- San Diego Union Tribune The do-over ballot proposal to lift the 30-foot building height limit in San Diego’s Midway District remains on track to appear before city voters this fall. Wednesday, the City Council’s Rules Committee voted unanimously in favor of advancing the ballot measure to the full council for final consideration. The action tees up the measure to be placed, by the council, on the November ballot — two years after the electorate approved Measure E and OK’d taller buildings in the 1,324-acre area that includes San Diego’s sports arena. A court order later invalidated the ordinance. “This is something that is very much needed,” said Councilmember Chris Cate, who submitted the ballot measure proposal. "(The measure) obviously, we know from the past, has a broad base of support from throughout the city to really enact a vision for this area, and (I) look forward to the day we can move forward beyond this.” North of the San Diego International Airport and south of Mission Bay, the Midway District is subject to a 1972 referendum on buildings over 30 feet in the coastal zone, or what’s now protected territory extending from the water to Interstate 5 in the city limits. The 2022 ballot proposal seeks to strip the Midway region from the coastal zone, with proponents again contending that the region was arbitrarily roped into San Diego’s coastal zone and is absent the coastal views that the designation is meant to protect. “With no public view corridors, an exception to the height limit will be the catalyst to bring to life the vision of the community plan by attracting much-needed investment into the Midway Pacific-Highway planning area,” Anthony George, a member of Cate’s staff, told the committee. The latest proposal is an exact copy of the previous initiative. Measure E, approved by 57 percent of voters in November 2020, was successful in changing the city’s municipal code to exclude the region from the coastal zone. But a San Diego Superior Court judge ruled in December that the ordinance was illegal. The city, the court said, should have studied the environmental impacts of taller buildings before putting the measure in front of voters. San Diego’s planners have since released a draft analysis of the environmental impacts and expect to finalize the report in time for the council’s consideration of the repeat initiative. Separately, the city attorney’s office is appealing the Superior Court ruling. The City Council must vote to place the measure on the ballot by Aug 12. At stake is San Diego’s years-long effort to remake its real estate holdings at 3220, 3240, 3250 and 3500 Sports Arena Blvd. The city’s real estate department is currently vetting three development teams in the running to lease and dramatically redo the 48-acre property with thousands of apartments, ground-floor retail shops, public amenities and a new arena. All of the bids call for a mix of residential, office, hotel and sports facilities that tower over the 30-foot height limit, making them impossible without a change to the municipal code. The city has said it hopes to select a winning bidder before the end of the year, although it’s unclear if the selection will take place before or after the election. The timing is important as the ballot measure’s success will hinge on a successful campaign, and it’s unlikely that all three teams will pay to finance an initiative that benefits just one of them. -Jennifer Van Grove, San Diego Union Tribune
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