Measure E Seeks Midway District's Revitalization By Raising Building Height Limit

Speaker 1: 00:00 The care Warren midway district has long been home to strip mall, strip clubs and a half century old sports arena. That was hardly a gym, even on the day it opened the district is on the cusp of a transformation, but just how that will play out largely will be determined by the fate of measure E on the San Diego ballot. Joining me to explain is KPBS Metro reporter Andrew Bowen. Welcome back to the program, Andrew. Hi. Thanks Mark. So at issue here is a height restriction dating back nearly 50 years. First, tell us where this district is and explain how the 30 foot limitation on buildings there came into being midway Speaker 2: 00:37 Is bordered by the freeway to the North. Uh, the San Diego airport to the South. The East boundary is I five and the Western boundary zigzags a little bit, but it's basically where, uh, point Loma starts the peninsula. Um, the city planners saw this as a good place for growth, not just because of the blight that you mentioned, but also because, uh, you know, and also the vacant or underdeveloped lots in, in midway, but also because of its location, it's close to the downtown job center, uh, the old town transit center just across the freeway. Um, so you know, this, this, uh, area was, uh, uh, [inaudible], uh, you know, zoned for a much more high density housing in 2018. The, uh, 30 foot height limit was the result of the 1972 citizens initiative, uh, which applies to all of the neighborhoods West of [inaudible] excluding downtown. And at the time the residents were concerned about runaway development along the coast, and they wanted to limit the building height to preserve the views of the coast, uh, measure ISA porters. However, say that this [inaudible] boundary was arbitrary and that midway being a landlocked neighborhood without any direct beach access doesn't really belong in the same category as a LA Jolla or a Pacific beach or point Loma where, uh, those coastal views, uh, needed protecting at that time. Speaker 1: 01:57 And the city has an agreement with the developer group to redevelop the Pachanga arena property in the middle of the midway district. Give us the overview of that plan and why it relies so much on getting that height limit to be removed. Speaker 2: 02:09 Yeah, the Pachanga arena or the sports arena, as it used to be known is part of, uh, 48 acres that the city owns and wants to redevelop the arena itself is actually much taller than 65 feet because it was built before the height limit was imposed in 1972. So if that arena were to be torn down, it would be illegal for the city to rebuild it as it is. So that's one reason why, um, I, I think the mayor is supporting measure. He is he, he wants to, you know, if, if the city wants a new arena, it will have to, um, eliminate this 30 foot height limit the plan for the entire property. Also envisions, uh, Parkland, denser development with housing retail, office space, et cetera. And so the city is still in talks with the development team that they, um, chose, uh, but it's likely the city would still own the land and lease it out to developers. And the goal is to catalyze redevelopment in the area and also make the property more lucrative for the taxpayers. So allowing taller development on that property is one way to accomplish that because, you know, you'd, you'd have more, uh, rent paying tenants on the, on the land and, um, you know, more money coming into the city through a lease deal. Speaker 1: 03:24 And as this plan stands now, how high would the new buildings be compared with what's in that area now? Speaker 2: 03:31 Well, there aren't any specific proposals yet for the new development, uh, either on the Patonga arena side or anywhere else in midway above 30 feet, because, um, you know, measure, he hasn't been decided yet there are height limits and other regulations, uh, set by the zoning in the community plan update. And it depends on the particular parcel of land. Some of them are actually limited to 30 feet. So, uh, those, you know, wouldn't necessarily change. Uh, other parcels could go up to 65 feet. Others could go as high as a hundred feet, although that's, uh, I I've been told at least it's about 15% of the entire area, um, has the highest height limit of 100 feet. It's also noteworthy that many of these lots in midway are constrained by the size of the parcel and other regulations on the scale of what could be built there. So, you know, uh, if, if you build a taller building, you might have to go a more slender, which would allow for a little bit more open space. And that's another reason why some people support, uh, measure is that, you know, it would allow for buildings to go up and rather than out, and be sort of a short and squat building Speaker 1: 04:38 Plays right into the city's climate action plan and, uh, limiting sprawl and transportation, as it were now, who is behind measuring. It has a lot of backing right Speaker 2: 04:48 Measure E really originated from the neighborhood planning group. They had been kind of lobbying for this for quite some time. The chairwoman Kathy Kenton has been a cheerleader for, uh, raising the height limit for years. And at a meeting earlier this year, they really urged their council member, Jen Campbell, to bring this issue to the city council and ultimately place it on the ballot. And she did that in partnership with council member, Chris, Kate, since then, it's been endorsed, as I mentioned by mayor Kevin Faulkner, uh, by both the Republican and democratic parties of San Diego County, uh, the chamber of commerce, the San Diego and Imperial County is labor council. Uh, the building industry, other unions, uh, the San Diego County taxpayers association, the climate action campaign. Um, it's probably got the most institutional backing of any measure on the city's ballot, this election. Speaker 1: 05:39 And what about the opposition? Who's opposed? Speaker 2: 05:41 It's mostly individuals. There's a small, uh, official no campaign committee, although it doesn't have a whole lot of money it's opposed by council member, Barbara Bree. Who's also running for mayor and she's not campaigning against this, but she says she is voting against it. A former council member, Donna Frye, the head of the safe San Diego neighborhoods organization, which is mostly active in opposing Airbnb and short-term home rentals, the chair of the original 1972 height limit measure the committee that placed that on the ballot is also opposed to it. So a smaller group, but, um, you know, there are certainly out there, Speaker 1: 06:18 Well, measure is going to be another one. We'll be watching come November 3rd and our KPBS election coverage. I've been speaking with KPBS, Metro reporter, Andrew Bowen. Thanks Andrew. Speaker 2: 06:28 Thank you, Mark.