Will O' Wisp |
May 29, 2018 7:01 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by mello
(Post 8202371)
Will: I hear what you are saying I was thinking with a lack of "Wins" lately by city government they might try to speed up the process on a Horton Redo seeing that it sits right in the heart of downtown and you already have one huge white elephant sitting in Mission Valley. Do they really want a dead mall to languish in the heart of their downtown? So maybe they would work with the state to bypass CEQA.
Think about it Chargers gone, No new stadium, no new arena, Manchester Pac Gateway really had nothing to do with the city they lagged on it actually, Seaport Village laaaaging, Harbor Island redo..... Etc Etc. The city needs a win they need something to point to and say look we got something done! I guess this convention center expansion looks like it will only need a 50% vote now but that is about it. Plus they have to pay off the 5th Ave landing guys 30 million.
What do you guys think about building the expansion on the lot right behind Petco possibly with a Hotel on top AND getting that nice 5th ave landing Hotel built? So no contiguous expansion but you get that bad ass hotel and total revamp of the bayside walkway. That seems like a Win Win to me. :cheers:
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Regardless of what the city gov wants, there isn't a whole lot of options available here. The state isn't going to be giving out a special deal for something like this, you'd have the pass a bill in the state assembly and that would spiral into the political third rail of CEQA reform. Beyond that all city hall can do is give the sign off to the plans, which they will almost assuredly do. SD is actually one of the more pro-development cities in California, if you can believe it. The city approved Pac Gate all the way back in the mid-90s and never really wavered in their support, but an endless series of CEQA lawsuits combined with a few recessions held back development for 20+ years. Seaport Village is going through the CEQA process right now, so expect another 2 years unless it gets hit with a lawsuit too. Harbor Island redo is being held up by the Coastal Commission, who are demanding that any hotel rooms they build for less than $100 a night because apparently "public access" means building hostels on some of the most valuable land in the country. . The port is sueing on behalf of the developers, and they'll win just like they did the last time the CC pulled this but it takes time.
IANAL but from what I understand there's a very limited amount the city can do to speed along this project beyond what it's already doing, because the bottleneck lies with the state. A project of this scale is never going to be able to get a no effect determination, not when you're required to examine things like traffic and light pollution, and so the only legal way to bypass a full CEQA EIR is to have the development result from a citizens' ballot initiative like SoccerCity is.
Re:the convention center, the 50%+1 interpretation of the statues is on shaky ground, legally speaking. I'd expect it to be challenged in court if the result is less than 2/3s. Non-continuous expansion is probably not feasible from an engineering and urban design standpoint, you'll either have these long skybridges that are just asking for a crowd crush accident, or comi-con attendees completely blocking Harbor Blvd for hours at a time trying to walk from building to building. If 5th Ave landing isn't feasible the only realistic option would be an expansion on top of Habor, at god knows what cost and on what timeframe. 5th Ave, by contrast, is already certified and is basically just waiting for the cash at this point.
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