In a sweeping and at times unwieldy discussion, the Coronado City Council on Dec. 16 wrestled with how aggressively to overhaul its legislative policy guidelines for 2026.
The guidelines dictate the city’s position on state and federal bills, and City Manager Tina Friend proposed minor edits and a short list of priority legislative goals: cross-border sewage, infrastructure funding, affordable housing mandates, and e-bike regulations.
While the council quickly agreed on minor tweaks to the cross-border sewage issue and infrastructure goals, the conversation reached a snag when discussing its position on the upcoming Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), a state program that requires cities to plan for affordable housing. The council agreed that Coronado’s goal should be to ensure the city receives a fair allotment in its next cycle.
Much of Coronado’s land is not controlled by the city itself: the federal government owns a large portion of it for use with the military, while the Port of San Diego oversees much of the waterfront via public trust. This, the city contends, led to an unfair allocation in last year’s RHNA cycle, in which Coronado was told to zone for 912 additional housing units. With a new cycle looming, Coronado leaders want to push for these unique geographic challenges to be taken into account.
Despite general agreement, the conversation grew murky as council members weighed in on phrasing, and the document projected on screen became a rainbow of edits and re-edits.
Faced with a thicket of redlines from multiple members, the council balked at wordsmithing the full 20‑page document in real time. By consensus, they opted for a two‑track path: First, the council will adopt the minor edits described in the December meeting for the 2026 legislative session. Friend will compile redlines from each council member, harmonize them, and bring the revised document for approval to a January meeting.
Then, the council will launch a deeper review of the legislative goals in time for the 2027 legislative cycle, likely via a council subcommittee.
However, the council did decide on some minor edits to the document: on cross‑border water pollution, the council broadened language to support international, federal, state, county, and other funding and legislation and added a call for defined accountability measures whenever new or expanded infrastructure risks worsening pollution.
On infrastructure, the council inserted the word “resiliency” so that stormwater, wastewater, recycled water, and major capital projects are tied to climate and system‑hardening needs.
Mayor John Duncan proposed that the council endorse seeking state, federal and other funding for San Diego—Coronado Bridge, not just for seismic foundation work, but also explicitly for a suicide‑prevention barrier as well.
Based on December’s deliberations, Friend will reconcile edits and bring a revised document to the council in January. The current document, without edits, can be read here.
