CA: San Diego seeking delays, exemptions to new state law requiring high-rises near transit stops

Big zoning changes that will allow high-rise housing near trolley stations and a few major bus stops are coming to San Diego under a new state law, but city officials want to delay the law’s impact in many neighborhoods.

The law — Senate Bill 79 — requires the city to nearly double the number of housing units allowed near its major transit stops from the 494,000 now allowed to 861,000, an increase of 367,000 housing units.

But because the state is allowing cities to delay some of the extraordinary zoning changes, city planning officials will ask the City Council on Thursday to limit where SB 79 takes effect immediately to just 16% of land near transit stops.

Under the proposal, the zoning changes would take effect immediately only in areas with high incomes and strong amenities — areas deemed most able to absorb new housing and the new residents that come with it.

The zoning changes would be delayed in low-income areas that lack amenities and also in neighborhoods with challenges like high wildfire risk, notable historic structures or vulnerability to sea-level rise.

The zoning changes, which will allow buildings as tall as 85 feet in areas zoned for single-family housing, would not take place until 2031 in low-income, low-resource areas. Those areas make up 26% of city land near transit stops.

Officials say the delay would give them time to either boost those low-resource neighborhoods with new infrastructure or amenities, or at least allow officials to thoughtfully pick the best spots in those areas for dense housing projects.

The delay would be shorter — probably mid-2027 — for neighborhoods with challenges like high wildfire risk, historic structures or sea-level rise concerns. Those areas make up 52% of city land near transit stops.

Under the proposal, the council will consider Thursday, city officials would spend roughly a year picking the best spots for high-rise housing in those areas based on evacuation routes, flooding risk and other criteria.

The law also allows the city to swap some of the newly required housing units between areas with challenges like wildfire risk or historic buildings — as long as the total number of new units created by the overall upzoning effort is at least 367,000.

The city will likely engage in swapping, and the potential for swapping is part of the city’s motivation for the delay, said Heidi Vonblum, the city’s planning director.

But Vonblum said she doesn’t expect any changes under the swapping rule to be dramatic when the city unveils what will be called a “transit-oriented development alternative plan” after roughly a year of analysis.

The areas where upzoning would be delayed under Vonblum’s proposal cover 78% of city land near transit stops, making 22% of such land eligible for immediate upzoning when SB 79 becomes effective July 1.

But Vonblum will ask the council to shrink that to 16% on Thursday by eliminating neighborhoods that are close to a transit stop but violate the spirit of SB 79 because residents can’t walk to the stop easily because of barriers like canyons or freeways.

Of the 16% of land where SB 79 would take effect immediately, the largest zoning changes appear to be in parts of western Clairemont and eastern Pacific Beach along the Blue Line trolley extension that began running in 2021.

There would also be an immediate impact, but to a notably lesser extent, near two rapid bus stations: Park Boulevard at University Avenue and Park Boulevard at Howard Avenue.

Many downplayed the impact of SB 79 on San Diego when it was approved last year because the city had already done significant upzoning near many of its trolley stops, especially in University City and Mission Valley.

The city also has an aggressive incentive to spur housing near transit called Complete Communities Housing Solutions, which allows developers to build significantly larger projects than a site’s zoning allows if they include subsidized units.

But Vonblum said SB 79 will still have a major impact on San Diego, partly because the Complete Communities program and some other incentives don’t apply in single-family areas — but SB 79 does.

In addition, many of San Diego’s trolley stops are in the South Bay and southeastern San Diego neighborhoods where the city has done significantly less upzoning in recent years — and where much of the land is zoned for single-family housing.

Vonblum, who works for Mayor Todd Gloria, wants to delay the zoning changes in many of those neighborhoods because they have been deemed low-resource.

She got strong pushback on that proposal last month from the city’s Planning Commission, which rejected her recommendation and is advising the council to apply the new SB 79 zoning in low-resource areas in 2027 instead of 2031.

Commissioner Ted Miyahara said blocking SB 79 in low-income areas for five years won’t encourage developers, as the city hopes, to build in high-income areas instead.

The move will simply deter potentially important projects in low-income areas, Miyahara said.

Kelly Moden, commission chair, said the city’s low-resource areas are more likely to be bolstered than burdened by housing projects allowed by SB 79, which she called potential catalysts for those neighborhoods.

“I don’t think it’s fair to wait five years,” Moden said.

Vonblum disagreed.

“Low-resource areas in our city tend to have less access to fresh and healthy food, high-quality parks, better-performing schools, high-paying jobs, et cetera,” she said. “Those are the areas that require the most thoughtful planning when we are planning to add people.”

Without the delay recommended by Vonblum, denser housing would quickly become possible in large swaths of San Ysidro, Nestor, Logan Heights, Encanto and many parts of southeastern San Diego.

SB 79 allows cities to delay implementation until the particular city adopts its next housing element — a 10-year plan for new housing. San Diego’s next housing element is due in 2031, so that’s the longest San Diego can delay any of the SB 79 changes.

Vonblum only wants to delay the changes for that long in low-resource areas. She’s gearing for 2027 in areas affected by wildfire risk, historic buildings and sea-level rise.

The Planning Commission wants the upzoning to apply in all of those areas in 2027, with no areas delayed until 2031.

Areas near transit and affected by projected sea-level rise are mostly limited to western Mission Valley. Areas affected by historic buildings are mostly in the city’s urban core.

Areas affected by wildfire risk stretch across much of the city and will be perhaps the largest challenge for the city’s implementation of SB 79.

In addition to the Planning Commission, Vonblum is facing criticism from a pro-housing group called the YIMBY Democrats of San Diego County, which wants San Diego to make 52 bus stops eligible for SB 79 upzoning instead of the four bus stops now eligible.

The group contends San Diego has 52 stops on “rapid” bus routes designed for commuters. Vonblum says that is correct, but that SB 79 makes only some of those stops eligible for upzoning.

Under the new state law, only stops where bus lanes are “fully dedicated” are eligible for upzoning. That eliminates all stops where bikes are also allowed to use a bus lane and where there are turning pockets, Vonblum said.

The four stops deemed eligible for SB 79 are the two on Park Boulevard and two transit plazas, one where Interstate 15 intersects with El Cajon Boulevard and another where I-15 intersects with University Avenue.

The YIMBY group also criticized the delays proposed by Vonblum for low-resource neighborhoods and other areas.

“I think given the magnitude of our housing crisis, I encourage you to consider some of the negative impacts of these exemptions,” said group member Paul Jamason.

Vonblum’s approach is drawing praise from Neighbors for a Better San Diego, a group that typically criticizes the city for being too aggressive with its pro-housing policies.

“We think taking a phased, gradual approach makes the most sense,” group leader Geoff Heuter told the Planning Commission.

The group generally opposes intense development along transit lines, contending San Diego doesn’t have nearly enough transit users for that concept to make sense.

SB 79 allows larger buildings the closer the land is to a transit stop. On land within 200 feet of a stop, a project can include 140 units per acre and be up to 85 feet tall.

On land more than 200 feet away but within a quarter mile of a stop, the project can include 100 units per acre and be up to 65 feet tall. On land between a quarter-mile and a half-mile away from a stop, the project can include 80 units per acre and be up to 55 feet tall.

While the city has calculated SB 79 will require allowing 370,000 more housing units near transit stops, Vonblum said that number may come down marginally when the city calculates potential units developers could build near transit stops under Complete Communities.

She said this week that her staff has not finalized its calculations of that number.

Vonblum’s proposed delay to 2031 will likely not impact some low-resource neighborhoods because their growth blueprints are on the verge of being updated.

Those include City Heights, which is part of the Mid-City Community Plan Update, and Otay Mesa/Nestor, an area of the South Bay that is having its community plan updated. The new blueprints will include SB 79 upzoning.

SB 79 will require the city to amend many other recently approved community plan updates, the city’s general plan and its land development code.

Whatever the council decides to do about SB 79 on Thursday will be subject to approval — and possible amendments — from the state Department of Housing and Community Development.

Thursday’s council meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 202 C St.

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