Neighbors' Opposition to San Diego Project Runs Into Density Bonus Law
- William Fulton
- Jan 30, 2022
- 5 min read
Recent changes in state law – the density bonus law, expanded CEQA exemptions, and objective standards – are changing the game in the neighborhood-by-neighborhood battle over density and development throughout California. But in many cases, neighborhood activists seeking to limit new development are still fighting the last war – to their detriment.
The latest example of this trend comes from the Bankers Hill neighborhood in San Diego, where a community association opposed a 20-story apartment building based on two arguments that might have succeeded in the past: conflicts with the general plan and the idea that the project’s “massing and scale” is out of character with the neighborhood. But the Bankers Hill neighbors aren’t winning the argument. They’ve lost all the way down the line – planning commission, city council, Superior Court, and now in an unpublished opinion by the Court of Appeal. And the reason is the recent changes in state law that give developers more power to seek density bonuses, concessions, and waivers, which in this case are overpowering the neighbors’ traditional arguments. In fact, the appellate court criticized the neighborhood group for “sidestepping” the density bonus law in their arguments.
The project in question is a proposed 20-story, 204-unit apartment building at Sixth and Olive in Bankers Hill, a long-established neighborhood just north of Downtown San Diego and just west of Balboa Park. The land is actually owned by St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, which is adjacent. The new project, to be developed by St. Paul’s development partner, Greystar, includes a courtyard that would be shared by the apartment building and the cathedral. They would also share an underground parking garage.
Under the city’s conventional rules, Greystar would have been limited to 147 units on the site and also would have been subject to additional discretionary review under the city’s Community Plan Implementation Overlay Zone (CPIOZ), which requires additional review for projects of more than 65 feet. However, under the state Density Bonus Law (sometimes known as the SDBL), Greystar proposed an addition 57 units, including 18 very-low-income units (restricted to residents with incomes below 50% of median income). In addition, Greystar asked – as it is permitted to do so under the Density Bonus Law – for three incentives that deviated from the city’s development standards: eliminating a setback on one street, eliminating two on-site loading spaces for trucks, and reducing the number of private storage areas for residents. (As required by state law, the Density Bonus Law is implemented in San Diego by local “Affordable Housing Regulations”.