Plans to add tens of thousands of homes to Clairemont and the College Area took a step forward Friday, as San Diego seeks to encourage more homebuilding near public transit, schools and jobs.
Both neighborhoods have community plans dating back to 1989. Proposed updates from the City Planning Department would keep most of the neighborhoods zoned for low-density, single-family homes.
But taller apartment buildings would be allowed near trolley and bus stations, along major streets and on commercial strip malls. The plans also called for wider sidewalks, linear parks and public plazas.
The Clairemont Community Plan Update would allow 14,000 more homes than what current zoning allows, while the College Area Community Plan Update would add capacity for 17,500 more homes.
The San Diego City Council's Land Use and Housing Committee voted to recommend approval of both plans, which are scheduled to go before the full council in December. Councilmember Raul Campillo supported the Clairemont plan update but voted "no" on the update for the College Area, saying he disagreed with some of the zoning changes.
Some residents of the College Area said they supported more housing, but that the proposed changes were more than what the neighborhood could absorb.
"We need community resources," Julie Hamilton, president of the College Area Community Council. "We have one community room that we can meet at, and it's at the library, and the library has about half the parking that it needs."
Supporters of the College Area Community Plan Update said the neighborhood's trolley stations and rapid bus routes, and the employment hub in SDSU, make it ideal for higher density.
"Some worry about infrastructure, fairly," said Saad Asad, communications manager at California YIMBY. "But new housing generates property tax revenue to fund parks and rec. That's what happened when Mira Mesa added new homes — it allowed it to fund a new community center."
Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, whose district includes the College Area, said SDSU students need more places to live within walking distance of campus.
"The vibrancy of the community, the diversity of income, of race, ethnicity, religion — San Diego State University is a huge reason why that exists," Elo-Rivera said. "And if we don't give those students a place to live, by zoning for more appropriate density, we will lose the thing that many in this room say they most appreciate about their community."
The Clairemont Community Plan Update faced comparatively less resistance during public testimony. Councilmember Vivian Moreno said she was glad the city was making changes to the longstanding 30-foot height limit in Clairemont, with portions of the neighborhood seeing new height limits of between 35 and 65 feet.
"We simply cannot continue to be constrained by height limits that are too low if we want to make sure that future generations of San Diegans have access to the housing that allows them to continue to live where they were raised," Moreno said.
Both Clairemont and the College Area are impacted by a new state law, SB 79, which property owners can use to bypass local zoning and build apartments of five to six stories if they're within a half-mile of a light rail or rapid bus stop. The law doesn't take effect until July 2026.
