Small street signs and inconsistent maps fueled a heated debate among between neighboring communities north of San Diego.
Sorrento Valley residents showed up at a Mira Mesa planning group meeting Monday night, claiming the group is attempting to annex their community.
At issue - where does the community of Mira Mesa end, and the neighborhood of Sorrento Valley begin. Both are neighborhoods of San Diego.
Homeowners in Sorrento Valley, the more affluent community of the two, accuse the other of stealing its good name and more importantly, its higher house values.
“I am mad as hell,” said homeowner Chris Thayer.
The retired high school teacher sported a white T-shirt with red lettering supporting Sorrento Valley. She said the only thing she has to show for her 30 year-career is her home in Sorrento Valley.
“You can’t take that away from me,” Thayer told the Mira Mesa planning group.
Local
Nearly 100 Sorrento Valley homeowners made for the best attended and likely the most spirited Mira Mesa community planning group meeting on record.
Protestors got word of a subcommittee proposal the group was batting about that would change police beats prescribed Sorrento Valley boundaries.
“We just want to have our identity. We are Sorrento Valley. This is our home,” one woman told the planning board.
To aggravate the matter, Mira Mesa signs popped up in what's otherwise considered Sorrento Valley proper. Complaints made to San Diego city workers were referred to the Mira Mesa planning board.
Boundaries shown in a police neighborhood beat map are inconsistent with the boundaries shown in a community planning map.
Some homes built in the 1990’s have Sorrento Valley in their closing documents.
“The planning group is not here to recognize neighborhoods,” said Ted Brengel, a member of the Mira Mesa Planning Committee Executive Council.
Brengel said the planning group has no authority to change neighborhood boundaries even in its own community.
“If someone wants to live in neighborhood X, Y, or Z, they can do that. We have absolutely nothing to say about that,” he told reporters outside the planning group meeting.
After several presentations, the group took no action because of the many boundary inconsistencies found in several district maps.
