The Uptown Community Plan Update
The City of San Diego is embarking on an update to the 1988 Uptown Community Plan concurrently with updates to the community plans for Golden Hill and North Park. The City’s community plans are long range planning documents established as essential components of the General Plan. The community plan update process will develop the community-specific detail, relevant policies, and implementation strategies necessary to fulfill General Plan objectives. The General Plan sets out a long-range vision and policy framework to guide future development, provide public services, and maintain the qualities that define San Diego over the next 20+ years. The recent update to the General Plan shifts focus from how to develop vacant land to how to design infill development and reinvest in existing communities. This focus is reflected throughout the Plan, including such topics as sustainable development, urban design, the provision of public services & facilities, mobility and historic preservation.
News and Updates:
The next meeting of the Uptown Community Plan Update Advisory Committee (CPUAC) will be held on Tuesday, November 17 th at the Balboa Park Club – Santa Fe Room from 6:00 pm to 8:00pm.
The first Uptown Community Plan Update Advisory Committee (CPUAC) meeting to convene the public discussion on the Uptown Community Plan Update will take place on Thursday, October 29, 2009, at the Balboa Park Club Santa Fe Room from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. This is a public meeting. Please see the following link for the agenda:
The Consultant Agreements to provide professional urban design services for the Uptown-North Park-Golden Hill Community Plan Updates will be presented at the Land Use & Housing Committee on Wednesday, June 3.
The Consultant Agreements to provide professional services in public outreach and urban design for the Uptown-North Park-Golden Hill Community Plan Updates will be discussed at Land Use and Housing Committee on Wednesday, May 20, 2009.
January 28, 2009 Initial Public Meeting to discuss the plan update process with City staff
Community Plan Update Advisory Committee membership: The Uptown Planners are forming a subcommittee for the plan update by March or April, 2009. The subcommittee will consist of community planning group members plus non-members. To ensure diverse membership, seats will be identified categorically by interest (e.g. resident, business, institution, non-profit /community organization). An interest list is being formed to survey possible membership categories.
There is also an interest form to be a volunteer for the historic resources survey:
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The Uptown Community lies just north of the Centre City area. It is bounded on the north by the steep hillsides of Mission Valley, on the east by Park Boulevard and on the west and south by Old San Diego and Interstate 5.
The Uptown Community is located on a level mesa that is divided by numerous canyons and bordered by two major parks, Presidio and Balboa. The Uptown community contains some of the oldest neighborhoods in San Diego exhibiting a variety of historic architectural types and a heavily traveled pedestrian mixed-use retail commercial area. The area also features a wide range of residential opportunities and a diverse mixture of people within a distinctly urban setting. The area includes the neighborhoods of Mission Hills, Middletown, Hillcrest, the Medical Complex, University Heights, and Park West. Located in Hillcrest is the nationally recognized Uptown District, a model of mixed-use infill development that includes housing, a retail core, offices, live-work spaces and a community center.
The Uptown District is a pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use retail center and residential development. The redevelopment of a 14 acre site known as the "Sears site" was completed in 1990, following a complex planning process with extensive community involvement. The project has attracted national attention as a model for the redevelopment of low-density, obsolete commercial sites for new housing and community uses. Its significance lies in its success in repairing an older city fabric that was damaged by 1950s commercial development. Uptown District has greatly spurred development in the surrounding Hillcrest neighborhood, especially adjacent to the site along University Avenue, which is the main arterial road, according to the San Diego Daily Transcript. The National Association of Home Builders named Uptown District the Project of the Year in October 1991. It was awarded the Urban Design Award by the California Council of the American Institute of Architects the following month.
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