.  From the U-T watchdog:

Developers have paid more than $157 million in impact fees since San Diego approved the charges on new construction in the 1980s, and despite a litany of needs the city has spent only half the money, budget records show.
The money was collected from builders in some of San Diego’s oldest neighborhoods, with the idea that they should contribute to community needs such as parks and fire stations. Much of the money has remained in the bank for years while city planners save up for projects or figure out how it should be spent.
In the downtown district alone, the city has assembled $25 million. The city has not completed an impact fee-funded project in that area in more than 10 years, although officials have spent more than $400,000 of the funds on administration.
Citywide, $78 million of the money collected so far has not been spent, as of June 2014, the most recent accounting available.

Creative way to waste tax dollars? Don't spend it.

High Density "Transit Oriented Development" in Bay Park and Linda Vista

I haven't looked at the ongoing process of amending the city's community plans to comply with SB 375 in a while, but the whole process moves slowly; prior posts on the subject can be viewed here.  The more I read about the sausage making of the process to amend the community plans the more my head hurts.  Apparently it's an arcane process intended to bore opponents to death and allow insiders and city staff to dominate the process.  Understand The Plan is a great resource if you are willing to dive into these details.

Currently the opponents of the 60 foot height limit are planning to propose amendments that would impose a 30 foot limit in Linda Vista near the proposed trolley station at Tecolote Road as well Green Area Ratio requirements to reduce the density of development.  These proposals will compete with planning department proposals that will go before the city council.  It's ironic that green initiatives that require open space are in conflict with green initiatives to increase  urban density to increase mass-transit ridership.

What is not clear is how the City Council will vote regardless of community pressure.  The city could certainly face lawsuits if it doesn't do enough to comply with SB 375.  This is how sclerosis sets into government.  There are so many competing requirements and mandates that eventually nothing can be done, but even doing nothing results in costly lawsuits.  I can envision a future where all city fundings is used in lawsuits because no local governmental action is possible due to laws passed in Sacramento.

It doesn't appear that the subject will come to a city council vote until January 2016 according to the planning document posted on the Understand the Plan site, but I can't find any confirming evidence that this process won't get on a faster timeline with developers waiting to make money on the zoning changes.

It's worth remembering that this whole process is somehow linked to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  I defy anyone to prove the building of high-rises along Morena Blvd will result in so much as one less ounce of carbon emissions.

What You Should Be Reading

• Dalrock, because he shreds the fantasy that is feminism which resulted in the utterly, completely false UVA rape story. "It wasn’t just Erdely who fell in love with this perfect story.  Feminists across the media fell in love with the fantasy story as well."
• My twitter feed, because I don't blog much anymore.

Raise the Balloon Walk - UPDATES

I walked in today's Raise the Balloon event down Morena Blvd.  It was a great day for a walk and by my estimate, about 350 people showed up; joining at various points along the walk.  I didn't learn much new about the problem, except the assertion that there is a lot of obfuscation at city hall as to who has the authority over this proposed change to zoning.  Allegedly, the planning commission has nothing to do with this, according to one of my co-marcher.  The change is a set-up, to automatically kick in when the trolley extension is built and blame it on SB 375 mandates to allow politicians to avoid responsibility for a clearly unpopular move.  More research is needed to judge the accuracy of this assertion.

As befits a San Diego protest, it was all very laid back, with a few squad cars keeping the marchers safe at some of the intersections we crossed. We changed to "No 60 feet" and waved to the traffic on the way.  I would like to give a shout out to "Ride On Espresso" (at the start of the march) and Jitters Espresso (near the end) who kept me adequately caffeinated to make the walk.

A few pictures from the event.

Starting out.

The balloon showing how high 60 feet would look like.

It's a great country and and a great city where a guy in shorts and tennis shoes, with a bullhorn constitutes "security." It worked. as everyone followed his directions and, in turn, he worked with police to keep traffic moving.

A friend who is temporarily living with us, just moved from Pasadena.  He told me that people who live in the Del Mar station apartments developed above lines in Pasadena aren't the sorts of folks who ride the rails to downtown LA.  They get in their cars like everyone else.  This whole idea that we will reduce our carbon footprint through trolley led development is clearly a sham.

What You Should Be Reading

• WC Varones presciently predicts Bill Gross' departure from PIMCO.
• Left Coast Rebel takes down Obama's characterization of Eric Holder's term in office.
• Word Warrior explains how Obama is channeling LBJ.

UPDATES

Local CBS 8 News was the only media outlet to cover the march.  

6:30PM UPDATE | Bay Park residents fighting to keep view

Here is the legal stupidity behind the height limit changes.  Look at the big business - big green alliance.  The VOSD article hints that the new climate plan is a way for Republican mayor Kevin Faulconer to lock out opposition to new development with the help of the environmental lobby.  Brilliant strategy if it didn't wind up selectively screwing some neighborhoods at the expense of others.

In 2010, just 3 percent of the city walked to work. The plan doesn’t see that changing by 2020, but it wants to more than double it by 2035. 

Cyclists accounted for 2 percent of commuters in 2010, but that number is expected to increase to 6 percent in 2020 and 18 percent in 2035. 

And transit use would grow from 4 percent in 2010 to 12 percent in 2020 and 25 percent in 2035. 

These goals are not quite as ambitious as they appear. 

Those higher numbers are limited to areas designated by the city as locations for new, dense development, areas with high levels of employment and areas serviced by the trolley or the rapid bus. 

Here’s the current list of neighborhoods that qualify: Barrio Logan, Centre City, College Area, Kearny Mesa, Linda Vista, Midway-Pacific Highway, Mira Mesa, Mission Valley, Otay Mesa, Rancho Bernardo, San Ysidro, southeastern San Diego, University and Uptown.

Green Policies Hurt Neighborhoods

In an earlier post, I laid bare the hypocrisy and mendacity of the effort to rezone Morena.  Saturday, September 27, at 10:00 a.m., you have the chance to protest the green grifters and their plans for a whoreticulture of high-rises in Bay Park.  There will be a march along Morena by the "folks" whose neighborhood is under siege on the unproven theory that density is destiny, as far as carbon is concerned.

From the Raise the Balloon web site:

Path of Balloon march -Click Here

*Enter march from any adjoining street to Morena as Balloon approaches: (Ingulf, Jellett, Lister, Milton, Ashton, Littlefield, Asher, Vega, Dorcas, Buenos, or Cushman at Arizona Tile). 

*Linda Vista participants will join the march at Arizona Tile & Morena Blvd

*Marchers must remain on sidewalk (EAST side of Morena Blvd) -Single file is best for visual effect (volunteers- those holding bouquets of small red balloons-will help guide marchers)

*Stops will be made at various traffic lights/intersections

*Grassy area at City Chevrolet is available for our seasoned citizens to set up lawn chairs to view march

*Wear your Raise The Balloon T-shirts or order one for the march (we will will-call online orders at march) or wear something red

Part of my joy over this mass movement is the opportunity slash with a radicalinsky rapier against the forces of the red/green alliance who have used Alinskyite techniques to trample our freedoms.  At the same time, the parasite class with political pull can be denied the opportunity to make money at our expense.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Screwing My Neighborhood for SB 375

I live in the Bay Park area of San Diego as many of you know.  During the Council District 2 race, I became aware of a controversy regarding a change to height limits to buildings along Morena Blvd, which runs north-south in parallel with I-5 on the west side of Mission Bay.  Since both main candidates opposed the changes, I figured this was a dead on arrival proposal and didn't think much more about it.  However, I continue to see homemade signs and professional yard signs in my neighborhood, which piqued my interest.  Here is the issue in a nutshell: In order to meet SB 375 targets to reduce per capita emissions from vehicles, the city planners are proposing to build high density, six story condominiums near the future trolley stations along Morena Blvd.  Screw that, to coin a phrase. As a current resident of the area, I am going to suffer massive traffic congestion to meet ephemeral emissions targets as no provision will be made for the influx of traffic.  No way will a majority of new residents be using the trolley to get to work downtown.  Hence the inevitable traffic mess.  Because the plan is intended to "reduce emissions," there won't be any more lanes on Morena Blvd, Clairemont Drive or Sea World Drive to handle all the extra traffic. (Have you tried to get on I-5 north from Sea World Drive during rush hour, even now?)

Annotated plan delivered to my doorstep by RaiseTheBalloon.com.  Click for larger image.

All the rezoning going on this city is designed for social engineering to get the subjects in line with the goals set by the state's political elite.  If you want to reduce emissions, the better path is through a carbon tax that increases incentives to use fuel efficient vehicles without severely disrupting the economy or the value of our homes.  Of course, the left has never supported a carbon tax as a means to tackle pollution or climate change proving that their real goals are social engineering and socialism.

According to the CA Air Resource Board, San Diego region is required by SB 375, to cut per capita greenhouse gas emissions by 7% by 2020.  Somehow, building high rise condominiums close to new trolley lines is supposed to achieve that goal.  No mention of whether the fossil fuels consumed to build the trolley lines and the condos will count against the emissions cap.  Here is the Orwellian double-speak from the 2010 press release announcing the targets:

"These targets are ambitious, achievable and very good news for California communities.  Improved planning means cleaner air in our cities, less time stuck in your car, and healthier, more sustainable communities," said ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols. "Cities that choose to develop Sustainable Communities Plans that meet these targets have an advantage when it comes to attracting the kinds of vibrant, healthy development that people want."

"Less time stuck in your car" translates we want to prevent you from driving by making driving living hell for you.  Thanks.  The folks at RaiseTheBalloon are a lot more polite in their criticism:

The pressure being exerted on our neighborhood to carry the 3 trolleys and the proposed development could lead to unsustainable urban compacting, displacement of our elderly and poorer residents, and put an unreasonable strain on our infrastructure while clogging our routes into and out of (ingress and egress) Bay Park, Bay Ho, and the Mission Bay areas.  We are encouraging the entire Clairemont Community to get involved and understand the issues.  Please see understandtheplan.info for more information.

If you troll through the planning document (Morena Blvd Station Area Planning Study), you will find that despite the planned increase to urban density, no changes to accommodate more traffic are contemplated (p. 121):

• Motor vehicle traffic lane configurations and capacity on each of the major and  collector streets within the study area would remain essentially unchanged under the adopted community plan. 
• Morena Boulevard (north and south of the two splits with West Morena) and West Morena would remain designated as major streets. Since major streets are to be designed to 45 mile per hour (mph) design speeds, existing travel lane widths and intersection designs are expected to remain. 
• Traffic capacity enhancements would be limited to the planned extension of Knoxville Street as a 2-lane collector to West Morena Boulevard to provide a direct connection with the planned Tecolote station, while also allowing some motorists to avoid delays at the Morena/Tecolote intersection by providing an alternate route with a direct connection to West Morena. 

However, since there is considerable rush hour traffic out of Point Loma into this area, and no connection from Sea World Drive to West Morena, this does little to alleviate the foreseeable problems at the Morena/Tecolote intersection.  (Tecolote is an extension of Sea World Drive).

Please visit www.RaiseTheBalloon.com for more information on how to end this social engineering.

What You Should Be Reading

• The CA Air Resources Board (CARB) is set to implement a cap-and-trade system for transportation fuel (gasoline) that will increase costs at the pump starting on January 1, 2015.  Bet voters didn't know they approved a gas tax with AB 32.  Tank the Tax has the FAQs. 
• Dalrock is great reading for a Christian interested in the intersection of our faith with modern feminism.  He nails it again, pointing out the troubles from delaying marriage.
• KTCat has some advise for San Diegans diving the Point Loma kelp beds.