COUNCILMEMBER DONNA FRYE
CITY OF SAN DIEGO
SIXTH DISTRICT

Memorandum

I would like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to all the volunteer members participating on this committee. I am grateful for your dedication to helping the City develop strategies for affordable housing. Please be assured that your final recommendations will be carefully considered by the Council when we tackle this issue again.

I am also pleased to see the issues addressed by the four subcommittees of the Task Force, particularly renter's issues such as landlord/tenant laws and preservation of rental units.

The only issue I did not see addressed by any of the subcommittees and/or the Task Force in general is infrastructure needs related to potential new housing development. As you probably know, the City is faced with a $2 billion deficit in infrastructure needs for our current population and build out, which includes such fundamental City services as streets, sidewalks, sewer, water, and the like. These infrastructure shortfalls have a direct bearing on the quality of life for the citizens of San Diego (i.e., the 55 water main breaks the City has suffered since November 2002).

One of the reasons the City has fallen so far behind in basic infrastructure needs is because the communities and the Council were not fully informed or aware of the deficits when they approved past development projects. One goal of my office is to change that situation by developing a Master Environmental Assessment, which would inventory existing infrastructure, environmental, and fiscal conditions of the City. This baseline assessment would then be incorporated into every new Environmental Impact Report prepared for proposed development projects. This way, the public and Council would be aware of how the project would impact San Diego's quality of life. I have attached my memo regarding this proposal for your review.

Accordingly, I encourage the Task Force to integrate these infrastructure needs into your discussion of affordable housing strategies. I believe we can craft feasible solutions to this problem if they are incorporated at the front end of these discussions. Thank you again for your time and commitment to this issue.