A plan to create a 5,130-home community in Otay Mesa, with 175,000 square feet of commercial and retail space, will require a judge’s sign-off before moving forward.
On Thursday, the San Diego Chapter of the Sierra Club filed a legal petition to stop development of the Otay Mesa Southwest Village, which is slated to be built on a new stretch of Beyer Boulevard, near the border.
The group says the 490-acre community plan is a classic example of urban sprawl that fails to provide the public transit and adequate infrastructure needed to support thousands of new residents and hundreds of businesses, or offset the negative impacts on the surrounding wetlands and open space.
“The city’s own mapping ranks the project site among the least suitable locations for climate- and people-friendly infill development, ” said Sierra Club Legal Chair Dave Hogan in a statement provided to Times of San Diego.
The plan, proposed by Tri-Pointe Homes, received widespread approval from community groups and Mayor Todd Gloria. In July, San Diego City Council gave the final approval to developer Tri-Pointe to plow ahead.
In an April letter to San Diego Planning Commissioners, the Otay Mesa Planning Group urged adoption of the plan. “The 500-acre plan is thoughtfully designed as a compact, mixed-use village integrating much-needed housing, jobs and public amenities,” reads the letter.
Gloria echoed the volunteer planning group’s sentiments following the city council’s vote to approve the plan.
“Cities aren’t defined by the buildings they construct – they’re defined by the neighborhoods they create,” Gloria said in a statement. “Southwest Village is about building a complete community from the ground up, with new homes, parks, schools, open space and local businesses that will serve San Diegans for generations. That’s the kind of thoughtful growth our city needs as we plan for the future.”
The Sierra Club, however, disagrees.
“Sierra Club supports building more housing, especially affordable housing,” said Lisa Ross, San Diego Sierra Club chapter chair. “But putting thousands of homes far from existing services and transit and dependent on new roads is the wrong way to build it. This is textbook destructive urban sprawl.”
In its lawsuit, the Sierra Club says the city said as much in the most recent General Plan Update.
“…[T]he City’s own determination, based on its own data, [reveals] the Project site is among the least suitable locations in the City for future growth, because it lacks the convenient and
affordable opportunities to walk, bike, or ride public transit to daily activities, characteristics
that define the areas designated as having higher value for development,” reads the lawsuit obtained by Times of San Diego
The lawsuit now essentially stops the project until a judge has an opportunity to weigh in.
The San Diego City Attorney’s Office declined to comment due to pending litigation. Tri-Pointe Homes did not respond to a request for comment.
