San Diego city council members on Monday approved a major new policy package aimed at revitalizing business districts, encouraging large-scale housing development and clarifying dozens of zoning rules.
Amendment 99 would relax rules for converting shopping malls into housing, streamline licensing for sidewalk cafes and make it easier to open substance use and mental health clinics for homeless people.
It would also make it easier to open urgent care clinics in many areas and require new arenas and stadiums that are easily accessible for pedestrians, cyclists and public transit users.
Two policy changes have also been proposed to make it easier to open childcare facilities.
“This will ensure that we are responsive to the ever-changing landscape of issues related to community development,” Councilman Kent Lee said before the City Council approved the measure 8-0.
Lee said the amendments, which must be approved by the Coastal Commission before going into effect in the city’s coastal areas, are important because they will help chip away at San Diego’s chronic affordable housing shortage.
“Housing prices in our area definitely continue to impact our quality of life,” Lee said.
Council members also highlighted policy changes that would make it easier to open substance use and mental health clinics for homeless people.
“These are facilities that will help people get back on their feet,” City Councilman Raul Campillo said.
While the proposal expands the areas where such facilities can be located, it requires applicants to obtain strict conditional use permits if the facility’s site is within 500 feet of a child care center, playground or school. The rule change also would not apply to single-family residential neighborhoods.
City Councilman Joe LaCava said residents concerned about a clinic opening in their neighborhood should be considerate.
“The people using these facilities are human beings too,” he said.
Of the 99 proposed policy changes, 72 would apply citywide and 27 would only affect downtown.
Proposed changes for downtown include incentives to develop underutilized sites such as parking lots, build moderate-income housing and add public open space to large developments.
Another proposed change for Downtown would create new incentives for development of C Street and ground-floor retail on the street, which runs along the streetcar line.
“These improvements will make our downtown even better,” said City Councilman Stephen Whitburn, whose district includes the area.
San Diego is the only city in the region that updates its zoning code with major policy changes every year — other cities deal with such changes one at a time.
Critics say such wholesale tweaks to key regulations spare the changes from the scrutiny they would receive if the council discussed them individually.
City officials say a comprehensive annual update of zoning rules allows them to streamline regulations and quickly make small corrections to tweak policies that may have had unintended consequences.
The Coastal Commission has approved the city’s reform plans for 2020 and 2021, but not yet for 2022. City officials expect the plan approved Monday will get final approval from the commission late next year. There was no plan for 2023.
