The San Diego City Council on Monday declared five blocks surrounding the Civic Center Plaza as surplus lands. The vote was 8-1, with Councilmember Vivian Moreno dissenting.
Moreno voted no because she is opposed to the selling or leasing of city-owned land. She said the city can better develop the land to include more affordable housing than private developers.
The five blocks include the City Administration Building, Civic Theatre, Golden Hall, the Parkade and the 101 Ash Building. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said it’s part of the city's effort to update outdated facilities.
"Objective two is the creation of a substantial amount of new housing, and specifically housing that's affordable to low-, middle-income San Diego," he said. "We believe that the six blocks that we control, these contiguous blocks, are a tremendous opportunity to achieve both of those objectives: a new city building that can reduce taxpayer costs and more housing that people can actually afford.”
The sixth block, the City Operations Building, would be reserved for a new City Hall and was not a part of the surplus land declaration.
Jay Goldstone, the mayor’s special advisor, said the vote allows the city to issue a notice of availability to developers. Under the state's Surplus Land Act, 25% of the housing units built must be affordable housing.
"(Developers) can partner with other developers to build a mixed-use kind of development, some market-rate housing, affordable housing, retail — anything else they may want to propose," Goldstone said. "But the whole goal of that is more affordable housing."
By declaring the five blocks surrounding the Civic Center Plaza surplus lands, the city is required to approve proposals that prioritize affordable housing. Stephen Russell, CEO and president San Diego Housing Federation, said it won’t solve the city’s homeless issue, but it’s a start.
"This one project is not intended, or should we pretend for a moment, that it's going to solve our issues with homelessness or affordable housing," he said. "But by having a minimum requirement of 25%, we're going to see a significant progress, so it's going to contribute to the solution.”
Bill Anderson, a former planning director for the city under Mayor Jerry Sanders and a former national president of the American Planning Association, applauds Gloria for tackling the affordable-housing issue, but has reservations.
"(Affordable housing is) very important. I'm not sure we need to declare it a surplus land before we sort out what are going to be the other public uses and functions of this very important part of our city," Anderson said.
In many other parts of the world, a civic center is a reflection of the city's aspirations and public spaces is an important part of that, Anderson said.
"If this is being considered as a mobility hub for our city, that's a major, major undertaking," he said. "Lots of coordination involved, and most bidders, if they're serious, will want to know really, what should they assume regarding that."
Nothing in Monday's vote would commit the city to take action on any development plans. It’s just one step along a long timeline.
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