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SB 10 Update: Action Needed! Good news-Bad news
May/June 2023
 Courtesy Google street view
We have some good news to report!
Because the City retains discretion in this rezoning process, they have amended their version to protect designated historic sites and historic districts.
SOHO's message of concern for the city’s cultural heritage was well received by the City of San Diego, and the circulating draft of SB 10 now includes a carve-out for designated historic sites and districts.
The protection would only apply to designated sites and districts. Other historic sites would continue to be endangered. There is still work to do on SB 10. Frankly, we can expect even this commonsense exemption to be challenged by developers, builders, and naysayers who have no concern for San Diego’s cultural heritage and are often out-of-town investors. Profit is their only motive, regardless of damages left in their wake.
Here is the exemptive language from the City’s Housing Action Package 2.0 (HAP 2.0):
§143.1505 Application of Missing Middle Housing Regulations
(b) This Division is not applicable in the following circumstances:
(1) When the premises is located within any of the following:
(I) A historical district that is a designated historical resource, or
on a premises that contains a designated historical resource.
Because the City retains discretion in this rezoning process, they have amended their version to protect designated historic sites and historic districts.
The bad news:
SB 10 is dangerous. It permits local governments to bypass some existing zoning and environmental review processes to allow for denser housing projects, including multi-unit buildings and apartment complexes, in areas that were previously restricted to single-family homes. SB 10 allows for the creation of "by-right" development, which means that developers are allowed to build without undergoing a public review process.
And once enacted, no new City Council action, or vote or will of the people can alter it. Ever. SOHO is by no means alone in condemning SB 10 as particularly egregious and malicious legislation.
We applaud the City for the protective carve-out for designated historic sites and districts, making SB 10 more akin to SB 9 in its treatment of historic resources.
While it is crucial that we address California’s housing crisis, it should not come at the expense of San Diego’s irreplaceable historic neighborhoods and cultural resources that cannot recover once impacted adversely, or worse.
There are viable alternative solutions to the housing crisis that do not compromise San Diego's irreplaceable cultural resources. These include providing incentives for developers to provide affordable housing by rehabilitating and adapting existing buildings, increasing funding for affordable housing programs, and preserving historic neighborhoods and resources that are prime for revitalization.
The exception for historic resources is commendable, but we must also consider the likely potential for gentrification and the displacement of lower-income communities, who often reside in historic neighborhoods that are not yet designated. Losing the genuinely affordable historic housing in these communities is harmful any time, and could be devastating in today’s housing crisis and economic uncertainty.
Please see the details of this legislation in the Our Heritage News March/April 2023 issue online and see the City Planning Department Housing Action Package 2.0 draft plan online.
Our work is far from done. Here’s how you can help
We urge you to write to your city council person, the Mayor, and the Planning Commission. Please be sure to thank them for protecting designated historic resources and encourage them to add more undesignated historic neighborhoods and their historic residences to the pipeline for local landmarking.
Follow the local non-profit group Neighbors for a Better San Diego online and sign up for their email list. These San Diego neighbors, community leaders, and advocates are working to protect and preserve single-family neighborhoods from overdevelopment and they recently issued a position paper on SB 10.
Sincere thanks to those who have donated to SOHO’s legal fund. We ask others who are able to please contribute as well. Our legal fund allows us to act quickly when we are called upon to challenge threats to San Diego’s vulnerable, irreplaceable architectural and cultural environment. Please donate what you can. Thank you!
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