Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

City's Climate Action Plan bumps up against Housing for Hope approval

Has the time passed to use natural gas?

Why build something up that you're just going to have to tear apart in 20 years?
Why build something up that you're just going to have to tear apart in 20 years?

An affordable housing project in City Heights is facing pushback from an environmental group for its use of natural gas systems, which the city plans to phase out in new buildings.


Last week, the planning commission unanimously approved La Maestra Housing for Hope, a redevelopment project at 4135 Fairmount Avenue. The project is slated to be equipped with gas-powered appliances — from stoves to heaters.


"The Project must decarbonize," claimed Coast Law Group in a letter on behalf of the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation that argued the city's continued reliance on natural gas is at odds with its Climate Action Plan.


San Diego has yet to adopt an ordinance that would require La Maestra Housing for Hope to be equipped with all-electric infrastructure. Known as a reach code because it goes beyond the state's minimum building standards, such an ordinance would phase out almost all natural gas usage from buildings by 2035.


Sponsored
Sponsored

The city's 2022 Climate Action Plan focuses on measures like the reach code to decarbonize buildings, which account for nearly 25 percent of the state's greenhouse gas emissions. Critics argue that approving new projects with gas infrastructure, infrastructure that has a lifetime of two to three decades, will frustrate the city’s climate goals, including its goal of phasing out 45 percent of natural gas usage from existing buildings by 2030. (Only five years later, that goal would jump to 90 percent.) 


At least 76 local and state jurisdictions have adopted codes to reduce their use of natural gas. But a lawsuit filed by the California Restaurant Association has put similar plans — including San Diego's — on hold after a federal appeals court overturned the city of Berkeley’s ban on natural gas in new construction.


But Berkeley is fighting the ruling, and some cities are forging ahead into the post-gas future. Carlsbad, which backed off plans for an ordinance in May, has now switched to an "electrification preferred" reach code that would allow both options, but which would stricter requirements for gas.


The La Maestra Housing for Hope project will be a four-story, 14,945-square-foot multi-dwelling unit that includes 20 transitional housing units affordable by low-income households for a period of 55 years.


Critics say those residents may struggle to afford the transition away from natural gas when the time comes.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Escondido planners nix office building switch to apartments

Not enough open space, not enough closets for Hickory Street plans
Next Article

Tigers In Cairo owes its existence to Craigslist

But it owes its name to a Cure tune and a tattoo
Why build something up that you're just going to have to tear apart in 20 years?
Why build something up that you're just going to have to tear apart in 20 years?

An affordable housing project in City Heights is facing pushback from an environmental group for its use of natural gas systems, which the city plans to phase out in new buildings.


Last week, the planning commission unanimously approved La Maestra Housing for Hope, a redevelopment project at 4135 Fairmount Avenue. The project is slated to be equipped with gas-powered appliances — from stoves to heaters.


"The Project must decarbonize," claimed Coast Law Group in a letter on behalf of the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation that argued the city's continued reliance on natural gas is at odds with its Climate Action Plan.


San Diego has yet to adopt an ordinance that would require La Maestra Housing for Hope to be equipped with all-electric infrastructure. Known as a reach code because it goes beyond the state's minimum building standards, such an ordinance would phase out almost all natural gas usage from buildings by 2035.


Sponsored
Sponsored

The city's 2022 Climate Action Plan focuses on measures like the reach code to decarbonize buildings, which account for nearly 25 percent of the state's greenhouse gas emissions. Critics argue that approving new projects with gas infrastructure, infrastructure that has a lifetime of two to three decades, will frustrate the city’s climate goals, including its goal of phasing out 45 percent of natural gas usage from existing buildings by 2030. (Only five years later, that goal would jump to 90 percent.) 


At least 76 local and state jurisdictions have adopted codes to reduce their use of natural gas. But a lawsuit filed by the California Restaurant Association has put similar plans — including San Diego's — on hold after a federal appeals court overturned the city of Berkeley’s ban on natural gas in new construction.


But Berkeley is fighting the ruling, and some cities are forging ahead into the post-gas future. Carlsbad, which backed off plans for an ordinance in May, has now switched to an "electrification preferred" reach code that would allow both options, but which would stricter requirements for gas.


The La Maestra Housing for Hope project will be a four-story, 14,945-square-foot multi-dwelling unit that includes 20 transitional housing units affordable by low-income households for a period of 55 years.


Critics say those residents may struggle to afford the transition away from natural gas when the time comes.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Poway’s schools, faced with money squeeze, fined for voter mailing

$105 million bond required payback of nearly 10 times that amount
Next Article

Trump names local supporter new Border Czar

Another Brick (Suit) in the Wall
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader