301 University has been OVERTURNED.

BAD NEWS!!!

                         301 University has returned!

(From Hillquest - 10/13/2007) 

During the last week of September, just as we were receiving national accolades from the APA for our community’s charm, village atmosphere & sensible planning, La Jolla Pacific Development resubmitted to the City their plans for 301 University. The Uptown Planners were informed this week that the applicant has obtained a consultant to prepare an environmental impact report (EIR), which is required pursuant to the recent court ruling. In August San Diego’s Superior Court ruled against 301 and voided the City Council’s 7-1 approval of this monster project. The court found an EIR was needed prior to the decision-making process. The findings contained in the EIR may necessitate modifications to the 12-story project. It is important that Uptown Planners, as the official advisory planning group for our neighborhoods, again review the project after the EIR is finalized.

If you think this project is wrong for Hillcrest, please contact your City Council member.

From Tom Mullaney: (8/23/2007)

The Hillcrest neighborhood is celebrating today, after the court overturned the City Council approval of the Third & University project.

The lawsuit was brought by Friends of San Diego, working with a group of residents and business owners known as Save Hillcrest.
 
The attached summary covers the points that were decided in favor of the citizens' group. The ruling is a sweeping victory because the project was declared invalid for seven different reasons.
 
The court's ruling puts the City Council and Mayor on notice that large-scale projects cannot be forced upon communities. The City cannot ignore traffic problems, park shortages and community character issues while promoting their City of Villages strategy.
 
The Tentative Ruling, which was upheld today, can be found at this link:
 

A lawsuit has been filed against 301 University. You can read the lawsuit here.  

:We need your help to fight to preserve the character of Hillcrest.  Please consider making a donation to Friends of San Diego.  Call John Taylor to pick up your check at 619-997-5299 or mail it to

 Friends of San Diego
3636 4th Avenue Suite 310
San Diego,

The neighborhood spoke out, a majority on two local polls (HillQuest.com and GLT) were solidly against it, but the city council followed Toni’s
 lead and voted 7-1 in favor. Thank you, Donna Frye.

   The savehillcrest blog contains dozens of comments from the community. One of interest begs attention. It said, If we infill this neighborhood then will have to bring in public transportation.   No “they” don’t. Hillcrest exceeded the density needed to justify a trolley quite some time ago. Why has public transportation fallen off the map here? It should be front and center in all discussions regarding densifying Uptown!
 

What about 200-foot height limits vs public transportation?
 
   What do these two have in common? Nothing, that’s the problem! When our community plan was written the 200-foot height limit in our urban core was supposed to be accompanied by a comprehensive public transportation system. This obviously has not yet happened, but we are ‘downtowning’ uptown anyway.

What does the state law say about density?
 
   The state law mandates that San Diego densify for the purpose of building affordable housing. Are we building affordable housing or are we building high end - high priced condos? 301 would not be 148 feet tall without the density bonus. But they have the right to build up to 200 feet! They are only going up to 148 feet. They are only at 75% of the maximum allowable height - this doesn’t make any sense. Let me explain. They are still restricted by FAR or Floor Area Ratio and maximum zoning regulations. FAR means they can only go up so many feet based on the size of their footprint. The footprint at 301 University  is not big enough to allow a building 148 feet tall. This is where the density bonuses are used to get by this regulation.

Get involved in the future of Uptown. Don’t let another 301 University move into our community.
 

Click here to see the City Attorney's Letter.!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Mitigated Negative Declaration for 301 University. Interesting reading...