San Diego

A key downtown planning committee on Tuesday endorsed a proposal that would turn most of downtown into one large redevelopment area.

In doing so, the Ernest Hahn-led Centre City Planning Committee gave the San Diego Planning Department--which conceived the proposal--the approval to examine the concept in more detail.

In endorsing the idea of expansion--which would enlarge the city’s downtown redevelopment area from about 325 to about 1,200 acres--the committee, though, said inclusion of the Harbor View neighborhood should be more carefully studied.

Developer Hahn’s committee heard from Harbor View residents who said the area--located west of Interstate 5 between Laurel, Ash and Union streets--should be kept in the redevelopment expansion. In this way, the committee agreed, Harbor View could become its own redevelopment area, similar to the Gaslamp Quarter.

Committee member V’Frank Asaro, who represents the Harbor View neighborhood, said residents of the area feel uncomfortable about becoming part of a giant redevelopment project and would prefer one where they have more control over future land-use changes.

The Planning Department will study the proposal, and the city’s Centre City Development Corp., the agency responsible for downtown redevelopment, has tentatively scheduled a workshop for Jan. 29 to allow its board of directors to respond to the proposal.