San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria is proposing a package of new restrictions on accessory dwelling units, which have boomed in popularity in recent years but provoked backlash from neighboring homeowners.
The city's Planning Commission is due to hear the proposal Thursday at 9 a.m. It comes after the City Council requested changes to the city's ADU bonus program, which allows single-family homeowners to build at least four units in their backyards if they set aside a portion as affordable housing. If the home is near public transit, homeowners can build even more units.
The City Planning Department proposes excluding from the program communities where the zoning requires large lot sizes. Smaller lots limit the number of ADUs a homeowner can build, while larger lots have led to applications for as many as 43 ADUs on a single property.
KPBS developed a map that shows which areas have zoning that would still be eligible for the ADU bonus program and which areas are proposed for exclusion. The map also shows areas with a high or very high risk of wildfires. For these areas, Gloria proposes requiring a property be "on an improved public street with at least two evacuation routes" in order to be eligible.
Under the mayor's proposal, large portions of La Jolla, Scripps Ranch, Tierrasanta, College Area and Encanto would no longer be eligible for the ADU bonus program due to their zoning. State law would still allow homeowners in those areas to build two ADUs.
Even in zones where the ADU bonus program would still apply, many properties on cul-de-sacs and adjacent to canyons would be ineligible because they carry a high fire risk and lack two evacuation routes.
Also among the properties to be excluded from the ADU bonus program are sites where the program is impossible to use anyway. For example, San Diego has schools, canyons and cemeteries that are zoned for large-lot single-family homes despite no plans to redevelop them into housing.
The easternmost portion of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar is also zoned for low-density housing under a decades-old community plan. Despite the zoning, the city does not have land use authority over military property and the Marine Corps has no plans to convert the land into a residential neighborhood.
All together, city planners say at least 25,689 acres would no longer be eligible for the ADU bonus program under the mayor's proposal. The program would still apply on roughly 82,970 acres, though it's unclear how much of that area would be excluded due to other reforms under consideration. Among those reforms is a requirement to provide off-street parking spaces for ADUs that are not close to public transit.
Critics have blasted the ADU bonus program, which was adopted under former Mayor Kevin Faulconer, for altering the character of San Diego's low-density, suburban-style neighborhoods. Supporters say the program has diversified those neighborhoods with more low-cost housing options, which are desperately needed to make San Diego more affordable.
