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The People's Business: June 23, 2020
The last time the City Council's Land Use and Housing Committee (LU&H) met was Feb. 27, 2020. Remember February? Of course you don't. NO ONE DOES!
Soon after the COVID-19 pandemic became super-serious in mid-March, the Council shut down all of its policy committees, except for the Rules Committee and the Audit Committee. Fast forward to June 9 -- the Council votes to reopen the committees for business! The LU&H Committee, chaired by Councilmember Chris Ward, is the first out of the chute, returning for a special meeting tomorrow.
If you'd like more detail on anything summarized here, click the agenda, then click on the item. Over on the right side of the page, you'll see links to a staff report and other pieces of supporting material.
Land Use and Housing Committee -- Wednesday, June 24
The highlight on Wednesday is the first public hearing on the City's Complete Communities: Housing Solutions and Mobility Choices initiative.
Complete Communities would create incentives to increase housing production and improve mobility networks around existing transit and development. The initiative would remove regulatory barriers to producing housing while investing in amenities such as street trees, bicycle facilities, and promenades. The idea here is to improve quality of life in neighborhoods where new housing is proposed by creating more active, pedestrian-oriented spaces. In turn, this helps the City meet its Climate Action Plan goals.
The committee will kick off the program's approval process by providing feedback and direction to City Planning Department staff before voting to send it up the chain to the full City Council.
The other item on the agenda concerns Preserving Affordable Housing in the City of San Diego, a landmark analysis done by the San Diego Housing Commission that takes inventory of affordable housing -- both market-rate affordable and deed-restricted affordable -- and recommends 10 strategies for how to preserve it. The study was formally accepted by the City Council on June 2. On Wednesday, the LU&H Committee will provide some feedback and direction to Housing Commission staff on the recommendations in the study.
Pictured here to the left are Housing Commission President and CEO Rick Gentry, City Council President Georgette Gómez (at the mic), Councilmember Monica Montgomery (right) and others, announcing the affordable housing study back in May.
The meeting starts at 9 a.m. You know the drill: Thanks to the pandemic, only City staff and credentialed members of the press may attend in person. However, anyone can participate and make comments by dialing 619-541-6310 and entering the access code 877861 followed by # when the item you're interested in comes up (full call-in instructions). Watch the meeting on cable TV channel 24 or AT&T channel 99, or stream it online.
Next up will be a post on the regular weekly meeting of the full City Council, which will happen on Tuesday, June 30.
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