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Battle Over Tall Buildings Continues In Uptown

Residents of Uptown are preparing up for an all too familiar fight. On Thursday, a group of Uptown denizens will lobby San Diego's planning commissioners to recommend yet another extension of the Interim Height Ordinance in Uptown.

The ordinance, which limits buildings in portions of Bankers Hill and Hillcrest to 65 feet and 50 feet in Mission Hills, and bolsters the permitting process, was passed in 2008 after residents began to see an influx of proposals for tall buildings in their community. They worried new development would destroy community character.

That ordinance is set to lapse next month, and residents are again asking commissioners to recommend that the city council extend the height ordinance until the community plan is adopted, sometime in 2013.

But not all residents agree. A group of local architects, developers and others feel it is flawed; that the ordinance silences the community and ruins opportunities for quality development projects. They want planning commissioners and elected officials to water down the regulations, or get rid of it all together.

To get their message out, critics of the ordinance started a Facebook page, calling it "I.H. No."

"In order to attract people, good place-making, good architecture, good street design and sufficient density... The [Interim Height Ordinance] has the propensity to kill all four of these. By severely limiting building construction, [it] could eventually cause rents and housing prices to increase, causing local merchants to leave and changing the character of the neighborhood," reads the group's Facebook profile.

In October, members of the City's "code monitoring team" voted against the ordinance as written, saying it circumvents the planning process. The team, comprised of members from the Association of Architects, Building Industry Association, and other construction groups, warned against tying the ordinance to the completion of the community plan because there is not set date for completion, and no guarantee that it will be completed.

Planning commissioners will hear the item at a 9am hearing at City Hall.

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Residents of Uptown are preparing up for an all too familiar fight. On Thursday, a group of Uptown denizens will lobby San Diego's planning commissioners to recommend yet another extension of the Interim Height Ordinance in Uptown.

The ordinance, which limits buildings in portions of Bankers Hill and Hillcrest to 65 feet and 50 feet in Mission Hills, and bolsters the permitting process, was passed in 2008 after residents began to see an influx of proposals for tall buildings in their community. They worried new development would destroy community character.

That ordinance is set to lapse next month, and residents are again asking commissioners to recommend that the city council extend the height ordinance until the community plan is adopted, sometime in 2013.

But not all residents agree. A group of local architects, developers and others feel it is flawed; that the ordinance silences the community and ruins opportunities for quality development projects. They want planning commissioners and elected officials to water down the regulations, or get rid of it all together.

To get their message out, critics of the ordinance started a Facebook page, calling it "I.H. No."

"In order to attract people, good place-making, good architecture, good street design and sufficient density... The [Interim Height Ordinance] has the propensity to kill all four of these. By severely limiting building construction, [it] could eventually cause rents and housing prices to increase, causing local merchants to leave and changing the character of the neighborhood," reads the group's Facebook profile.

In October, members of the City's "code monitoring team" voted against the ordinance as written, saying it circumvents the planning process. The team, comprised of members from the Association of Architects, Building Industry Association, and other construction groups, warned against tying the ordinance to the completion of the community plan because there is not set date for completion, and no guarantee that it will be completed.

Planning commissioners will hear the item at a 9am hearing at City Hall.

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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
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