Submitted by John Hickman
This is my email to Mayor Richard Bailey (and councilmembers) and his response:
I’m very upset to learn you are considering the Smart and Final lot for rezoning to include housing. Please explain your reasoning. I am STRONGLY OPPOSED to this. I live at 120 C Ave. #306, Coronado. I would like to hear from each of you why you are considering this? Yes, I am aware of the SANDAG issue. Are you truly aware of the congestion, gridlock and density that already exists in my neighborhood? I am a retired Navy Captain who worked long and hard to buy a nice condo in the Ferry Landing location. Please consider other options. This is a very bad decision on your part. You need to keep the power we have for lower density. Work harder on this issue.
Respectfully,
John E. Hickman, Jr.
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Good Afternoon John,
Thank you for your email.
I can assure you that your concern and frustration is shared by the entire city council.
We are currently pursuing all legal options available to us to challenge the RHNA allotment. If we prevail then we will only have to accommodate a few hundred new units as opposed to 1,000.
The state of California requires us to zone for “low income housing.” However, the state uses the proxy of dwelling per acre as a proxy for low income housing – not whether the unit is actually occupied by people with a low income. The state only counts lots of a certain size towards that low income requirement – the smart and final lot was one of the only lots available to legally “check the box.”
As I mentioned before, we are optimistic we will prevail in court and are doing everything we can to stand up for you and our community.
We will provide more updates as they occur.
Thank you,
Richard
