After a two year campaign by Mission Hills Heritage and other groups in the Uptown communities including many meetings and hearings, the San Diego City Council passed the Uptown Interim Height Ordinance (IHO) in July 2008.
The ordinance imposes a mandatory height limit to the following areas:

• 65 feet on Washington Street from 5th Avenue to Dove, on University Avenue from Park to Front Street, and on portions of 4th, 5th and 6th Avenues north of Upas Street, and
• 50 feet on Washington Street from Dove to Ibis Street.

The ordinance also imposes a discretionary height limit of 65 feet on portions of 4th, 5th and 6th Avenues in the area south of Upas Street.

The IHO included a “sunset clause” of 30 months, such that it would automatically expire at the end of January 2011, but with the City Council able to exercise two (2) 180-day extensions.

Mission Hills Heritage helped spearhead the effort to convince the City to adopt the IHO.  The motion to adopt the ordinance was brought by Councilmember Toni Atkins, and was seconded by Kevin Faulconer.  This ordinance has given Mission Hills and the other Uptown neighborhoods a needed breather from the onslaught of tall buildings, so that the community can participate in the plan update process.  Concerns for “community character” and preserving our older, historic community won the day.

New Developments (Posted January 19, 2012)

The City Council will vote on a new ordinance to extend the Uptown Interim Height Ordinance (IHO) on January 24, 2012. 

The current 24-year old Uptown Community Plan and related zoning allow for building heights of up to 150 feet and 200 feet along portions of Washington Street, University Avenue and 4th, 5th and 6th Avenues in Bankers Hill/Park West, Hillcrest and Mission Hills.  However, Uptown is not Downtown, and such taller buildings would overwhelm the lower scale, profile and historic character of the Uptown neighborhoods.  

The IHO was approved in July 2008.  The IHO temporarily caps building heights in the Mission Hills area at 50 feet and in Hillcrest at 65 feet, with a discretionary limit of 65 feet south of Upas Street in Bankers Hill/Park West.  (By way of comparison, 1Mission is 53’ and the new Vons is well under 50’.)  Exceptions for rooftop equipment and “green roofs” were built into the ordinance.  These height limits were a compromise worked out between residents, many of whom wanted a lower limit and with no discretionary area, and the City’s planning department.  The IHO was to remain in place for 30 months with two 6-month extensions, which was believed to be plenty of time for community plan update to be completed.  However, the community plan update has moved slower than expected, and with the IHO set to expire at the end of January, the plan update is at least 18 months from completion.

Fortunately, the City’s planning department has begun to process a new ordinance to extend the IHO to be coterminous with community plan update.  Strong public support exists for the IHO and for its extension.  Over 1,200 signatures on a petition supporting the original IHO were collected in 2007-2008 and within the last several weeks over 250 signatures have been collected on a petition supporting the extension.  Additionally, in November 2011 the Hillcrest Town Council voted 29-1 to support the extension.

Nevertheless, a small group of individuals seeks to derail the IHO and is instead promoting an alternative version which includes a deviation process to allow builders to exceed the temporary height limits in Hillcrest and Mission Hills.  These individuals want “flexibility” to approve projects over 50 feet in Mission Hills and over 65 feet in Hillcrest.  The alternative was first proposed by the Development Services Department’s Code Monitoring Team (CMT) in October 2011.  However, such “exceptions” will instead insure that no project is built at or below the stated height limit.  The IHO allows ample latitude for high quality projects in our community and the height limits of the IHO are temporary.

Community groups such as Mission Hills Heritage, the Hillcrest Town Council, Uptown Planners (the officially recognized advisory planning group for Uptown) and many other organizations and Uptown residents strongly support the proposed extension of the Interim Height Ordinance (IHO) until completion of the Uptown Community Plan update, without any further change to the underlying ordinance.  

MISSION HILLS RESIDENTS CAN HELP IN TWO WAYS:

1. Contact Kevin Faulconer, Todd Gloria and other councilmembers and tell them to heed the wishes of the public and vote on January 24, 2012 to extend the current IHO without changes until the community plan update is completed, to allow us to plan the community we live in.  (For email addresses to our councilmembers, click on: http://www.missionhillsheritage.org/Get-Involved/how-you-can-help.html.)

2. Attend the City Council hearing on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, beginning at 2:00 p.m, at City Hall, 202 C Street, 12th Floor.  You do not need to speak, but can fill out a slip to indicate you SUPPORT the extension.  Please attend, you will make a difference!