The city is a step closer to new rules for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). The amendments to existing municipal code could include new limits on the size of the projects, among other changes.
The San Diego City Council’s Land Use and Housing Committee met on Thursday to discuss making changes to the ADU Bonus Program. With a 3-1 vote, the committee passed a motion to approve regulation changes to the program.
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Erik Becerra was among the hundreds of San Diegans who voiced their concerns about the ADU Bonus Program.
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SIGN UP “Two doors down from myself, they put in a permit for 43 ADUs,” said Becerra, who has lived in Encanto for 20 years.
He opposes the ADU Bonus Program because he says his neighborhood’s infrastructure is not designed to handle an unlimited number of ADUs.
Supporters of the program said it helps to address the need for more housing.
Real estate developer Nick Zalkow has two development projects currently at a standstill until the city council makes a decision.
“We’re not out just to make a bunch of money and build these, you know, these supposedly terrible housing," Zalkow said. "We’re trying to build community housing."
Kenny Key lives in San Diego and hopes younger generations get a chance to buy homes in the neighborhoods where they grow up, but he worries they won’t have that opportunity.
“If our city continues to allow developers just to buy up everything, and everything is controlled by developers and owned by developers?” Key said.
The changes the committee approved for ADU regulations include capping the scale of some developments, requiring off-street parking and limiting ADUs to two stories.
The day after the committee approved the changes, NBC 7 visited Clairemont to get the response from community members. Cary Gross, a resident of nearly 30 years, said the amendments may be too little too late.
"They're finally seeing what they're doing to the neighborhoods and they're kind of recoiling," Gross said. "It's going to help down the road, maybe, but the damage is done."
Paul Schmidt, a born and raised resident, shared a similar sentiment. He lamented over the changes that have happened in their corner of the neighborhood since ADUs were allowed to be built. One of his biggest gripes is with parking.
"They've completely made parking around here miserable," Schmidt said. "They told us they were going to get people that didn't have cars. There's people there that got three cars."
Part of the proposed amendments include creating parking for some ADUs when they are outside of city-designated transit priority areas, or TPAs, which are defined as being within a half-mile of a major transit stop that is existing or planned.
The portion of Clairemont that Schmidt and Gross live in is considered within a TPA, but they don't feel that is synonymous with people not needing to use, and park, cars.
"Nobody is walking back down the street with a bag full of groceries," Gross said. He also mentioned that even if people rode their bikes for errands nearby, they rarely have designated spots to lock them up.
"Time will tell," Gross said, in anticipation of the changes and if they will be approved by the full city council.
More than 5,000 ADUs have been built in San Diego since 2021, according to Councilmember Vivian Moreno.
