The city of San Diego Planning Commission voted Thursday to bring plans for a three-story, 20-unit apartment building in Ocean Beach to a standstill.
The project would have replaced a vacant, one-story building on a 0.17-acre lot at the corner of Point Loma Avenue and Ebers Street. It is about one mile away from the heart of Ocean Beach and would have consisted of studios and one-bedroom homes, along with nine parking spaces, according to plans submitted to the commission.
On Thursday, commissioners voted unanimously to approve an appeal of the Development Services Department’s approval of a Coastal Development Permit to demolish the existing building for the start of construction. The request for appeal outlined environmental concerns, parking concerns, safety concerns, transit concerns and others, but, ultimately, it was a debate over whether or not the lot at 4705 Point Loma Ave. was considered to be within the Ocean Beach Cottage Emerging Historical District.
If it did not fall under the historical umbrella, then the area would be eligible for development through the city’s Complete Communities plan. However, due to an existing municipal code, if the lot did fall within the historic district, then it is exempt from Complete Communities and the 20-unit building could not be built.
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After more than two hours of presentations and public comments, Planning Commissioner Ted Miyahara asked for clarification on the above point and decided the lot is considered part of the historic district and made a motion to grant the appeal. Within minutes, the appeal was granted by all members and the project was put on hold.
“The proud tradition of Ocean Beach fighting outside development continues,” Craig Klein, a resident of the area since 1985, said, “and we’re continuing to protect our historic neighborhood.”
Klein was one of 55 speakers in-person at the commission meeting in support of the appeal and against the project. He said he was relieved that the planning commissioners agreed with them about protecting the neighborhood from being over-developed.
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“Ocean Beach is a precious gem,” he said. “It is something that needs to be preserved because authentic California beach towns are kind of the keystone of California culture.”
However, there was a small number of people who were in favor of the project and wanted to see the appeal be denied, including Wesley Morgan with YIMBY Democrats of San Diego County.
“This would literally be the 20 cheapest entry points into the Ocean Beach area and it's a high resource area for San Diego,” he said. “It has great schools, it is walkable, it’s near the coast.”
Moving forward, Morgan added he’s worried more neighborhoods will now work toward historic status, if they don’t have it already, to get out of needing to create new, and affordable, housing for young and old San Diegans, those who work and need to commute, and new families.
“There’s so many inherent issues with building in Ocean Beach to begin with, from the coastal zone to the coastal overlay height limit, that make it hard for projects to ever happen to begin with,” Morgan added, “and denying 20 units for families and individuals who need them the most is not sustainable if we want to solve the housing crisis.”
The project is now at a standstill and will not move forward until the plans are either changed or there is a change in the municipal code that impacts the area, but that would take close to a year.
