Voters will decide this fall whether to permit four-story structures in a section of Orange Avenue.
The ballot measure was approved by the City Council during its May 19 meeting, but council members were clear: This was not our idea.
The measure targets the R-4 zone between Second and Eighth Streets on Orange Avenue, which currently caps building heights at three stories. California’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) determined that Coronado’s existing height limit in the R-4 zone would constrain residential development at the zone’s allowed density of 40 units per acre.
As a result, HCD required the city’s latest Housing Element to include a commitment to pursue a height increase. Because the current, three-story limit was established by voters in 1972, it can only be changed by voters — hence the ballot measure.
Coronado has a storied past when it comes to its Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), a state program that requires cities to rezone for more housing during six-year cycles in effort to curb the housing crisis.
Each cycle, cities are given an allocation of houses to zone for, and cities must develop a housing element that complies. In each of the five previous RHNA cycles, the city came into compliance swiftly. This one, however, assigned Coronado a 2,000 percent increase in units compared to the one preceding it. In this cycle, Coronado was assigned 912 units, but must actually zone for a 15 percent buffer, pushing the total to 1,049.
The city fought its allocation by submitting a draft plan that zoned for just 344 units, which the city said was more reasonable, but the state rejected. Coronado also filed a lawsuit against the San Diego Association of Governments, which it lost, and then appealed, but lost again. Eventually, the state threatened to take action against the city if it did not comply, which could include losing jurisdiction over its zoning and permitting.
Simply put, the state would still find a way to zone for these units if the city did not. Councilors said that developing a compliant plan retained a modicum of local control.
Coronado eventually but reluctantly adopted a housing element the state approved. Within that document, however, was a commitment to put higher R-4 building limits on the ballot.
During public comment, some residents spoke against the measure, saying taller buildings would destroy the character of the city.
If the measure passes by simple majority on Nov. 3, the new zoning limits will be adopted.
