The San Diego City Council on Tuesday approved new community plans for Clairemont and the College Area, aiming to encourage more homebuilding near public transit and on large commercial properties.
Both neighborhoods had community plans dating back to 1989. Since then, the demand for housing in San Diego has skyrocketed. The city has also set ambitious climate goals that depend on building more walkable neighborhoods with better access to public transit.
Clairemont's previous community plan allowed for 38,800 homes, while the new plan allows up to 52,800. The College Area's previous plan allowed 16,700 homes, while the new plan allows 34,450. Together, the plan updates authorize property owners to build an additional 31,750 homes.
Most of the additional density is focused on large shopping centers and along major streets. The updated plans also envision safer bike lanes and bus-only lanes to speed up public transit and make it more competitive with driving, which is San Diego's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, whose district includes the College Area, said the 1989 plan failed to allow for sufficient housing near San Diego State University, forcing students to double, triple or quadruple up in cramped bedrooms and garages.
"The impacts (overcrowding) has on their lives, and their neighbors' lives, is real," Elo-Rivera said. "And I think that we are going to be able to take a major step forward with the plan that's in front of us."
Several College Area residents said the density increases were excessive and would overburden the neighborhood's streets and library. Saul Amerling, who told the council he has lived in the College Area for 25 years, said the neighborhood's low-density character should be preserved.
"Provide infrastructure to support the growth that you seek," Amerling said. "Preserve and protect our one and only asset — our single-family housing stock."
City staffers stressed that neither the housing nor the infrastructure in the community plan updates is guaranteed to be built, but would depend on the economic conditions and budget decisions made over the next several decades.
The Clairemont Community Plan Update faced comparatively less resistance. It envisions transforming the neighborhood's large shopping centers into mixed-use villages with retail, apartments and public plazas.
Many housing advocates supported the zoning changes in Clairemont while also saying they did not go far enough. The vast majority of properties near the Blue Line trolley stations, for example, remain zoned for single-family homes.
The extension of the Blue Line opened in 2021 at a cost of more than $2 billion, and the stations in Clairemont see some of the lowest ridership of the entire trolley network.
Council President Joe LaCava characterized that decision to preserve low-density zoning near the trolley as a capitulation to homeowners who have been fighting efforts to allow higher density and taller buildings there for more than a decade. LaCava cast the lone vote against the Clairemont plan update, saying the city should have prioritized the need for transit-oriented development over the concerns of incumbent homeowners.
"Would it have made the community happy? Heck no, I know that," LaCava said. "But we're doing this in every single community, and when you've got one that has such amazing bones, of an infrastructure backbone, why wouldn't we take advantage of it?"
While most of the College Area and Clairemont remain zoned for single-family homes, a state law passed this year could supersede that zoning on properties near high-quality public transit. The law, SB 79, allows apartment buildings of five to six stories within a half-mile radius of a trolley or rapid bus stop. The law does not take effect until July 1, 2026.
Mayor Todd Gloria is also launching an initiative called "Neighborhood Homes For All of Us" aimed at allowing more townhomes in single-family neighborhoods. He hopes to present the plan for City Council approval before the end of 2026.
