SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The San Diego City Council voted again on Tuesday to repeal a controversial footnote in the Encanto community plan that reduced the minimum lot size required for single-family homes. The council also asked staff to return with a plan to remove certain lower-density areas from the Bonus ADU program.
Mayor Todd Gloria has previously said that the ADU program “has resulted in hundreds of new housing units since 2021, nearly half of which are rent-restricted affordable homes,” but it has some communities up in arms.
The program allows the construction of additional ADUs as long as some are reserved for low-income renters, and in Transit Priority Areas, there is no limit to the number of bonus ADUs allowed.
However, proposals for a higher number of ADUs than some might have expected have caused residents to question the bonus program entirely.
KPBS reported that, since 2021, 92% of the 1,226 applications that have been submitted under the Bonus ADU program have been for 10 or fewer on a lot.
In Encanto, however, at least eight proposals for more than 10 ADUs have been submitted, including two for more than 40 units, according to Neighbors for Encanto.
One reason these proposals have been so common in Encanto is that the minimum lot sizes in much of Encanto range from 10,000 to 40,000 square feet, or nearly an acre, but the area’s single-family zoning only allows one home per lot, plus ADUs.
Encanto is also one of the few places with these large residential lots in the Transit Priority Area, within walking distance of an SDMTS Orange line stop.
While multi-family apartment buildings aren’t allowed in this area, the Bonus ADU program, plus large lots, low-density zoning, and transit-oriented locations, mean that multi-ADU developments are – and those building in Encanto are taking full advantage.
The footnote that the council repealed had reduced the minimum lot size in Encanto to 5,000 square feet, which is consistent with most of the single-family zoned neighborhoods in the city.
City Councilmember Howard Foster, who represents Encanto, said at a January 28 meeting that reducing the large minimum lot sizes was a good idea.
“To be clear: large minimum lots do not further fair housing and are discriminatory, as they were designed to keep specific individuals from moving into a community,” he said. “Studies consistently highlight how these types of rules hurt affordability, promote exclusion, and waste land.”
“Large minimum lot sizes… served exclusionary, racially motivated purposes,” he added.
Still, the councilmember proposed removing footnote 7 and maintaining the larger lots in Encanto, and he added a review of the bonus ADU program on that vote.
“These provisions go way beyond state regulations and are doing way more harm than good,” he said. “The current ADU density bonus program as implemented is destroying community character, impacting for sale opportunities and potentially creating unsafe conditions.”
This was possibly a violation of the Brown Act, a state law prohibiting councils from voting on things that weren’t on the public agenda, according to KPBS.
That’s why the council voted again this week on the same two proposals, approving the repeal of footnote 7 yet again and asking staff to return with a plan to limit the bonus ADU program in low-density areas.
The idea is to restrict the bonus ADU program to only those areas with minimum lot sizes lower than 10,000 square feet, which is still a majority of the city’s single-family-zoned parcels, but Encanto would be excluded.
City staff are expected to return to the city council with an “action item” within 90 days.
