SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) – A controversial 23-story high-rise proposed in Pacific Beach has sparked fresh demands from residents to shut it down for good.
This comes as the developer, Kalonymus, faces growing pressure to address the community’s concerns about its plans.
Dozens of people turned out for a rally Saturday night at the Dunn-Edwards Paint parking lot on Mission Boulevard and marched to the site of the proposed project at 970 Turquoise St.
“We’ve been waiting for a long time for a response from the developer on the cycle one comments and they’ve just kind of gone dark,” said Marcella Bothwell, vhair of Neighbors for a Better California.
Bothwell and dozens of others have been trying to persuade the developer to reconsider their plans.
“They say that they want housing and they want to convert it all to housing, but it’s really, truly a hotel right now,” said Bothwell.
Plans submitted to the city by Kalonymus show they’re trying to use the state’s density bonus laws to bypass local laws and build a nearly 240-foot-tall building made up of more than 200 units.
Sixty-five are slated as market-rate, 10 are designated for low and moderate income residents, and 139 are planned for “visitor accommodation.”
Kalonymus provided the following statement to FOX 5/KUSI about its proposed project:
“San Diego has a well-documented shortage of homes that is making life increasingly expensive, so we need ambitious projects to truly move the needle. The goal is to make this beach community accessible to a lot more San Diegans who otherwise wouldn’t have the ability to live here. We’re talking about making hundreds of units available in a desirable community where the barrier to entry has historically been very high.
It will bring market rate as well as affordable rent-restricted units — built with no taxpayer subsidy — to a community that doesn’t see a lot of new housing even though the demand is very strong. This project alone will nearly double the total affordable housing units that have been built in this area in the last several years – with these rents guaranteed under the deed to be affordable to low- and middle-income households.
This is a locally designed project that’s backed by people who believe in San Diego and want to create the new generation of homes that our city needs. This project is made possible largely through new state laws that encourage home building on a scale that acknowledges California’s housing crisis. The project continues to move forward through review in accordance with state and local regulations.”
Regarding local laws, Kalonymus also added:
“While true that visitor accommodation units are sometimes used for hotels, under the city’s zoning regulations at the time the project was submitted and vested under local and state law, visitor accommodation uses permitted longer-term stays of more than 30 days.
The visitor accommodation units will be designed with amenities like kitchens, and the developer intends to operate them on long-term leases in compliance with the regulations applicable to the project. There are hundreds of visitor accommodation units throughout the city that are rented on annual leases, so there is a long-standing precedent for this.
The project site is located outside of the State Coastal Overlay Zone and is therefore not subject to the requirements of the Coastal Act or the City’s Local Coastal Program, per the California Department of Housing and Community Development.”
A smaller group of residents who wanted to express support for more housing but not the so-called “Turquoise Tower” also gathered in front of the site Saturday prior to the larger rally.
“I think we can all agree that we prefer to see mid-level, mid-rise homes around the community, not hotel skyscrapers,” said Manny Rodriguez, a member of YIMBY Democrats of San Diego County.
Others in the community said they feel the same and want the developer to scale back.
“Things like the Turquoise Tower truly are out of scale of the neighborhood, however, we support transit-oriented development and gentle middle density,” said Pacific Beach resident Ryan Stock.
Stock was among several people who also expressed support for SB 79, which is currently going through the legislative process. However, opponents worry if passed, the legislation would further empower developers to use loopholes in existing state laws.
Concerns also continue to linger among the business community about the impact of such a large project if it gets the greenlight.
“This will jeopardize even the existence of this building somewhat with the fact that I won’t be able to get the people in the door, let alone help them and that’s what we’re here for. It’s sad,” said Michael Hill, commander of VFW Post 5985 on Turquoise Street.
A spokesperson for the city told FOX 5/KUSI that the Development Services Department is still reviewing the project. TheY also provided the following statement:
“SB 92 was authored by Sen. Catherine Blakespear and sponsored by the City of San Diego to ensure that projects using the state’s Density Bonus Law, which is designed to spur affordable housing, are not used to intensify the density of a primarily commercial project. It was crafted in direct response to this project, which the city sees as exploiting a lack of clarity in the Density Bonus Law to build a higher/larger hotel than would be allowed in that space by also including affordable housing units in the project. The bill is progressing through the legislative process now.”
Meanwhile, Bothwell said that includes proving the extra 20 stories are not needed using taxpayer dollars.
“They’re doing the right thing right now, but we need for them to do the right thing in the long run and deny the permit,” she added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
