LETTER TO EDITOR – Protect the 30-foot coastal height limit

Dear Editor:

San Diegans must make their voices heard against the most colossal eyesore ever proposed for Pacific Beach, a 23-story high-rise at 970 Turquoise St. This project eradicates our voter-approved 30-foot coastal height limit.

Council President Pro Tem Joe LaCava stated, “No city, state, or developer can reverse that without a public vote.”

City officials affirmed this project does not align with state or city policies to construct more affordable housing. This skyscraper will protrude 239 feet, 29% as high as nearby 823-foot Mt. Soledad. To build a 213-unit high-rise this developer only had to propose five very low-income and five middle-income units; later 139 units can be converted to hotel rooms.

Assemblymember David Alvarez’s AB 1287 is to blame for violating the 30-foot height limit, which must be amended, also any bill denying local government’s authority to determine a developer’s project.

Property values for nearby residences will likely decrease due to this skyscraper on a traffic-jammed two-lane road with scarce street parking. This incompatible high-rise will be next door to a car repair shop that is not for sale.

This 23-story high-rise will be one of the most damaging projects ever approved. The public must immediately communicate their opposition because a decision is expected in a few weeks; it is currently under review by the Department of Housing and Community Development: codesinquiries@hcd.ca.gov. Two Pacific Beach representatives to contact are Assemblymember Boerner: https://a77.asmdc.org/contact-tasha and Senator Blakespear: https://sd38.senate.ca.gov/contact.

State legislators should inform the public how they plan to enforce compliance with maintaining lower-income rentals. It is entirely illogical that Sacramento prohibits knowledgeable and qualified local officials from deciding on a project accompanied by public input. Some believe state legislators are allowing developers to build conflicting high-rise projects violating the height limit to entice large sums of money for campaign contributions.

When state legislators recklessly void our 30-foot height limit law they violate the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

“The people” have spoken to preserve a 30-foot height limit; our U.S. Constitution can be invoked in a court case to prohibit this state’s wrongdoing.

An alleged housing crisis is not solved by legislation with loopholes that lead to an extremely inferior building approval process. AB 1287, among other bills, resulted in major civil discord, democratic practices obliterated with neighborhoods destroyed. State officials permitting mismatched projects is a complete injustice similar to totalitarian authority. When state legislators prevent local officials from approving building projects, they negligently violate local government autonomy, and sternly quash transparency, while silencing a severely dissatisfied and harmed public.

Ted Hilton,

Pacific Beach community activist