The most sophisticated effort yet to create an independent La Jolla, separate from the city of San Diego, ran into its first big obstacle Monday.
The Local Agency Formation Commission of San Diego, or LAFCO, sent a letter to the Association for the City of La Jolla alerting it that it did not collect enough signatures to go forward.
What happens next: The letter triggers a 15-day period during which the group can either somehow correct the data the Registrar of Voters analyzed or get more signatures. The group has until April 1 to deliver the needed number of signatures.
The group had to collect signatures from 25 percent of registered La Jolla voters, or 6,750 valid signatures. It submitted 7,795 signatures. LAFCO contracted the verification of them to the county Registrar of Voters Cynthia Paes, who reported that 2,072 of them were found not to be valid.
Read more here about the latest obstacle.
We’ve been here before: This isn’t La Jolla’s first attempt to divorce from the city of San Diego. Late last year, our Jakob McWhinney explained why the neighborhood wants to separate so badly, and why it has had such a hard time getting the separation to happen.
La Cañada Flintridge Gives Up Fight Against Builder’s Remedy Project
The city of La Cañada Flintridge in Los Angeles County has agreed to end its appeal against a Builder’s Remedy project.
It is an important case that we thought may have implications for projects in San Diego.
Some background: Last year, La Cañada Flintridge became one of California’s first real tests of a controversial state housing law called the Builder’s Remedy, which says cities can’t reject affordable housing projects based on their local zoning rules if they don’t have a state-approved Housing Element in place. A Housing Element is a city’s plan outlining how it can accommodate enough new housing to meet demand.
Last year, the Los Angeles Superior Court ruled that La Cañada Flintridge shouldn’t have rejected a proposed affordable housing project because the city didn’t have a state-approved housing plan when the developer applied for the project, which means the Builder’s Remedy did apply.
La Cañada Flintridge appealed that decision and city officials were waiting for an Court of Appeal. That was until a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered the city place $14 million into a bond fund to continue the appeals process. City officials decided it would be too costly to keep going, so they dismissed the appeal.
What this means for Seaside Ridge: The case in La Cañada Flintridge has a lot of similarities to an ongoing lawsuit in the city of Del Mar. The developer of a proposed affordable housing project called Seaside Ridge is suing Del Mar for repeatedly rejecting the project. Seaside Ridge says the Builder’s Remedy should apply. Del Mar officials disagree.
Seaside Ridge and Del Mar have a court hearing set for June 13. Developers at Seaside Ridge told Voice of San Diego via email the decision by La Cañada Flintridge to withdraw its appeal “bodes well” for their case against the city of Del Mar “and any other affordable housing proposals that have been wrongly denied in violation of the Builder’s Remedy law.”
“Del Mar should realize — like La Cañada Flintridge did — that the Builder’s Remedy law is very real,” said Darren Pudgil, a spokesperson for Seaside Ridge. “Given the likelihood that Seaside Ridge will prevail in court, the city of Del Mar should follow La Cañada’s wise decision and put down its sword. Prolonging their two-year standoff will only increase the legal fees that Del Mar taxpayers have been the city’s outside attorneys, as well as the legal fees for which they will have to reimburse Seaside Ridge.”
Border Report: On the Lookout for ICE
President Donald Trump’s promises of mass deportation have spread fear among San Diego’s immigrant communities.
Voice contributor Kate Morrissey recently spent time with a group of volunteers who have taken it upon themselves to patrol for immigration enforcement in Latino neighborhoods. These volunteers follow up on tips and alert the community.
Morrissey explains that ICE officers often go to a specific residence because they are targeting someone whom they believe lives there. But Trump has directed officers to also arrest anyone they encounter who is potentially deportable. There have also been reported cases of ICE going door-to-door in certain complexes looking for people to arrest and deport, she writes.
Aside from alerting the community, the volunteers also debunk false sightings, which can have a negative effect on people who are worried about being deported.
In Other News
- San Diego’s pension board approved a record-high $533.2 million annual pension payment for the city due July 1. The bill comes as the city faces a large budget deficit of roughly $250 million. (Union-Tribune)
- A new study from UC San Diego revealed that only about a quarter of people countywide who stayed in local homeless shelters during a recent six-year period moved directly into permanent housing. Around 40 percent went back to living outside or in a vehicle. (Union-Tribune)
- Scripps Health announced plans to build a new hospital campus in San Marcos, a short distance from its competitor Kaiser Permanente San Marcos Medical Center. (Union-Tribune)
- San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert announced her campaign for the California state Senate District 40 seat, currently represented by Republican Minority Leader Brian Jones. (KPBS)
The Morning Report was written by Scott Lewis, Tigist Layne and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña. It was edited by Scott Lewis.