From Media Alert
By Mary Brady
Dozens of homeowners and renters in the Clairemont/Bay Ho neighborhood will stage a protest demonstration focused on the City of San Diego’s refusal to halt the destructive and illegal construction by a developer who is cramming 12 so-called “Accessory Dwelling Units” on a single family lot abutting a canyon.
The protest will be this Saturday, June 22, 11 am at the site located at 4578 Jicarillo Ave, San Diego 92117 Clairemont/Bay Ho.
The city’s failure to modify its flawed “Bonus ADU” program and enforce existing building codes allowed SDRE Homebuyers to grade the lot, threaten an environmentally sensitive canyon, install illegal drainage, and demolish an existing garage, without the required permits, neighbors say.
Neighbors and their attorneys have reported these violations to the city’s Code Enforcement Division and their elected representative, but grading and construction have continued essentially unchecked since August, 2023.
Community organizers will demonstrate why their narrow street is particularly unsuited to a multi-unit apartment building with no off-street parking. The protestors will also show the severe fire danger posed by this outsized project, and its risk to public safety.
“This is not an ADU project, it’s a 12-unit apartment complex on a single family-lot in a residential neighborhood,” said Mary Brady, who lives on Jacarillo Ave.
“It will not create any affordable housing. Sadly, it will only drive up the price of much-needed ‘starter homes’ for first-time buyers, because it permanently removes this property from our city’s resell inventory,” Brady said.
Geoff Hueter, chair of Neighbors For A Better San Diego, also criticized the development.
“The so-called ‘Bonus ADU Program’ encourages development as far away as possible from transit in areas with the highest fire risk,” said Hueter. “Worse, the City has lost the trust of its residents — both owners and renters — because it refuses to enforce its own regulations and close obvious loopholes in our land use codes.”
More details about the violations and the city’s inaction are included in a 62-page letter from the residents’ attorneys at the Law Offices of Josh Chatten-Brown, and contact Mary Brady for a copy or link.
Contact: Mary Brady, [email protected], 858-784-1325