From Neighbors for a Better San Diego
Two local neighborhoods recently staged impressive protests against multi-unit “Bonus ADU” projects in their communities.
Jicarillo Avenue —
On June 22, more than 50 homeowners and renters in Clairemont/Bay Ho rallied against a 12-unit development on Jicarillo Ave near Moraga Ave. That over-sized project abuts a high-risk fire zone on a sensitive canyon rim. It will have no off-street parking for residents, and like all Bonus ADU projects, it was approved without community input or design review.
Neighbors continue to pledge to fight against the Bonus ADU program, even if they can’t stop the Jicarillo Ave project. Their protest was covered by KUSI/Fox5 and the OB Rag.
Shoshoni Avenue —
On June 27, KUSI/Fox5 aired an in-depth report on another ADU protest. The focus of that neighborhood’s anger is another 12-unit Bonus ADU project on a single-family lot on Shoshoni Avenue near Genesee Avenue, also in Clairemont.
The site is at the end of a very narrow cul-de-sac, and the project will have no off-street parking for up to 24 new residents. Neighbors voiced legitimate concerns about parking, congestion, and, most importantly, the ability of emergency vehicles to reach houses on their street.
Construction of that backyard apartment complex hasn’t started yet, and residents on and around Shoshoni Avenue pledge to do all they can to stop or alter the project.
The KUSI/Fox5 report includes a statement from Councilmember Jen Cambell, who expressed sympathy for the neighbors and raised concerns about the negative impacts of the city’s “Bonus ADU” ordinance.
To be clear, NFABSD continues to support the California state allowance of a single ADU in the backyard of a residential home.
But these Bonus ADU projects result from an ill-conceived and poorly written San Diego ordinance encouraging developers to work every possible angle to their advantage. The Bonus ADU code is wreaking havoc in single-family-zoned neighborhoods, diminishing opportunities for homeownership, and adding to rising land and rent costs.
Permits are pending on a mega-project that would squeeze 18 units on a single-family lot (8 two-story buildings behind a one-story home with a converted garage). Another project would pack an astonishing 37 ADUs on a single-family-zoned lot.
Rather than listen to the legitimate concerns of their constituents, San Diego City Councilmembers just made it worse by voting for a provision in the 2024 Land Development Code Update to further relax regulations for ADUs in areas that are least appropriate for this type of development.
As Neighbors For A Better San Diego has emphasized many times, these problems are compounded by San Diego’s 2023 approval of the Sustainable Development Area (SDA), which allows dense development like the Bonus ADU program in neighborhoods up to a mile away from transit — including imaginary future transit stops. This has opened up single-family parcels in environmentally sensitive areas, especially along canyon rims and high-risk fire hazard zones.
To learn more about the SDA and the lawsuit against it, please click here.