There’s a big new development going in on the south end of Coronado, and the city says it would try to stop it if it could.
Problem is, the developer is the United States Navy, so Coronado city officials and residents don’t have any control over the Navy’s new Coastal Campus, which will cover 170 acres and include 1.5 million square feet of new infrastructure.
As our Ry Rivard reports, the community’s voiced its concerns about noise, extra traffic and other issues that come with being a next-door neighbor to the Navy, but it doesn’t seem like the behemoth military machine is listening very closely – or at all.
Helen Kupka, president of a homeowners association for a cluster of houses nearest to the new campus, told Rivard what it feels like when your noisy neighbor is the U.S. Navy.
“It’s like shouting down a black hole,” she said.
Still, “everyone is quick to point out that they are patriotic and that their relationship with the Navy is relatively good, except for a few particulars,” Rivard writes.
“I believe we have a reasonable good relationship with the Navy,” said Coronado city manager Blair King.
What to Watch for This Week
• On Tuesday, the County Board of Supervisors will decide on whether to put the Lilac Hills Ranch initiative on the ballot, allowing voters to weigh in on the controversial development. VOSD’s Maya Srikrishnan, who’s been covering the project that would allow more than 1,700 homes to be built near Interstate 15 near Valley Center, will be at the meeting to help parse what happens.
• Summer recess is over, which means California state legislators will be back on the floor Monday. The Sacramento Bee has rounded up six things to look for now that our lawmakers are back in session. Make sure you’re signed up for VOSD’s Sacramento Report so you can stay on top of this state stuff.
• On Tuesday, the San Diego City Council will consider a handful of measures for placement on the November ballot. Topics includes changes to the city’s Citizens’ Review Board on Police Practices and a proposed cannabis business tax, which would put a city tax on the sale of adult-use marijuana. That tax, of course, would only go into effect if California voters approve recreational marijuana use in November.
The City Council will also be deciding Tuesday if it’ll be amending the city charter to allow San Diego High School to remain in its current location in Balboa Park. The U-T has the details. The fate of San Diego High School in Balboa Park will be placed in the hands of the voters if the City Council approves a charter amendment measure at its 2 p.m. Tuesday meeting.
• The grunion are running this week and some folks say Coronado is the best place to witness the fishy phenomenon.
In the Wake of the Shooting
Funeral arrangements for slain San Diego Police Officer Jonathan “JD” DeGuzman have been made. (10News San Diego)
But questions remain about last week’s shooting that left DeGuzman dead and his partner, Officer Wade Irwin, injured.
At a press conference over the weekend, Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said body camera footage has been reviewed but it’s still too soon to know whether the shootings were premeditated attacks on law enforcement, the way they were in Dallas and Baton Rouge. (The Associated Press)
Regardless of whether the shootings were planned, some community leaders told the U-T they would like to start a communitywide conversation about relations between the police and neighborhoods.
Weekend News Roundup
• If you’ve driven by the rose garden in Balboa Park after dark and seen the glow of dozens of smart-phone screens, it will not come as a surprise that San Diego ranked as the fourth most Pokémon Go-obsessed city in America. (Times of San Diego)
• Tijuana is overhauling its notoriously chaotic public transportation system and building a new 23-mile Bus Rapid Transit route. (U-T)
• The city of La Mesa has a draft of its own Climate Action Plan and folks can weigh in on the plan that seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions in two public meetings planned for August and September. (East County Magazine)
Late last year, Maya Srikrishnan took a look at the status of different climate plans around the county.
San Diego Social Media Moments
• That rad rock house in Normal Heights is officially a historic site. The city’s Historic Resources Board said so late last week.
• This Corgi can surf. A surf dog competition went down in Imperial Beach over the weekend and the photos and videos are ridic cute.