Council Backs Controls on Development in S.D Coastal Communities

After 12 years of planning, the San Diego City Council on Tuesday approved regulations for development in the city’s coastal areas.

Over mild objections from property owners affected by the ordinances, the council unanimously approved plans for the city’s coastal communities--from the Tijuana River estuary to the San Dieguito River valley.

About 60 residents from Del Mar and other San Dieguito areas supported inclusion of the San Dieguito River mouth in the coastal zone ordinances. Landowners in the area had requested that the river valley be exempted pending new studies of the wetlands areas.

Diana Dugan, deputy planning director, said that the ordinances approved Tuesday must receive the approval of the state Coastal Commission--a step that may require several months. The city will assume control of its coastline development, which has been controlled by the Coastal Commission, once the plan receives commission approval.

Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer led the North City campaign to prevent landowners from delaying imposition of city controls on the San Dieguito valley land on both sides of Interstate 5. She argued that the valley is the northern gateway to the city and a necessary part of a proposed San Dieguito River valley park, which would stretch from the ocean 43 miles inland to the Pamo Valley and Sutherland Reservoir near Ramona.

The city’s coastal zone covers beach communities, coastal lowlands, river valleys, Mission Bay Park and other areas generally west of Interstate 5. In the Penasquitos and Carmel valleys, the coastal zone extends five miles inland.

Dugan and city planner Greg Konar said that the 18 ordinances acted on Tuesday generally restrict development more than state coastal act regulations.

A provision that would require property owners seeking to build in most coastal areas to obtain permits and submit their projects to full public hearings was sent back to the planning department for further study after council members could not agree on one of four permit procedures.

The permit procedure and other unresolved issues will be brought back to the City Council for approval April 7.

Among the new city ordinances adopted for the coastal areas was a “sensitive coastal resource overlay zone” establishing additional development regulations for environmentally sensitive areas of beaches, coastal bluffs and wetlands, including setbacks for bluff construction and buffer areas around wetlands.