Changes coming for San Diego’s ADU program
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Wednesday, March 5.
Hundreds of San Diegans have found affordable places to live thanks to the city’s threatened ADU program.
More on that next. But first... the headlines….
The city of San Diego is joining a lawsuit brought by several cities against the Trump Administration.
The lawsuit was filed early last month by the city and county of San Francisco and Santa Clara County.
It seeks to stop the administration from withholding federal funds from local governments that don’t cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
The city is one of 11 local jurisdictions from several states that joined the suit last week.
Coastal rail service will be suspended this weekend for routine maintenance and infrastructure work.
The North County Transit District says no trains will operate during the closure, including the Coaster.
It’s one of two weekends this month officials plan to stop operations for maintenance, this weekend and March 22 and 23.
The San Diego City Council yesterday (Tuesday) again voted to repeal a footnote in the city code that reduced lot sizes in South-eastern San Diego.
The footnote reduced minimum lot sizes for certain zones, which allowed for denser housing. However, it only applied to Encanto and other South-eastern neighborhoods – parts of the city that are majority Black, Latino and low-income.
The council first voted to repeal the footnote in January, but did so without placing the item on its agenda, apparently in violation of state transparency laws.
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.
Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
IN JANUARY, BORDER PATROL AGENTS FROM IMPERIAL COUNTY ARRESTED 78 PEOPLE IN BAKERSFIELD. OFFICIALS DESCRIBED IT AS A HIGHLY TARGETED OPERATION THAT TOOK CRIMINALS OFF THE STREETS. BUT REPORTER GUSTAVO SOLIS SAYS A NEW LAWSUIT IS CHALLENGING THAT CLAIM.
It was called Operation Return to Sender. On Twitter, Border Patrol Chief Agent Gregory Bovino called it a success. Now the ACLU is suing Bovino and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The class-action lawsuit alleges the operation was a fishing expedition. Brisa Velazquez Otis is an ACLU lawyer. “They detained individuals regardless of citizenship status. There were individuals who were permanent residents and citizens that were harassed, stopped, and questioned.” The suit goes on to claim the Border Patrol held people in poor conditions and coerced them into signing documents that waived their rights to a hearing in immigration court.“They were concrete floors, they maybe had a bench that was made out of steel to sit on.”“The lights, they are blaring day and night. So individuals are not able to sleep.” The Border Patrol did not respond to specific allegations in the complaint. Instead, the agency issued a statement saying QUOTE “Border Patrol enforcement actions are highly targeted. Businesses that human traffic and exploit migrants for cheap labor should be afraid.” Gustavo Solis, KPBS News
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S ADMINISTRATION HAS CUT THOUSANDS OF FEDERAL STAFF IN HIS FIRST SIX WEEKS IN OFFICE.
. REPORTER THOMAS FUDGE SAYS CUTS TO NOAA (NO-AH), WHICH RUNS THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE, ARE ALREADY BEING FELT IN SAN DIEGO.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration called NOAA partners in several programs with Scripps Institution of Oceanography, at UC San Diego. One of the programs goes out to sea to monitor fisheries and water conditions. Scripps oceanographer Clarissa Anderson says last week all of the NOAA staff on the research vessel were terminated. Anderson says partnerships with NOAA are important to fisheries and to the coast guard, who rely on ocean current data for search and rescue. “If you fall in the ocean you are going to be found 40 percent later than you would have because we didn’t have these data because the Coast Guard requires these data in their models to tune them. To make them accurate so that people can be found.” NOAA communications staff wouldn’t comment on whether any staff had been cut at San Diego’s office of the National Weather Service.
THE SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL HELD A MARATHON MEETING YESTERDAY (TUESDAY) ON THE CITY'S A-D-U BONUS PROGRAM. ADOPTED IN 2020, THE PROGRAM LED TO GREATER DENSITY IN SINGLE-FAMILY NEIGHBORHOODS, SPARKING FIERCE BACKLASH FROM SOME HOMEOWNERS. BUT KPBS METRO REPORTER ANDREW BOWEN SAYS THERE'S ALSO A NEW CONSTITUENCY OF RENTERS AND HOMEBUILDERS FIGHTING TO KEEP THE PROGRAM IN PLACE.
Construction noiseSo this project is 12 units, 10 units of new construction. Daniel Shkolnik is showing me around the construction site for six small duplexes he's building in San Diego's Palm City neighborhood. Be careful here walking through. All this is trenching for all of our utilities, so gas, electric, water, sewer…Normally, this property would be limited to three homes: a primary house and two accessory dwelling units, or ADUs. But because the property is a 15-minute walk to the Palm Avenue trolley station, it's eligible for the city's ADU bonus program. So instead of three units, Shkolnik is building 12. Five will be rented as affordable housing. Shkolnik says he's used the ADU bonus program to build housing for more than 300 San Diegans. The city has a couple of thousand projects that are being built under this program. And so it's really moved the needle in creating missing middle housing with zero public subsidy. Missing middle housing refers to lower-cost homes like duplexes, townhomes and bungalows that San Diego used to build a lot of. But they were largely outlawed in the mid-20th Century as the city rezoned many of its neighborhoods for single-family homes. In the past decade, the city has been allowing more large apartment buildings, often 50 units or more. Those types of buildings typically attract a regional or national developer because the timelines are four to five years. The balance sheet requirements are 40 to 80 million dollars, right? So you're forcing outside influences to help shape the growth of the city. Now, here comes ADU density bonus, where now you can build these smaller projects that are, call it, from $2 to $5 million to create. It creates a whole new opportunity for San Diegans to now shape and build San Diego. This is our front terrace here. We have a small garden with cilantro and rosemary.Sarah Agudo is one of the hundreds of people in San Diego who now has a home thanks to the ADU bonus program. Agudo moved to San Diego last August with her boyfriend to pursue a master's degree in interior design. I was trying to find the closest place to my college. I was looking for La Jolla to be honest, but I didn't know La Jolla was La Jolla (laughs). Eventually she came across this much more affordable one-bedroom apartment in Clairemont — built alongside nine other ADUs. It's quiet. It has a small yard. And it came with a parking space, a dishwasher — even in-unit laundry. She also likes the natural light and ventilation. I know it was a good team that executed this, like a good architect, a good interior designer, because everything is well thought. It works. It's small, but it works. Sarah doesn't know much about the ADU bonus program, or the opposition to it. All she knows is the other homes in this neighborhood — larger single-family homes — are out of her price range. We really feel glad that this housing or this project was built because it really gives the opportunity to students and to just people from other parts of the country or even locals, because many locals, this is a very convenient and strategic location because you have both main highways that connect to the north and south. It's great for us. "Under the current rules these developments resemble slave quarters or camps." "They are traumatizing your residents." "The ADU bonus program is not just unsuccessful, it is destructive." Homeowners in single-family neighborhoods showed up in force at Tuesday's City Council meeting asking for the ADU bonus program to be repealed. They raised concerns about traffic congestion, lack of parking, fire safety and more. The council ultimately voted not to repeal the program but to work with Mayor Todd Gloria to limit where it applies and tighten its regulations. City planning staffers are expected to present the council with changes to the ADU bonus program in the coming months. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.
CHANGES MAY BE COMING FOR THE FIREWORKS SHOWS AT SEAWORLD. . REPORTER JOHN CARROLL EXPLAINS WHY THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO MAY SOON GET INVOLVED.
“I would hear it from my constituents that were frustrated by the frequency of the fireworks.” SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT JOE LACAVA SAYS HE’S GOTTEN COMPLAINTS FROM CONSTITUENTS ABOUT THEIR PETS GETTING FREAKED OUT BY THE LOUD NOISE… AND HE HAS ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS. “There’s been some allegations about some impacts to the natural environment in Mission Bay. We’re still trying to study that and really trying to connect the dots between them because that’s an important part of what makes Mission Bay special.” SEAWORLD ISSUED A STATEMENT SAYING IN PART: “We will continue to have conversations related to park offerings as we are constantly striving to update our entertainment and educational offerings.” LACAVA SAYS HE’S NOT CALLING FOR THE FIREWORKS TO BE ELIMINATED, JUST LESSENED IN FREQUENCY. HE SAYS SEAWORLD IS LOOKING AT MAKING CHANGES TO ITS MASTER PLAN, AND THAT WILL INVOLVE DISCUSSIONS WITH THE CITY. HE SAYS THOSE DISCUSSIONS WILL INVOLVE THE LONGTIME TRADITION OF SEAWORLD FIREWORKS. John Carroll, KPBS NEWS.
That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. For your next listen, tune into the KPBS Midday Edition podcast this afternoon.. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
